Waste Management Under Care the Whale Project: Case Studies of Office Buildings on Ratchadaphisek Road

Abstract

This article examines waste management under the Care the Whale project, a collaborative initiative among office buildings along Ratchadaphisek Road, through four case studies: CW Tower, AIA Capital Centre, SET, and Fortune Town. The problem addressed arises from the volume of waste generated by building users, which increases the overall municipal waste management burden. Data were collected from August 2024 to April 2025 using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study focuses on two main objectives: 1) to understand the concepts and mechanisms for building an environmental collaboration network, and 2) to investigate the waste management processes in each case study under a shared operational framework. The findings show that an organizational network is employed as the core mechanism linking partners from four key sectors under common goals, with the Care the Whale Calculator and knowledge-sharing activities serving as tools for monitoring progress and disseminating best practices. The study also finds that waste management processes differ according to building use, types of building users, and internal management structures, covering steps from policy and target setting, communication, participation, waste sorting and collection, to data recording and reporting. Evidence from the case studies allows the projects to be classified into three developmental levels—basic projects, expansion projects, and efficiency-enhancement projects—which reflect the progression of waste management practices and lead to the formulation of a framework for sustainable waste management in office buildings in Thailand.