Garbage Man Stealing Your Garbage?

[george]

WASTE DISPOSAL: Garbage collection fees hiked to discourage 'theft' of rubbish

BANGKOK: Bangkok residents will have to pay 10-times more for garbage-collection services at the end of this month.

"The ordinance on the new garbage-collection fee takes effect from now," Legal and Litigation Division director Suvit Silathong of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said yesterday.

Under the new rule, the monthly fee jumps from Bt4 to Bt40 per household for garbage below 20 litres a month.

Suvit said households with a higher amount of garbage will have to pay an additional fee of Bt40 for every 20 litres or more of garbage. Those with garbage over 500 litres will be charged Bt2,000 a month.

"The more the garbage, the higher the fee is," he said.

Suvit said the BMA planned to give higher pay to garbage collectors and relevant officials in a bid to prevent them from reselling recyclable garbage for their own

benefits. He said the collected garbage belonged to the BMA.

"Officials found reselling the garbage will face theft charges," he said.

--The Nation 2004-03-27

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Watch out George...they're on to you

[Suzy]

In my house the garbage collector gets paid 20 Baht a quarter and any other officials turning up on the doorstep, flapping bits of paper get turned away. Scavengers are welcomed as they make less mess than the garbage collectors!

[george]

GARBAGE COLLECTION: Massive fee hike

Bangkok residents will have to pay a minimum monthly fee of Bt40

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok residents will be hit with a minimum monthly garbage-collection fee of Bt40 by the end of the month, a 10-fold increase on the current charge.

Residents of the capital currently pay Bt4 a month for garbage collection while provincial residents have been paying Bt40 since 2002, when the Ministry of Public Health approved the fee hike.

“At that time, the Bangkok governor and the BMA [bangkok Metropolitan Administration] board didn’t increase the rate because of political reasons. They were afraid that the hike would result in a public backlash,” said BMA permanent secretary Nattanon Thawisin.

“Now we must raise the rate because the cost of garbage collection and eradication is higher. In fact, Bt40 a month is still not enough,” she added.

Under the new regulation, households with garbage below 20 litres a month will have to pay Bt40, while households with a higher amount will have to pay an additional Bt40 for every extra 20 litres.

Households with more than 500 litres will, therefore, be charged Bt2,000 a month.

There will also be an additional fee of Bt300 a month for toxic waste.

Director-general of the Public Cleansing Department, Taweesak Dejdecho, said 30 per cent of total revenue would be paid to garbage collectors in a bid to stop them harassing residents for extra money and selling recyclable garbage.

The new rate should also spur Bangkok residents into reducing their amount of waste, he said.

“We will hand out notifications to Bangkok people in 15 days. Anyone who disagrees can appeal at the district office,” Taweesak added.

Marisa, a Bangkok resident, said garbage collectors used to knock on her door and ask for Bt10 or Bt20 or more. She hopes that paying the new fee will stop that practice.

Sudarat Keaochaum, another Bangkok resident, said the BMA should use the extra revenue to improve its garbage-collection service, such as better frequency and punctuality.

--The Nation 2004-03-11

[et33.com]

i say

how does one measure the

"""garbage below 20 litres a month"""

who measures and by what container standard etc...

etc...

etc...

[penzman]

It is measured by keeping count of rodent and roach traffic!

[eric1000]

expect more illegal tipping and burning of rubbish producing toxic clouds

[george]

Collectors face ban on recycling rubbish

Salary increases to fall short of cash earned trading items found in refuse

BANGKOK: City garbage collectors will be banned from selling rubbish to recycling shops once the city's 10-fold increase in collection fees takes effect.

They expect their income will fall, even though the city plans to pay them a bonus to compensate.

Under the new ordinance, households paying four baht a month to get 20 litres of garbage collected will have to pay 40 baht. A business entity or market operator paying 40 baht a month for 500-1,000 litres of garbage will have to pay 2,000 baht. Excessive volumes will be liable to additional charges.

Thawisak Dejdecho, chief of the Public Cleansing Department, said the bonus is meant to stop garbage collectors selling waste because that process delayed their work.

``Payments from the city should also stop them demanding extra fees from the public,'' he said.

The garbage collectors' bonus will consume 30% of annual revenue, or about 600 million baht, he said.

Though city governor Samak Sundaravej promised to give each of the 15,000 collectors an extra 3,000 baht a month, Mr Thawisak was unable to confirm the figure, indicating they might get only 1,500 baht each.

``Moreover, the bonus is performance-based. Those often absent from work will not get it,'' he said.

Mr Thawisak said collectors who continued to sell garbage or charge householders extra fees would be penalised.

City garbage collectors interviewed by the Bangkok Post said they would comply with the order, even though they will earn less.

Collectors said extra income from selling recycled waste ranged from 80 baht to 200 baht per night.

One collector said the new regulations may compel him to borrow from a loan shark to meet family expenses.

The extra 80 baht a night, he said, helped cover his children's meals and other needs.

