Thanks to the collaboration between SCGP and the Dairy Farming Promotion Organization of Thailand (DPO), Thai-Denmark is the first brand to have used paper straws from a local producer in Thailand. The innovative straw appears on shelves alongside Thai-Denmark’s Lactose-Free UHT Milk. Deputy Director-General of DPO* Mr. Suchart Chariyalertsak is here with a LOT to talk about the beginning of this partnership as well as his organization’s missions.

*His position at the time of the interview (24 August 2021)

Missions for Thai Farmers

DPO has two main missions. The first is to promote dairy farming. Not only that DPO has educated dairy farmers about useful knowledge, but it has also provided comprehensive support. For example, DPO has even handled cow-milk breeding and offered to buy cow milk from farmers at a guaranteed price. The second mission is to operate a milk business under Thai-Denmark brand.

“Our milk business has bought 700 tons of cow milk a day. The volume accounts for 20 percent of the country’s total cow-milk purchase volume. So, we are Thailand’s biggest cow-milk buyer. We have now operated five factories across Thailand, processing cow milk into milk products. Even during the COVID-19 crisis, we have continued to buy cow milk from farmers despite impacts on our operations,” Mr. Suchart said.

“We have intended to establish DPO as a well-loved organization among farmers as well as consumers. In the UHT milk sector, we have been Thailand’s Most Admired Brand for two consecutive years already. Moreover, Thai-Denmark is the leader in the general-milk segment that covers fresh milk, sweetened flavored milk, and chocolate milk. We have two major product categories. The first covers UHT products while the other presents pasteurized milk, yoghurt, and ice cream,” he continued.

Change Today for Better Tomorrow

After DPO established its subcommittee on corporate governance, social responsibility and environmental responsibility two years ago, it began studying eco-friendly packaging. Around that time, the Cabinet passed a resolution to cancel the use of four plastic products including plastic straws. DPO thus decided to consult SCGP about the feasibility of developing paper straws for Thai-Denmark milk.

“The consultation led to serious R&D. SCGP dispatched its team to our factory to experiment with its prototypes. Paper straws needed for our products must be bendable so that they can be conveniently affixed to milk cartons. As paper-straw production cost is significantly higher than plastic straws, we have introduced paper straws for our lactose-free products first,” Mr. Suchart explained.

“SCGP is the first Thai company to have successfully produced such bendable paper straws. After this innovation hit the market, it has received good feedback. It is widely praised on social media. We are proud that our consumers have shown their support for our environmental care. At present, the government has also promoted environmental causes and encouraged state enterprises to integrate the Circular Economy concept into their operations,” he added.

“Eco-Friendly Innovations,” the Endless Collaboration

The bendable paper straws are part of the output from DPO x SCGP collaborations. Named a DPO business partner, SCGP has worked with DPO on many plans for the public and the environment.

“We have recognized SCGP potential. SCGP is exemplary in regard to organizational-management tools and efficiency-enhancement approaches. It has been widely accepted among state enterprises and business organizations. We are proud to have SCGP as our partner,” Mr. Suchart said.

“In the future, we hope SCGP will help ensure paper-straw production cost get more affordable, so that we can introduce such eco-friendly choice to our other products too. If we can reduce the use of plastic straws further or even stop the use, we will be able to reduce a huge amount of waste,” he continued.

“You may notice that Thai-Denmark has already introduced eco-friendly packages for our new UHT Milk products-UHT taro-flavored milk and Maha Chanok Mango-flavored milk. Launched on 12 August 2021, these two new products are in “SIGNATURE Full Barrier” cartons. In other words, their packages are 69 percent of paper, 25 percent of PE Material, and 6 percent of aluminum. The PE material here is made of biological compounds, produced from pine oil. Curbing carbon-dioxide emissions, pine trees are replaceable. Such cartons are therefore 94 percent friendly to the environment. They have to contain aluminum because the substance is critical to food preservation. Thai-Denmark is the first brand to use such eco-friendly cartons. This is because we have made it a major policy to be kind to the environment,” Mr. Suchart concluded.