A Fair Trade Journey, Recycled Paper Project Thailand.

Here is the next story with photos on our Fair Trade Journey.

Any of the information in this story or photos may be reprinted for promotional purposes on the conditional proviso it is stated that it has been provided “Courtesy of Siham Craftlink www.sihamcraftlink.com”

Photos http://www.sihamcraftlink.com/album/recycledpaper/index.htm  These photos are in an album format and the small photos when clicked open to larger photos.


Recycled Paper Group Thailand

It was an adventure before we even visited the recycled paper group , about an hour and a half drive outside of Bangkok, Thailand. After telephoning for numerous directions,and driving up and down narrow streets and over canal bridges, our driver eventually brought us to the house and village where the ladies make the amazing items from recycled telephone books and recycled promotional/ advertising brochures.

We were excitedly met by Rachada Tripobsrisakul, the leader of the recycled paper group. Rachada shared with us that eight years ago she had no work.There was a government teaching programme at the time and she learnt to weave baskets. Her skill and artistic talent developed beyond weaving the basic baskets. Soon she was weaving lizard, butterfly, dragonfly and penguin designs and there was no stopping her!! Her imagination and skill ran wild.

Rachada has taught many people in her village . I had an attempt at step one, rolling one piece of recycled paper onto a length of thin wire. Well, I failed dismally. The paper and the wire has to be at exactly the right angle!! And that is the easy bit before the complexity of weaving amazing life like animal and bird shapes takes place.  After hundreds of strips of rolled wired paper are assembled, they are dyed . Again the imagination can run wild as to what colours will be then used to make that lizard magnet and what colours will be used to make that butterfly magnet ? There were riots of colour. Rachada has trained many ladies and men in her village. It is obvious that different individuals have different skills. We timed Rachada. She wove a lizard magnet in ten minutes! For some of the other ladies they were struggling after half an hour.
When the orders come in, the whole village gets involved. There is a buzz of activity. Craft production in the morning and in the afternoon it is field work . The village is surrounded by rice paddies .

The Recycled Paper Group do not pay for the yellow pages that they artistically recycle but they do pay someone for the collection of unwanted "junk Mail" such as advertising brochures and flyers.
With an array of different recycled paper" critters" on display, it was hard to know what to select to add to the ever popular present range of butterfly, dragonfly and lizard magnets as well as the recycled paper maracas that Siham Craftlink presently sells. It was decided that the frog and ladybird beetle magnets will add a nice diversity to the Siham range this year. As we left the village, we saw an amazing sight. There was a canal that was" jumping" with activity. We were curious. This was a frog farm , and the nets were in place, just as if the villagers were going to trap fish. The Recycled Paper items are purchased through ThaiCraft Association, a non profit Organization. ThaiCraft works in partnership with over 70 community based artisan groups . ThaiCrafts objectives are to promote self-reliance for craftspeople with income generating opportunities and to preserve indigenous craft traditions in Thailand. As a member of the International Federation of Alternate Trade ( IFAT) , ThaiCraft is committed to promoting fair trade practices with a concern for the social, economic and environmental well-being of craft producers.