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How Anne Somanas turns everyday generosity into thriving communities built on purpose and connection.
Some people spend their lives searching for where they belong. Others discover it through the people they meet along the way.
Communities often begin in unexpected places. A shared experience. A conversation. A feeling of not yet fitting into one world or another. Over time, those small connections can grow into something larger, creating spaces where people find support, exchange ideas and build a sense of belonging together.
Alisha “Anne” Somanas moves within that space. Her journey has taken shape through fragments of different experiences, which eventually led to the formation of Bangkok Recycling Chain – a community where belonging and purpose exist side by side. Built on the practices of reducing, reusing and recycling, it has become not just Bangkok’s largest freecycling group, but a place where people support one another with everyday generosity and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing on sustainable lifestyle practices while contributing to something larger than themselves.
Lessons Gathered Along the Way
“I always say that I have a Western mind and a Thai heart. I grew up between the cracks of different cultures.”
Growing up between Thailand and the United States, Anne never felt fully anchored in one identity. Over time, she stopped searching for belonging and began cultivating her own spaces and identities.
“I decided I didn’t need to look for spaces where I belong. I can create my own spaces instead.”
That mindset would later shape the communities she built, but some of the earliest influences came from home. Two grandmothers taught her to see value in the objects people often overlook.
“I grew up with two grandmothers who cared about preserving what they owned. One Swiss. She took good care of everything, whether purses, shoes or clothing. She taught me little tricks for cleaning and maintenance and how to store and keep old objects and belongings in good condition, such as polishing silverware with toothpaste to keep it beautiful and shiny.”
Her grandmother also wore the same well-made tailored pieces for decades, altering them when needed rather than replacing them.
“I also had a Chinese grandmother who kept her old shoes for years because she wanted to pass them on to me and my sister,” she says with a laugh.
Those experiences taught Anne to see objects as carriers of memory, care and meaning, but it was through her work as a journalist that she encountered sustainable practices and the principles of sustainable thought firsthand.
“I joined a press trip to Thailand’s largest hotel, Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park, in 2019, which really brought the point home.”
Anne was introduced to the hotel’s sustainability initiatives and also met chef Daniel Bucher, one of the key figures behind many of the hotel’s programmes, and his approach left a lasting impression.
“He showed me that sustainability doesn’t have to feel restrictive or complicated. He made it feel exciting, practical and meaningful – and most importantly, what is possible when you approach sustainability with intention.”
The experience expanded her understanding of the concept, which was to prove instrumental the following year when the pandemic hit.
The Beginning of Bangkok Recycling Chain
The idea for Bangkok Recycling Chain began during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Like many people, Anne spent months at home ordering food deliveries and watching paper bags and packaging accumulate. Finally in November 2020, as the stack grew larger, she posted a photo in an expat Facebook group and asked if anyone could use them. The response surprised her.
“I got so many messages. In the end, I gave them to a teacher who was making Christmas gift bags for her students.”
The experience sparked a simple idea. If she had paper bags sitting at home, surely other people had useful items they no longer needed as well.
She created a Facebook group where people could give away or exchange reusable items, from paper bags and glass jars to egg cartons and household goods. What began as a small experiment grew into something much larger.
“People were stuck at home, decluttering and looking for ways to connect. The group grew much faster than I expected.”
Thousands joined within the first year. What started with paper bags soon evolved into a community built around everyday sustainability. As restrictions eased, members began asking for opportunities to meet in person. The online network gradually expanded into clothing swap events, flea markets and public forums on topics ranging from sustainable fashion to everyday environmental practices.
The Power of Shared Knowledge
At its core, Bangkok Recycling Chain is not simply a place where people give things away. Anne sees it as a community built around sharing knowledge, resources and practical ways of living more sustainably. She noticed that sustainable living can often feel isolating, especially for people trying to change habits on their own. Anne often hears from members whose families or friends do not fully understand their interest in sustainable living. Within the community, they find people who share similar values and experiences. Having a space where people can ask questions, exchange ideas and learn from one another makes the journey feel more achievable.
“I always say it’s the people who make the group. Without the members, there is no Bangkok Recycling Chain.”
Her background in journalism, translation and interpretation also played an important role in shaping the group.
“As journalists, we gather information, curate and organize it for people. I think that skill helped the community grow because people found it useful.”
