Foreign guests staying at resorts on Koh Samui are helping to combat climate change while enjoying a fun ride on an elephant.
While greeting elephants or enjoying a ride on a pachyderm has little to do with efforts at reducing carbon dioxide emissions, EcoLife has linked these activities to its campaign to slow climate change.
Social enterprise Kidkid uses the EcoLife mobile application to promote environmental activities and earn revenue simultaneously, following a sustainable marketing trend.
The more garbage tourists can pick up on the island, the more reward points they earn. They can redeem the points for tickets for an elephant ride.
"This is one of the cutest environmental activities in the world. I've never seen this before in Thailand," said actress Siraphun "Noon" Wattanajinda, a co-founder of Kidkid.
EcoLife not only supports government attempts to nudge people towards eco-friendly lifestyles, but also ensures business development can co-exist with environmental protection.
SUSTAINABLE MARKETING
Instead of embarking on a business driven by the desire to maximise profits, Ms Siraphun, together with her husband Pipat "Top" Apiruktanakorn, the chief executive and co-founder of Kidkid, opted for a different path, combining earning profits with taking care of the environment.
Kidkid was established in 2012, with sustainable marketing at the core of its business direction.
The approach is based on a mission to combine sustainability with marketing strategies, covering entire business operations from product development to communication.
Sustainability means avoiding acting in such a way that could negatively affect future generations of people, both environmentally and socially, according to Kidkid.
EcoLife is an online platform bringing together people from all walks of life, including students, state officials, office workers and backpackers, to help make the world a better place to live, noted the company.
More than 70% of young consumers in Thailand are interested in buying green products and services, and many of them have strong purchasing power to support businesses that promote sustainability, said Mr Pipat.
Various industries worldwide have set a goal to reduce their carbon footprint. Activities that have obvious connections in reducing carbon dioxide emissions can easily attract public attention, said Ms Siraphun.
Kidkid saw an opportunity to forge collaborations with businesses through the EcoLife app. The platform enables companies to promote environmental activities, raising their profile among the app's users, which number several thousand.
Companies can work with Kidkid to seek customers and learn about their lifestyles, said Mr Pipat.
"We are open to various kinds of joint investment models with our partners," he said.
Kidkid offers strength on app know-how and has a significant database of people in the EcoLife community, said Mr Pipat.
"We can support companies' sustainable marketing, catering to the needs of our customers," he said.
Last year Kidkid earned 25 million baht and it expects revenue growth of 15-20% this year, driven by new environmental projects and the sustainable marketing trend.
The company is in talks with investors eager to participate in activities that promote sustainability, said Ms Siraphun.
ECOLIFE
Kidkid upgraded the EcoLife app to version 3 earlier this year, which is designed to support efforts to educate people on the impact of global warming and facilitate environmental activities to decelerate the increase in world temperatures.
The app seeks to change daily routines, aiming for more responsible behaviour on environmental issues, said Mr Pipat.
EcoLife lets users record and track their contributions to environmental protection, providing an estimate of the CO2 emission reduction they have achieved.
Users receive "eco-points" in return for their efforts and can redeem them at retail partners of EcoLife.
"Our third version of the app is a good tool to run sustainable marketing," he said.
"It enables students, employees, companies, and government officers to jointly build a better environment."
Version 3 was launched a decade after the first version was unveiled. The original version was used until 2019, when it was replaced by version 2.
The first two versions of the app attracted more than 100,000 users between 2015 and 2023, with 20% of them active users, said Mr Pipat.
The company's latest version has attracted 10,000 users and is expected to increase based on the sustainability trend, he said.
"We want to see more young students join us to build a sustainable society," said Ms Siraphun.
Company employees are another a target, as they can help drive and direct environmental activities, she said.
Ms Siraphun and Mr Pipat want EcoLife to grow in line with the growth of Thailand's population.
By promoting green activities, the company's goal is to ensure everyone can enjoy an improved environment, they said.
"Everyone has the right to live in a good environment," said Ms Siraphun.
"I believe everyone knows this, so people will continue to do good things for the benefit of the environment."
GREEN INITIATIVES
The Samui initiative is just one of EcoLife's green projects aimed at helping Thailand combat climate change.
The idea to connect the popular tourist activity of elephant rides with EcoLife's environmental efforts emerged when the owner of a small cafe on the island joined EcoLife to help Kidkid design a new environmental campaign.
Tourists are encouraged to help sort the garbage they collect, particularly plastic water bottles and packaging, and then exchange the plastic waste with the cafe in exchange for reward points.
The points can be redeemed at local shops participating in the campaign, enabling tourists to receive a discount of 10-20 baht on goods, or they can exchange them for a ticket for an elephant ride.
"Riding elephants is a very popular activity on Samui. To enjoy this special privilege, many tourists downloaded the EcoLife app, even though the only version is in Thai language," said Ms Siraphun.
This campaign shows how tourists, businesses and locals can be brought together to jointly support eco-friendly activities, she said.
Both the community and the environment benefit in the long term, said Ms Siraphun.
Mr Pipat said the campaign somewhat resembles CopenPay, an initiative launched by a tourism organisation in Copenhagen, Denmark to reward tourists and local residents who participate in environmental activities, such as cycling instead of driving, or collecting garbage.
The rewards include free meals and drinks as well as free access to attractions.
Another project is called "REact for Change", a garbage sorting programme in Thai schools jointly supported by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the TikTok social media platform, he said.
Students are encouraged to sort garbage for recycling, then TikTok introduces them to garbage sorting tips via short video clips, while EcoLife collects and tracks their activities on a daily basis.
Thus far 231 schools under the BMA have joined the project.
"We were able to collect 360,000 kilogrammes of garbage, enabling us to reduce carbon dioxide emissions amounting to almost 900,000 kilotonnes of oil equivalent [KTOE]," said Mr Pipat.
"The REact for Change video clips on TikTok received 251 million views."
Other projects on EcoLife include a waste management activity, jointly carried out by Kidkid and Thailand Post Co, called the "Green Hub".
The activity encourages people to discard unwanted electronic devices, waste paper, plastics and used water bottles at specific drop points across the country.
Thailand Post collects these items for recycling or appropriate disposal.
EcoLife has collaborated on eight projects as of April this year, leading to the sorting of 761,040kg of waste, generating a reduction of 2.7 million KTOE in carbon dioxide emissions, he said.
Kidkid co-founders Ms Siraphun and Mr Pipat operate their business based on the sustainable marketing trend. Varuth Hirunyatheb