Mammoth clean-up begins at Sanam Luang

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Mammoth clean-up begins at Sanam Luang

By Kasamakorn Chanwanpen 
The Nation 

 

Garbage collectors in front of Satriwithaya School sort out a mass of trash collected from areas near the Royal Cremation grounds before taking them to a disposal plant in Nong Khaem District. Photo Kasamakorn Chanwanpen

 

THOUSANDS OF tonnes of waste is estimated to have been produced around the Royal Cremation grounds at Sanam Luang after hundreds of thousands of mourners camped there since Tuesday to attend the Royal Cremation.

 

A BMA garbage collector Sarayut Phiewkham, however, estimated that thousands of tonnes of litter had been removed from the area and taken to a garbage disposal plant in Nong Khaem District during the past four days.

 

Sarayuth said he had arrived at this estimation as follows: in the past few weeks, around five to 10 garbage trucks from each of the 50 districts in Bangkok had been fully employed; each truck has a five-tonne capacity and all had made a couple of trips every day from Sanam Luang to the disposal plant.

 

“We work in shifts around the clock to take care of the garbage. There are three shifts covering 24 hours,” he said. “So, I estimated that in this past weeks there have been tonnes of garbage for sure.”

 

Most of the waste left over from the past few weeks had been plastic, Sarayuth said, and much of the rest would be food scraps.

 

To anyone worried about such a large quantity of rubbish posing a threat to the environment, the veteran garbage collector said that each type of waste would be sorted at the disposal plants and they would be dealt with differently.

 

“We have private companies to take them from the plants,” Sarayuth said. “Plastic would be melted and then recycled and food scraps would be sent to auction. They would be turned into animal feed or fertiliser.”

 

He added that other types of garbage such as paper would be incinerated. 

 

Anything remaining that cannot be used would be buried at a site in Phetchaburi’s Kampang Saen District, he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30330257

 

 

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