Mr. Frye traveled to major cities within Thailand like Phuket, Bangkok, Udon Thani, and Chiang Mai to talk to several companies regarding joint ventures with companies in the US to kickstart the industry in Thailand. “ It was really motivating for me to see the sheer interest in the utilization of industrial hemp products by some major companies there in Thailand”, said Mr. Frye.
Meeting in Chiang Mai with ThaiTex
He actually spoke to major plastic companies, like ThaiTex, who are very interested in finding an alternative product to replace some of the plastics that they produce. Thailand and other Asia Pacific countries are well aware of the plastic problem that they have, and are looking for a solution. Callmetum, a spokesman for the (Hemp) division of the company, said, “ I think that this is a great opportunity to merge expertise from the United States with the eagerness to get away from plastics here in Thailand”. Mr. Frye teamed up with a hemp company based out of New York State called Buffalo Hemp Company to introduce biodegradable hemp products to replace plastic to some of the companies there in Thailand in an effort to kickstart the removal of single use plastics from the product stream there in Thailand. Mr. Matthew Mackintosh, CEO of Buffalo Hemp Company stated, “Buffalo Hemp company is set up to be the leader in the green movement towards eliminating single use plastics.”