Thailand’s plastic waste situation The Pollution Control Department (PCD) reports that Thailand generates approximately 27-28 million tons of municipal solid waste each year, with 20% of this waste in Bangkok being single-use plastics (SUPs) like plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic containers. In 2019, only 19% of the total plastic waste was recycled due to a lack of waste segregation at the source, allowing the plastic to be contaminated by mainly organic waste and increasing the difficulty and cost of recycling. Why Thailand has no waste sorting Many people in Thailand misunderstand municipal waste management and ask “Why do we have to sort waste when it's ultimately all poured together?”. The fact is, officials separate recyclable waste such as plastic bottles, glass and cans. Lack of thorough waste supply chain cooperation and public awareness have also deterred sorting. Promotion of a circular economy for plastic is needed for a sustainable city. “Scan-Dispose-Recirculate” DCE is an easy-to-use approach available through the Line Official @DCE platform. Users may sign up and immediately carry out the 3 steps of “Scan-Dispose-Recirculate”. First, “Scan”; take a picture of the plastic waste in need of disposal and the plastic type and correct bin will be shown by DCE. Second, “Dispose”; discard the plastic waste in the correct smart bin to receive points. Finally, “Recirculate”; track the status of the recycled plastic, the users CO2 reduction contribution and points earned. PET, HDPE and PP plastics go to recycling while the remainder is used to produce RDF. DCE's partner Smart bins are indispensable to plastic waste tracking. Cloud-based monitoring is linked to DCE for real-time measurement and data collection on the amount of waste inside smart bins. Some are equipped with a compactor for more cost-effective transportation. Moreover, the bins are customizable in terms of plastic type, meaning types can be grouped together where space is limited or according to downstream collector preferences. DCE is different from other platforms, but it's not about competing, it's about co-creating. DCE uses A.I plastic sorting to increase the efficiency of plastic waste segregation at the source (for consumers) while other platforms extend the plastic buyers/resellers network. If these platforms work together, even stronger collaboration across the supply chain can be achieved. DCE’s team DCE is a collaboration led by Khon Kaen University, together with Songkhla Rajabhat University, The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Center of Excellence on Hazardous Substance Management and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Funding is from PMU-C with support from 1) K.E.D. Co., Ltd. 2) AIS Co., Ltd. 3) GREEN2GET Co., Ltd. 4) HUALAND ENTERPRISE Co., Ltd. and 5) PIMAN COMMUNITY SERVICE Co., Ltd.