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Striving to become a sustainable bank, Krungthai Bank launched the Waste Management project to manage waste within the bank’s premises in an end-to-end manner while carrying out environmentally-friendly activities, reducing GHG emission, and working toward zero waste.
Prof. Dr. Kittipong Kittayarak, Chairman of the Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee at Krungthai Bank, said Krungthai Bank realizes the importance of environmental conservation and sustainable development. This belief is reflected in the bank’s business direction that does not focus only on profitability but also balance in all dimensions. At Krungthai Bank’s 57th anniversary celebration, the Waste Management project, underpinned by the concept “Care for the World,” was launched. In this project, waste is segregated, then entered into the recycling and upcycling processes via various channels. A digital platform is used to collect waste data, such as the amount and types of waste, enabling the measurement of the project’s outcome by determining GHG emission reduction.
The project first started across 97 branches in eight provinces in the Southern Region. The calculation revealed that the amount of paper and PET bottle waste sorted corresponded to a reduction of over 20,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent, roughly the same amount of GHG emission reduction from planting over 1,100 trees. Earlier this year, an end-to-end waste management process began at four buildings in Bangkok, namely Nana Nua Building, Sukhumvit Building, Pathumwan Building, and Si Ayutthaya Road Building, piloting the project before expanding to branches across the country. In addition, training sessions were conducted to promote proper waste segregation and online events were held to engage and promote better understanding and awareness of waste management and the responsibility to reduce and offset greenhouse gas among employees, in line with Thailand’s carbon neutrality policy and the goal to achieve net zero emission by 2065.
The Waste Management Project is the bank’s latest endeavor in environmental conservation. Previous initiatives include using Inno Waste machines to turn over 120 kilograms of food waste per day, or nearly 28 tons per year, generated at the bank’s canteen into good quality soil, which is then distributed to employees, schools, and local communities for gardening. Another initiative is the RELIFE reverse vending machines for collecting plastic bottles in the headquarters and branches. The bottles are upcycled into fabric used to make monk robes, medical PPE suits, clothes, and employee uniforms. So far, over 16,600 bottles were collected, equivalent to over 146 kilograms of carbon dioxide reduction. More RELIFE machines will be installed to reduce plastic bottle waste.
Krungthai Bank is working toward becoming a sustainable bank with focus on environmental conservation and efficient use of energy in order to reduce its generation of waste and pollution, as well as driving positive impact on the environment through internal environmental projects, aligning with the bank’s vision, Growing Together for Sustainability.#carefortheworld
