Trash

SFS has always concentrated on working with farmers, but in the last two years, working with urban consumers has become a new focus. This began primarily with the "Smiley Garbage" project, modeled after the Rainbow Plan of Nagai, Japan. "Smiley Garbage" takes food waste from about 100 members in Surin City and delivers it to SFS farmers in nearby villages, to use as an organic fertilizer. In he process, urban members use molasses to break down the food into a fermented liquid. The project has been a great success and we will create a blog post dedicated to it in the near future. Below is a short video of some fertilizer getting mixed up by one of the "Kids Love Nature" members in Tabthai village:




One of the project's successes is an increased awareness about Surin's trash problems, and the Public Health office has used "Smiley Garbage" as a model for dealing with them. Further, with a nearly-full landfill and increasing public pressure, the local government also has to figure out where to put their trash. SFS recently visited the landfill outside the city to meet with villagers who live near it:

The landfill looms over their rice paddies

One villager's collection of skin creams intended to heal the rashes on her hands and feet

SFS is a small organization and it clearly can't manage all of the city's problems. Instead, the Public Health office has been employing SFS as a kind of consultant with communities interested in developing innovative ways to deal with their trash. On Weds. the 6th, P Nok and P Tip led a discussion with an urban community:

P Tip addresses the crowd with the "Smiley Garbage" poster in the background

According to the local owner of a recycling shop, Surin's urban population produces one kilo of trash per person per day. SFS will continue to work with urban communities interested in finding alternative ways to dealing with their trash, like recycling, composting and biogas. We will continue to update about our progress with the local Public Health office - this could turn into some really innovative urban community projects.