Higher education is one of the significant stakeholder to play an important role in fostering sustainable development goals. Mahidol University is a comprehensive university in Thailand, which strives to be a leader on sustainability in responding to the United Nation 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals. Therefore, Mahidol University sustainability strategy, which consists of 4 key areas as a framework including 1) research and innovation for sustainability 2) education for sustainability 3) community and social engagement for sustainability 4) operations for sustainability was established. The implementation of Mahidol University sustainability strategy demonstrates many successful activity programs, which can be a robust model to other university.

Mahidol University is the leader of sustainable higher education institute of Thailand, which has been transformed to be “A promise place to live and learn together with nature”. In order to reach the sustainable development goals, the sustainability strategy was implemented through research, innovation, education, operation, and community engagement. The circular economy concept by closing loop of waste generation from the campus activity was presented. The organic waste management by segregations of food waste and yard waste through the fermentation process was implemented. The recycle waste bank program has been initiated with in campus and primary school outside. The cooperation platform with private sector in order to build a network on waste management was developed as incentives to reduce household waste.

The main objective of this research was to study the factors influencing the science and environment of education program for blind students at the elementary level. This research used mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative approaches), specifically a questionnaire survey was conducted to better understand the current situation on Science and Environmental Education Learning among 192 blind students in 14 primary schools for the blind in Thailand and in-depth interviews with the directors, science and Environmental teachers, and students’ parents, 30 interviewees in total. The data were collected and analyzed into frequency and percentage (and K-means clustering) using SPSS software. The research findings from data collection from 192 blind students illustrated that the importance of facilitator that involve teaching materials (43%) was support appropriate to Science and Environmental Education teaching materials for blind students, 34% students had a good relationship with their classmates and teachers. A total of (32%) were provided more Braille textbooks for Science and Environmental Education teaching. K-means cluster analysis showed four clusters of science and environmental education learning blind students. The study concluded that the factors influencing effectiveness of science and environmental education learning of blind students consisted of facilitators, the creation of scientific learning processes, media and technology as the medium for communicating scientific knowledge, appropriate curriculum for blind students, and cognitive abilities of blind students in physical, mental, intelligence, and emotion terms.

Mahidol University is one of the leading sustainable universities in Thailand, which recognizes the importance of combining actions to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (17 Sustainable Development Goals: 17 SDGs) and the concept of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. The eco-university and sustainability policy was launched and implemented in 2021 in order to reach the 17 SDGs. Transportation is one of the important issues of campus development. In order to reduce the greenhouse gas emission from private fossil based fuel transportation, the public transportation both inside and outside the campus area is provided including electric tram, shuttle bus and public bicycle. An Electric cart with solar energy was initiated and used on campus. Walking and cycling as primary means for commuting on campus have been promoted by reduction of vehicle traffic. Cycling lanes are improved and bicycle racks are provided around the campus. Around more than 10,000 bicycles including more than 500 public bicycles were used on campus. The parking areas were constructed and adjusted into green open spaces. Many outdoor spaces are created to support various kinds of activities and gatherings enhancing liveliness and variety to campus lifeKeyword: Mahidol University, Mobility, Transportation, Green area, Sustainability campus

Mahidol University is one of the most environmentally friendly university in Thailand. The eco-university policy for sustainable development on campus and in the surrounding community has been implemented in order to balance of economic, social and environmental dimensions which will lead to efficient use of resources, social equality and improved quality of life of staff, students and the surrounding community. Water management of MU, Salaya campus is one of the successful case studies. Approximately 60% of the 1,867,792 square meters of campus was allocated for the green and water reservation areas including horizontal garden, vertical garden, botanic garden, original wetland, ditch and pond. The RINGLOOP project was installed in order to improve the performance of water distribution. The central wastewater treatment plant with activated sludge system has been constructed. The water conservation program with 100% of treated wastewater recyclable is implemented

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), by and large, have increasingly committed to integrate sustainable development (SD) into their policies, practices, and programs. Recently, there have been several sustainability assessment tools specifically developed for HEIs. Many HEIs, especially small-to-middle sized HEIs in Thailand, are planning to enhance SD but are reluctant due to resource requirements. This study was conducted to investigate important sustainability implementation issues, including the effect of HEI sizes and UI GreenMetric participation. A weighting approach on sustainability dimensions and issues was utilized, and HEI’s sustainability reports and official websites were reviewed to evaluate their sustainability performance of large-, middle-, and small-sized HEIs as well as UI GreenMetric participants and non-participants in Thailand. The findings reveal that the issues of the sustainability-integrated vision and strategy, safety and well-being, waste, and the SD-enhancing educational system were fundamentally critical for HEI sustainability. Moreover, most of the large-sized HEIs in Thailand that participated in UI GreenMetric were evaluated to have higher sustainability performance than others, apparently in administration, environment, and education/research dimensions. This study supports the necessity for a sustainability assessment tool for HEIs.

