Eka Global gears towards green
to get ready for carbon tax in USA, EU
Eka Global emphasizes on its focus on circular economy concept and green products to get ready for carbon tax in US and EU. The company aims to increase income from green products to 30% next year and plans to reduce waste further in its production facility.
Mr. Chaiwat Nantiruj, Eka Global’s Group CEO, said there was high possibility that the US and EU will speed up the enactment of carbon tax. This tax will be collected on volume of greenhouse gas emission from the production process. This type of tax will definitely have unavoidable impact on the export sector worldwide.
The company’s business partners and customers in the US and EU markets have recently sent a signal on their business process improvement in order to reduce emission. Meanwhile, large-scale businesses started to adopt more sustainable business operations. SMEs, which are part of the supply chain of those large businesses, will be affected accordingly.
“The Department of Trade Negotiation recently released the latest information confirming that major trade partner countries, including the US and EU, will increase carbon tax. This move will have strong impact on Thai export sector. It is important for Thai manufacturers and exporters to be prepared,” said Chaiwat.
He suggested the government to help the private sector by building emission database, which will be used as evidence to accompany export document. Current carbon trading price shall be updated to meet with international requirements. This will help reduce tax burden and carbon permit cost paid by Thai manufacturers.
Chaiwat also recommended the private sector to take immediate action to minimize carbon emission in the production process. By adopting circular economy concept, manufacturers shall consider recycling as much as possible. At the same time, they should educate all employees about the benefit of plastic, how to store, separate plastic waste and review the process to add value to plastic waste. This will effectively reduce carbon emission and plastic waste. All these measures are important to enable Thailand to achieve the Net Zero goal.
Realizing this trend, since 2020, Eka global has already introduced the 360-degree green business operations based on circular economy concept. The company plans to review its product portfolio by focusing on three areas, including bioplastic (PLA), biodegradable packaging which is totally made from natural materials and completely biodegradable, plastic packaging made from PCR or resin recycle which will account for 30% of the total sales by 2022-2023. The company also aims to minimize the waste volume.
“We have been focusing on the environment since 2020 and announced a corporate policy to reduce plastic waste, not only in the company, but also in the country. We aim to increase revenue from sales of environmentally friendly products to better meet with the global consumers demand for environmentally friendly products. In 2021, Eka Global successfully developed and introduce three categories of environmentally friendly packaging, and we hope to increase sales revenue from these products in the future,” said Chaiwat.