``I get a salary of only 4,000 baht. This extra cash from recycle shops helps me survive day to day,'' he said.

Many householders found the new fees acceptable.

``My employers have no problem paying a monthly fee of 40 baht or more. Garbage collectors deserve more,'' said Rath Wannogo, 35, a domestic helper in the Yan Nawa area of Sathorn district.

Ngek Jareechaiyothin, a housewife in the same area, said she did not mind a garbage collector asking for a monthly tip.

``They never force me to pay. It is a matter of generosity,'' she said. She pays her garbage collector 200 baht every month.

An environmentalist, however, doubts whether the new ordinance would lead to greater efficiency as long as the city administration bars the public from participating in waste management.

Matthana Thanomphan, secretary-general of the Thai Environmental & Community Development Foundation, better known as ``Magic Eyes,'' linked efficiency in waste management to a decrease in waste generated in the environment.

She has no objection to the hike in collection fees, which she says are still too low.

``City residents have no idea that they are paying unrealistically low fees and the administration has to spend about three billion baht a year to absorb treatment costs,'' she said.

Ms Matthana said the administration should come up with incentives to encourage the public to minimise waste, such as reducing the collection fee for households that put out less waste, and start charging rates that cover treatment costs.

Ms Matthana said households should pay at least 120 baht a month as it costs about four baht to treat the kilogramme of waste which each person generates in a day. Collectors, she said, should be allowed to sort and sell the garbage since the process complements waste recycling.

--Bangkok Post 2004-03-15

[george]

One day in the life of a garbage truck team

It's dirty work, but there's a lot of job satisfaction

BANGKOK: -- Pichet Saraphi, driver of garbage truck No 1477, does not mind cockroaches, rats, smelly waste and any other kind of dirt that normally turns people away. It is all part of his daily life to clear the stuff from the road, and make the city look clean.

He works with a four-member team in Phra Nakhon district, base for 30 garbage trucks.

Work starts at 11 pm. The first ``garbage collection spot'' is on Tanao road, near Khao San road.

``There is an old electric fan in the heap. It could fetch at least 60 baht at the recycling shop,'' Apichart Yaemmun tells members of his team.

Apichart functions as a ``server'' who lines up heavy garbage bins and moves them one by one to the waiting truck.

The other three collectors quickly sort garbage deemed recyclable, throwing it into separate bags for sale to the shops. Non-recyclable garbage such as biowaste is thrown into its proper slot on the truck, bound for the garbage transfer station in Nong Khaem district.

They work in an environment that is anything but pleasant. Leachate from garbage bins drips on the road surface. Garbage gives off its signature acrid smell. Cockroaches pop up from a rubbish bin, and try to creep back into a garbage heap.

The men clean the dirt, sweep the road, wash away the leachate. That done, the 1477 team is ready to move to the next collection spot.

In two and a half hours, the team manages to collect 5,320 kilogrammes or 5.3 tonnes of garbage. The volume is still trivial compared to the 9,000 tonnes which Bangkok residents produce daily.

At 2am, Mr Pichet stops the truck at a recycling shop on Buddha Monthon III road. That night the team gets about 500 baht from selling recycled garbage. Some teams can fetch around 1,200-2,000 baht a night if they encounter ``valuable'' garbage such as plastic bottles, aluminium cans, and metal pieces.

Those items can usually be found in districts where office buildings, factories and housing estates are based, such as Bang Rak, Sathorn and Wattana.

Other good areas are Bang Na and Phra Khanong where factories and house owners usually throw away reusable paper, metal and plastic.

The 500 baht they earn that night was divided between Mr Pichet and the rest of the team.

``A salary alone is not enough for us. It costs me 3,000 baht a month just to pay the rent,'' he says.

The driver gets 6,000 baht a month while other members of the team get 4,000 baht each. According to the book Khon Kui Kaya(Garbage Collectors) by Suwat Kongpaen, a garbage team can make 800-1,500 baht a night from recycled waste. This means extra cash of 5,000-7,000 baht a month each.

From the recycling shop, the 1477 team heads to the garbage transfer station in Nong Khaem district.

At 3.30am, Mr Pichet unloads the remaining waste onto the ground for people from the so-called ``garbage community''. They scramble for the waste in the hope of finding something valuable. The team knocks off at 4am.

``I plan to drive the truck until retirement. Garbage collecting may be a low-level job but it is secure. The city administration covers my family's medical expenses. My daughter gets free schooling at the city school,'' says Mr Pichet, 39.

It is not the waste that gets him down, he said, but people's negative attitude towards garbage collectors.

``They do not care how tired we are or how we feel inhaling the smell of garbage,'' said Mr Pichet. ``I just hear people saying the city garbage collectors smell so bad,'' he says.

It is almost dawn when he leaves work, but his duties are not yet over.

``Not before I send my little daughter to school,'' says Mr Pichet.

--Bangkok Post 2004-03-15