This research illustrates an enhancing eco-efficiency of kitchen furniture product by using the Ten Golden Rules for Eco-Design. The primary data of energy consumption and materials used entire the product life cycle were gathered. The greenhouse gas emissions entire the product life cycle were then evaluated in the unit of kilogram carbon dioxide equivalent (kg CO2 eq.). The evaluated data were analyzed and combined with the Ten Golden Rules for Eco-Design concept in order to develop the new model of Green kitchen furniture. The eco-efficiency of Green kitchen furniture design was assessed and compared with the old kitchen furniture design. It can be seen that the Green kitchen furniture can reduce the greenhouse gas emission in the raw material stage 33.73 kg CO2 eq., manufacturing stage 29.22 kg CO2 eq., end of life stage 0.42 kg CO2 eq. Moreover, 31.9% of recyclable materials were replaced. These leads to the 6,657 baht of cost reduction and 1.46 times of eco-efficiency increase. The results from this study demonstrated the balancing between economic and environmental dimensions, which was carried out by the implementation of product eco-design concept. It was very useful for the further environmentally product development, market competitiveness, and sustainability consumption.

Agro-tourism is an alternative type of tourism utilizing agricultural sites and activities. The amount of agro-tourism investment in Thailand has been increasing each year in line with the concerns of tourists regarding agriculture and the environment. In order to enhance the ability of agro-tourism to be both profitable and environmental-friendly, an eco-efficiency measurement was conducted. Farm Chokchai, considered as an agro-tourism site, was selected as the focus of this case study of the eco-efficiency measurement. Indicators for the measurement included environmental influences which were energy, material, water, solid waste, and greenhouse gas emission. Economic values, including net sales and numbers of tourists, were set for the calculations. Activities were specifically allocated for the effectiveness of the measurement. The outcome of the study could be useful for the practice of agro-tourism by service providers and other types of tourism service providers who wish to operate in a correct manner with regards to eco-tourism, and may enhance the capability of reaching the goal of sustainable tourism.

Considering the history of cleaner production in the Asia-Pacific region, there have been sustained efforts to develop cleaner production techniques and also techniques for sustainability assessment to ensure that the desired benefits from cleaner production are actually achieved. Two conferences, the Asia Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (APRSCP) and the International Conference on Green and Sustainable Innovation (ICGSI) have been organized regularly to bring together experts on cleaner production as well as assessment. Papers presented at these events form part of this special volume along with some invited papers from outside. The papers cover a wide range of topics under the cleaner production umbrella including product and process development and innovation, environmental assessments including carbon footprint, water footprint, life cycle assessment and more comprehensive sustainability assessment including socio-economic issues along with environmental ones. The papers in this special volume reflect the status of green and sustainable innovation for cleaner production in the Asia-Pacific region. The studies in this volume demonstrate Asian examples of the development of innovative technologies and the application of life cycle thinking-based assessment techniques, including those that are well-established and emerging ones.

Eco-efficiency is a tool for the analysis of the sustainability of industries, which indicates the economic relationship and environmental impact. This research presents the development of eco-efficiency indicators for quantitative measurement of the wooden toy industry, as well as the raw material suppliers who are a part of the supply chain. The eco-efficiency of the wooden toy industry was measured by using the key indicators of the three axes of sustainable development, which are (i) economic indicator: net sale and gross margin, (ii) environmental indicator: material, energy, water consumption, waste disposal, and (iii) social indicator: frequency rate of accidents, local employment, and corporate social responsibility. Moreover, the combined eco-efficiency evaluation of the supplier and company showed that the company’s eco-efficiency has likely increased during 2 years of observation, while the eco-efficiency of the supplier-company combination has decreased. The evaluation of socio-eco-efficiency results showed that the company has acquired a socially supportive management system at the company level, community level, and social level. This research can contribute to the improvement of the resource and process efficiencies in economic, environmental, and social dimensions. It can also provide a basic framework on eco-efficiency evaluation for the small and medium enterprises in Thailand, which will feed into policy and strategic development.

