Thailand’s Largest Island is Leading the Way in Asia when it comes to Sustainability in Tourism
A GROWING COLLABORATION
During your stay in Phuket, you may come across the rather obscure acronym ‘PHIST’.
It stands for ‘Phuket Hotels Island Sustaining Tourism’ and was formed in 2017 by the Phuket Hotels Association and other local business organisations, who all harboured growing concerns about making tourism more sustainable, and wanted to inspire hotels to showcase green alternatives and innovations.
PHIST has now grown into an organisation of over 500 members, representing resort operators, NGOs, sustainability specialists, property developers and cutting-edge green suppliers, all of whom have a collective aim to make Phuket a more sustainable destination.
PHIST has just held its 8th annual event, which attracted 1,000 visitors, exhibitors, and tourism-related business representatives.
Amongst them was exotiqPhuket, who, as a media organisation with digital and print platforms, has a responsibility to minimise the impact of printing a coffee-table magazine by adopting best practices and embracing the latest innovations available on the market.
Our commitment to a sustainable Phuket started with printing on recycled paper. We made sure to collect unused magazines from our distributors and put that paper back into the recycling system.
Recycling paper makes sense on one level because it avoids the need to use virgin paper from cut down trees. However, on another level recycling isn’t beneficial to the environment because it requires a lot of water and some bleaching chemicals to produce.
WELCOME TO ‘DRY FIBRE TECHNOLOGY’
Dry Fibre Technology, a proprietary set of technologies developed by Japanese company Epson, transforms fibrous materials into tangible value without using water. It produces highly functional materials by defibrating (separating components), binding, and forming reconstituted fibrous materials into new paper; producing fresh sheets from used ones.
As this technology becomes available in Thailand, exotiqPhuket is shifting its recycled paper strategy into sourcing DFT produced new paper. The result? A destination-focused, sustainable magazine that the island can be truly proud of.