Koson Saengthong: Model for Improving Energy and Waste Management

In light of these issues, Koson Saengthong, a model for improving energy and waste management based in Pa Deng Village in Phetchaburi, Thailand, has done a lot to help the environment and people in rural areas, and he always strives to help even more. The information following this will discuss Saengthong’s inspirations, aspirations, and goals, through an interview with him.

Saengthong was inspired to start working for the environment since he was young. He was always interested in agriculture, which resulted in him studying it and working a job related to agriculture and the environment. He was also inspired by King Rama 9’s concept of sufficiency economy. All these things inspired him to do good for the environment.

Through his journey, he has come up with many ideas to help Pa Deng Village. One such idea was the implementation of renewable energy sources into the village. He introduced biogas, solar energy, and biomass. Pa Deng village has a cow farm with over five thousand cows. These cows excrete large amounts of manure, therefore using this manure as an energy source is very efficient. The villagers’ food waste and waste from agricultural activity is also used for biogas energy. As for solar energy, it is an easy way to get electricity due to how easy it is to get energy from the sun, as it is present all day. Since Pa Deng Village is near a national park, villagers have a lot of access to wood for biomass energy, which is incredibly useful for cooking.

Due to his vast experiences, Saengthong has recognized some points of improvement for Thailand in regards to social and environmental problems. He believes that a main social problem in Thailand is the disconnect between the old and new generation. The world is evolving and technology plays a large role in the evolution of our world. People in the newer generation can thus access information much more easily, while people in the old generation had to work really hard in order to gain information in the past. This leads to difference in ways of living and thus difference in beliefs between the old and new generation, which makes it difficult for one to understand the other. As for environmental problems, the first one is energy problems. Fuel trade in Thailand is a monopoly. The main source of energy is fossil fuels, and the production of energy is only controlled by the manufacturer, which makes it really difficult for people to intervene with how things are going and call for change. Thailand is also currently very dependent on fossil fuels as an energy source. The second problem is waste problems. Thailand amasses over 30 million tons of trash annually. Thailand produces so much waste, but there is a minimal amount of organizations or systems that deal with waste and waste management in Thailand. In fact, Thailand most likely does not even have a waste management system at the moment. This leads to Thailand’s waste separation being poor. Thais are only taught or made aware of separating and managing waste, but then the waste ends up getting grouped back together in landfills anyway, so the process of sorting and separating waste is pointless a lot of the time. The overflowing amounts of waste will first lead to water pollution, which in turn results in the deaths of aquatic organisms. At this point, every single drop of water in the ocean contains microplastics. This microplastic-filled water will eventually return to us humans as we continue to rely on the ocean for things like food.

However, Saengthong believes that there are solutions to these problems. The most important being the increase of understanding and education. This will lead to citizens giving more attention and importance to the issues listed above. There should be more serious rules and regulations in the forms of laws and enforcement to enforce both energy and waste management. People should be made familiar with these problems and their solutions, as if there is no enforcement, people will continue to be ignorant and dismiss the issues at hand.