The training program on industrial ecology and environment hosted by Mahidol University is designed to provide an understanding of the principles concept and practice of industrial ecology, which had a benefits directly to the sustainable development of industrial sectors in Asia. In 2011, the problem based training was firstly applied as a main idea for designing the course structure of the 3rd international training course on industrial ecology. Three modules, which are in class learning, field study (learning by doing), and group discussion (analysis and synthesize idea), were offered as a framework for this course. There are 14 participants from 9 participating countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East that joined this training program. Sustainability management of the Northern Region Industrial Estate (NRIE) and community area were delivered as a project study, which referred to the three main issues of the focused area including water quality of the Kuang river, soil contaminated problem, and community feedback to the NRIE. The results from the training program revealed that industrial activities in the NRIE did not affect the water quality of Kuang river and soil quality around NRIE area. In addition, the local people who live within or near that area have positive attitude towards the NRIE. This training approach was a challenge for the majority of participants who had not previously been exposed to it. Participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Participant satisfaction with the training program had a mean score of 4.92 (out of 5) with all participants agreeing or strongly agreeing with using the problem based training methodology, which can delivered the transdisciplinarity between academics and practitioners, self-regulated learning, and collaboration.

Imitating the natural eco-system, the eco-industrial estates emerged as one of effective ways to manage industrial systems. Aiming to create a sustainable industrial ecosystem required balancing of demand and supply of materials, energy, and wastes. Eco-industrial estate development strategies initiated by the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) were announced to industrial estates and public, which consisted of 5 aspects and 22 areas and claimed as business model initiatives. At the present, industrial estates throughout the country are being transformed to eco-industrial estate and network. Preliminary study on the Community-Based-Eco-Industrial Estate (CBEIE) development of Northern Region Industrial Estate (NRIE), Thailand was focused. Findings from the survey, suggestions and improvement needs were recommended by respondents in order to build stakeholders’ trust and to balance their mutual benefits for further CBEIE development of NRIE.

The mechanical properties of brittle polymers are improved by blending with rubbers. Due to C C in the rubber structure, polymer/rubber blends have poor thermal and oxidative resistance. In this research, the mechanical and physical properties including the morphology of poly(methyl methacrylate-co-styrene) sheet modified by blending with hydrogenated natural rubber were investigated. The optimum styrene content in copolymer sheets for improving the mechanical properties was 20% (w/w) and inclusion of hydrogenated natural rubber at 1% (w/w) exhibited a higher thermal resistance. This implies that hydrogenated natural rubber can be used as an impact modifier and thermal resistance improver for acrylic plastics.

The objective of this study is to produce biodiesel from grease/oil rich sludge which was trapped from the canteen of Mahidol University’s Salaya campus. The biodiesel was produced through the process of transesterification reaction in the presence of an acidic catalyst of concentrated sulfuric acid. 100% excess ethanol was used to accomplish the reaction at the molecular ratio of 30:1 (ethanol to grease) at 90C for 90 minutes. The finished product contained 95.17% biodiesel by volume with an API gravity value of 0.90 g/cm3 at 15C, a viscosity value of 8.69 mm2/s at 40C, a flash point value of 184C, and a heat value of 9,685.35 cal/g. The blending with petroleum based diesel or baseline diesel (commercial diesel) at the proportions of 5, 10, 15, and 20 percent showed no statistical significant difference at the 0.05 level. In addition, the engine performance of the blends had slightly higher engine torque and engine power than baseline diesel. In conclusion, this study found that the conversion of the canteen’s trap grease into ethyl ester had the potential to be a diesel substitute, particularly at the blending ration of 15%.

Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate (MTPIE), located in Rayong province, eastern of Thailand, was developed by the state enterprise, Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, Ministry of Industry, to serve industries that use natural gas as the main raw material development. This research presents the eco-efficiency evaluation of the petroleum and petrochemical group (PP) in the MTPIE. There are 31 factories in the PP group, which can be divided into three categories: upstream, intermediate, and downstream. The eco-efficiency values of the PP group were evaluated according to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development recommendations. The comparison of eco-efficiency values between three industrial categories in the PP group demonstrates that factories in the downstream category obtained particularly good eco-efficiency results concerning material consumption, water use, and hazardous waste generation. The eco-efficiency trends of the PP group were simply analyzed by snapshot graph. With the availability of the data on environmental indicator, the water use indicator was selected to be an example indicator for analyzing the eco-efficiency trends of the PP group. The eco-efficiency snapshot concerning the net sale and water use during the year of 2003–2005 showed that the eco-efficiency trends of the PP group in the MTPIE shifted from half eco-efficient in 2004 to fully eco-efficient in 2005. This research can provide a basic framework on eco-efficiency evaluation for the industrial sector in Thailand, which will feed into strategic development, and would enable public participation in the discussion on branch developments and contributions to national trends.

Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate (MTPIE), the biggest petroleum and petrochemical industrial estate of Thailand, is located in Rayong province, east of Thailand. MTPIE applied the concept of by product exchange (BPX) and eco-efficiency (EE) into the actions with the objectives of improving environmental performances and industrial competitiveness toward to the goal of sustainable development. In order to reach to sustainability goal, industrial waste is the one important key environmental category, which can increase the efficiency of resource by reuse, recycling and recovery. This paper aims to present the quantitative assessment of industrial waste generated from each industrial groups in the MTPIE, which has become critical for both researchers and practitioners. Quantification diagram of industrial waste in MTPIE was developed to identify the waste characteristics and amount of industrial waste generation. The quantitative circulation performances of industrial waste, which are recyclable waste ratio (RWR), total CO2 reduction ratio (CRR), and landfill reduction rate (LRR), were evaluated. The results show that the utility group generated the highest amount of industrial waste in MTPIE and demonstrated the highest values of RWR and LRR. The research can provide the framework for quantitative evaluation of industrial waste in macro level, which could lead to the development of eco-efficiency indicators for measure the eco-industrial estate performances in near future.

Eco-efficiency is an instrument for sustainability analysis of industry, indicating an empirical relation in economic activities between environmental cost or value and environmental impact. The development of eco-efficiency indicators for assessment of Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate (MTPIE) in Thailand is presented. MTPIE locates in Rayong province, eastern of Thailand. It was developed by the state enterprise, Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), Ministry of Industry, to serve industries that use natural gas as the main raw material development. Regarding to the expansion of industry in MTPIE area, the development of eco-industrial estate and networks project in MTPIE began in 2000 in order to develop the industries in harmony with environment and society. A recent study of the eco-efficiency indicators in MTPIE area has been initiated by the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) with the corporation of Mahidol University and IEAT. The industries in MPTIE area were divided in 5 groups, which are Petroleum and Petrochemical group, Chemical group, Iron and Steel group, Industrial Gas group, and Utility group. The material and product flow diagrams were established in order to study the relationship of each industrial group in MPTIE. The Eco-Forum meeting has been started to develop the corporation among industries in MPTIE area. The eco-efficiency evaluation results show that the eco-efficiency values of the PP group were mostly higher than those of other groups. The gross margin eco-efficiency values were lower than that of net sale eco-efficiency values. Cost and the fluctuations of raw material price were observed as the main influence factors for the decrease of gross margin eco-efficiency value. The eco-efficiency trends of industrial sectors in MTPIE were simply analyzed by using the snapshot monograph. The eco-efficiency snapshot concerning gross margin and water use during the period of 2003 to 2005 showed that the eco-efficiency trends of industrial sectors in the MTP area shifted from half eco-efficiency level in the year 2004 to fully eco-efficiency level in the year 2005. The research can provide a basic framework on eco-efficiency evaluation for the industrial sectors in Thailand, which will feed into strategic development and would enable further development to be as a useful tool for industrial assessment. It also could be used to examine alternative governmental policies in the same way that companies rate product alternatives, which tells little about the direction of progress toward the goal of sustainable development.

This paper presents the eco-efficiency assessment of the pulp and paper industry in Myanmar by using the key indicators such as raw material consumption, energy consumption, total waste output, water consumption, and CO2 emissions. The study was carried out by using quantitative methods for data analysis of the production, consumptions and emissions from fiscal year 2001–2005. The results revealed that the level of economic and environmental performance using the eco-efficiency ratio for each fiscal year has decreased since year 2002, and factory tried to increase the level of eco-efficiency again in year 2005. There was the positive aspect that factory could optimize the waste utilization by transferring lime mud to the cement factory in the last two fiscal years. This analysis showed the root causes that led to the losses of material, energy and water consumption and discussed how to conserve those utilities.