Recycling in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Asia Green Roads produces and commercializes the innovations developed by Professor Wechsawan “Pow” Lakas, an engineering professor at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University. The machine, developed and licensed by the Professor, transforms low-value and complex multi-layer plastic – along with glass or sand – into pavement blocks through a controlled extrusion and compression process. In addition to this, Green Roads organizes training, capacity building on waste management, plastics in particular with the local community and schools within the North of Thailand.

Second Life invests in and owns the machinery used to produce these blocks, which help divert low-value and complex multilayer plastic from ending up directly in landfills. In this way, Second Life helps find new solutions for otherwise non-recyclable plastic, and supports the move towards a world where all waste can be part of a circular economy.