Tighter rules for electronic waste planned: Thailand

[webfact]

RULES
Tighter rules for electronic waste planned
The Nation

Household trash to be included

BANGKOK: -- THE INDUSTRIAL Works Department is planning to place household electrical and electronic devices under the Dangerous Materials Act.

The move is designed to tackle illegal scavenging of electronic waste, after reports from many areas of health and environmental threats from such activity.

Department chief Nattapol Nattasomboon said yesterday that many communities, especially in the Northeast, were improperly separating and disposing of electrical appliances and electronic gadgets.

He said these items were, in many cases, sold to junk traders or scavengers who then stripped the devices for valuable parts such as metal and copper.

They then deposited the remains of the devices in community dumpsites where the garbage was burned, resulting in pollution and health threats to surrounding communities.

In the past, there was no law to control activities of householders who made a living by separating and disposing of this type of garbage, Nattapol said.

So he had proposed to the Hazardous Substances Control Committee that it consider including such devices owned by households in the Dangerous Materials Act's third category.

This would require people handling the disposal of electrical gadgets and electronic waste to obtain permission and be properly registered. They could then carry out such activities safely, minimising the impact on health and the environment.

The Dangerous Materials Act normally enforces activities of factories that manufacture or dispose of electronic waste, he explained.

If this addition to the regulations were approved it could prevent the illegal or improper disposal of this type of garbage.

Masses disposed

According to the Industrial Works Department, 20.88 million electrical and electronic devices were disposed of last year.

They included 9.14 million landline telephones, 2.43 million television sets, 3.3 million portable audio and video players, 1.99 million personal computers, 1.5 million fax machines, 710,000 air-conditioners and 872,000 refrigerators.

Earlier, it was reported that 67 per cent of residents of tambon Khok Sa-ard in Kalasin's Khong Chai sub-district, who for the past two decades have been disassembling old electronic devices and selling the recyclable parts for money, had developed health problems from exposure to and substandard disposal of such waste.

Random blood tests last year found that 21 of the 129 small children tested had a worrying level of lead concentration in their blood, while three of 89 adults tested showed the same problem.


-- The Nation 2014-05-28

[JRSoul]

How to solve a problem, make a new regulation. Good luck with that.

[Pib]

Good to see Thailand thinking about moving into the 20th century regarding waste disposal laws/regulations...next stop the 21st century (eventually).

[scrapman]

But what will happen to the harmful residues left by the licensed operators that they cannot sell. Ie CRTS. That is cathode ray tubes from old tvs and computers. Also the millions of flouescent tubes used here looks like someone here has looked at the WEEE.directive in Europe. .As with all recycling this needs massive injection of cash with little return on investment.

[Thai at Heart]

But what will happen to the harmful residues left by the licensed operators that they cannot sell. Ie CRTS. That is cathode ray tubes from old tvs and computers. Also the millions of flouescent tubes used here looks like someone here has looked at the WEEE.directive in Europe. .As with all recycling this needs massive injection of cash with little return on investment.

Thailand already has a massive private recycling industry. Nothing of any value goes to waste.

[scrapman]

We're not talking paper and plastic bottles here. They can can get all the metals out of appliances. But the cost of setting up the infrastructure to to safely reuse plastic from say a radio. Or tubes from tvs. Took Europe 5 years to implement. Yes I'msure Thailand has a massive recycling private program with motorcycles emptying bins for plastic in the middle of the night .A needle in a haystack for the waste this country produces.just go take a look at their landfill tips..I am a retired waste management consultant with letters after my name but I know you will not know what they mean. So I await the comments