PHUKET, Racha, Phi Phi and other islands in the Andaman region need to take the advice of the Village People and ''join the Navy.''

One by one, all the livable Andaman islands are being swamped with their own waste. Yet the USS Ronald Reagan, anchored off Phuket, has a similar disposal problem and manages to sail on, without damaging the environment.

No, they don't just throw their rubbish overboard.

There's a plan in place, of the kind that Phuket especially needs if it is to ever overhaul disposal of the waste its residents and visitors produce.
'
Locals on Racha, a much smaller island, have seen the problem growing, too. And now they are volunteering to''join the Navy.''

Sopon Sukkarin, who runs a restaurant, says islanders have contributed 140,000 baht without government help to buy a glass-crushing machine that will reduce waste and use with cement to make paths.

''We need 280 metres of paths so it's good to have recycled material to use,'' he told Phuketwan today.

By the end of the year, having sold plastic waste, locals hope to have 15-20 tie-up marker buoys in place so boats no longer throw their anchors into the sea, damaging coral.

Racha and its appealing coral reefs attract visitors all year long, so rubbish disposal has grown with the island's popularity. The island, though, is pioneering a recycling system for refuse that Phuket would be wise to adopt . . . soon.

More incinerators are not necessarily the whole answer. Reducing and recycling are better for the environment.

The popular holiday island runs the risk of choking in its own waste if something is not done about recycling soon, involving every resident and visitor.

How does the USS Reagan, home to more than 5000 people, manage to sail on, a metallic ''island'' where these kinds of problems are less of a concern?

Here's what the USS Ronald Reagan has to teach Phuket, Racha and Phi Phi about environmental stewardship . . .

''Considering the materials needed to run shipboard equipment and the supplies required to sustain the crew, a large amount of solid waste is produced every day. On an average day, the ship can produce nearly four tons of solid waste.

''The solid waste management process aboard Ronald Reagan starts in each work area throughout the ship where sailors separate their trash into four different categories: plastics, metals (suych as aluminium cans) pulped waste and dunnage.

''Pulped waste can be described as anything able to be pulped or ground small enough to pass through a screen with 12mm openings. Dunnage is classified as anything not pulpable that isn't plastic or metal.

''To help ensure that shipboard trash is properly seaparated, each of the ship's 17 departments assigns an environmental compliance petty officer who verifies that materials such as plastics are bagged separately for processing.

''Plastic materials make up almost 25 percent of the ship's daily solid waste. Therse amterials are never discharged from the ship and are processed with machines called Compressed Melt Units.

''These units help take almost 2000 pounds of daily plastic trash and turni it into storable blocks.''