Audi works to recycle discarded plastic from Thai river

The Audi Environmental Foundation, together with the Ferry Porsche Foundation and green start-up everwave, have found a new partner to support their efforts to clean up the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand.

Since May 2023, the organisations have been utilising a garbage collection boat from Germany equipped with high-tech equipment including drones and cameras as well as artificial intelligence to remove plastic waste from the river. This waste - up to five tons daily under ideal conditions - is now being recycled thanks to the Thai non-governmental organisation TerraCycle. The garbage collection boat is said to already have fished up to 28,000kg of waste the river.

All project partners are now working to establish in the medium term a stable infrastructure for waste processing in the region around the Thai capital of Bangkok. The organisations have also hired two Thai boatman to work on the boat, with two more currently being trained. Audi states that the local organisation was previously pulling garbage from the river by hand or with fishing nets.

Audi states that the Chao Phraya River, which flows into the Gulf of Thailand 35km west of the capital, flushes around 385 tons of plastic garbage into the ocean every year. The project aims to highlight the fact that rivers act as 'plastic highways', allowing carelessly discarded litter to find its way into the open sea.