Anne noticed that much of Thailand’s sustainability knowledge already existed, yet remained difficult for non-Thai speakers to access.
“A lot of people would say Thailand isn’t sustainable, but that’s not true. Many Thai people have a green heart and care about the environment.”
Anne explains that there are numerous sustainable Thai lifestyle pages, some with hundreds of thousands of followers, but much of the information is not translated into English, and is not immediately accessible to foreigners. Additionally, many local sustainability initiatives, SMEs or startups don’t have the ability or resources to translate all of their efforts and social media posts into English.
“Many foreigners move to Thailand from countries with more developed sustainability infrastructures, and when they arrive, they reach out for knowledge on how to live sustainably and don’t know where to go – I want our group to be that place.”
Using her background in translation and interpretation, she began organising and sharing information about recycling, waste management and sustainable living in English inside the group. Her translations helped international residents better navigate the local sustainability landscape, and Bangkok Recycling Chain eventually became Thailand’s largest English-language Facebook group around sustainable living.
Making Space for More People
The most meaningful part of Bangkok Recycling Chain is not the objects being exchanged but the people behind them. Over the years, Anne has watched the community grow into a thriving space where members find connection, support and a sense of purpose around shared values.
“I’ve seen people form friendships inside the community, or people who have been inspired to form their own sustainability initiatives. I’ve seen friends exchange clothes at our swap events.”
In many ways, it echoes a question she carried from childhood. Where do people go when they want to belong? Today, she has built a space where others can experience that feeling too. Whether through clothing swaps, community events or online conversations, the group offers something beyond sustainability.
“I often refer to our group as a community of kindness. It’s not just a place where people give things away for free, but where they share a spirit of generosity and caring for others and the planet.”
The community is also a place where unused items — many of them still in good condition — find new homes where they can be cherished by new owners, or where old objects find creative new uses.
“One of my friends was moving to Phuket and came to our swap. He found boxing gloves and a scuba diving mask. I thought that was so cool. A lot of the time, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”
Those moments reinforce a simple idea: objects still have value long after their original owners no longer need them.
“As a child, I loved the story of the Velveteen Rabbit — a famous children’s book in the West, and I continue to be inspired by the concept that just because something is old, or has lost its shine, doesn’t mean it’s lost its value. Maybe you have something in your storage that you’ve forgotten about and it’s not being used in any way. If you pass it on to someone else, that person might not need to buy a new object. You extend the life cycle of something that already exists and give it a second life.”
Community building became a thread running through different parts of Anne’s life.
“I call myself a serial community builder. Wherever I’ve seen an empty niche, I’ve often built a community around those needs.”
It eventually led her to create support networks around food allergies and dietary inclusivity. As someone who is gluten intolerant, she recognised a gap that many locals, expats and travellers faced when trying to navigate daily life in Thailand.
“Our Gluten Free Thailand support group on Facebook has around 4,500 members now and every year during the high season for tourism I see hundreds of travellers joining. They’re asking where they can eat safely. Our group provides real-time support, with people in travel destinations commenting around Thailand about safe practices and recommended eating locations.”
Whether the subject is sustainability, food allergies or everyday life in a foreign country, the goal remains the same: making life a little easier for someone else. Again and again, Anne returned to the same realisation: people are often looking for more than information. They are looking for understanding, connection and a place where they feel less alone, and a quality community can provide those things.
Keeping the Door Open
“I hope people remember Bangkok Recycling Chain as something that made the city a little greener and gave people a space for support.”
Maintaining a community is not always easy. It requires constant attention, time and commitment. Yet what keeps Anne going is seeing people who are helped by what the community brings.
“The number one rule is to be kind and respectful to each other. I’ve seen sustainability advocates scare people off because they were so strict about everything. I want our group to be a place where people can find that first small step towards sustainability and sustainable lifestyle practices. On my own, reducing plastic doesn’t make a huge impact. But if many people do it and they inspire others around them, the impact compounds ”
Anne now focuses less on growth and more on maintaining the community’s quality. Clear guidelines, active moderation and a culture of respect have helped create an environment where members feel comfortable contributing.
That philosophy continues to shape the community today. Beyond exchanges and events, Bangkok Recycling Chain continues to be a space where people can learn, connect and support one another. Proof that small acts, repeated often enough, can grow into something much larger.
