We hope that you separate and bag your waste paper at your office or home. To inspire you, we chat with Pornphun Sutthiprapa, 28, who takes recycling to another level as a member of the Paper Ranger project.

Are you a full-time volunteer?

Not really. My main work is as a designer for Volunteer Spirit. I’m in charge of distribution and PR for the Paper Ranger project. Compared to my previous jobs, this is fun. There’s no pressure to make profits because we don’t focus on money.

What is the project for?

It’s to build awareness about everything all around us—paper, in particular. We want people to make full use of a piece of paper before throwing it into a trash can. Or even better is to not throw it away at all. That’s our message: don’t throw things away if you haven’t fully used them. So we set up this project as an example. Our notebooks are made from the donated paper. They are not going to be as good as a B200 or B300 notebook, but they really can be used practically. Hopefully, people who use papers every day can see something and acknowledge the message.

Why is donating better than selling to sa-leng people?

It’s OK if you want to sell your used papers. But do you earn a lot from doing that? But donating the papers helps lengthen the product life cycle. You can use it again before recycling it. You can reduce the frequency of the recycling process, which helps save natural resources.

How can any of us help?

We do need help, we still need lots of paper, hundreds of thousands of sheets. And we need more donation centers.

Where can we buy Paper Ranger notebooks?

I’m finding a way to sell them. There are costs, and we can’t really afford distribution fees. So in the meantime, we are doing it in a luk thung way. People call or come to our office if they want to buy.   

What trait of people annoys you most?

When they buy something and they’re already carrying a bag, but they still want plastic bags.