Isaan villages face threat of e-waste

[webfact]

Isaan villages face threat of e-waste
Wisit Pipatthanapongchai
The Nation


file photo

Specialist warns Kalasin and Buri Ram villages facing same fate as China's Guiyu

BANGKOK: -- Two villages in Isaan are following in the footsteps of Guiyu, a Chinese town believed to have the largest electronic waste (e-waste) on earth, an expert warned yesterday.

Dr Panet Manomaiwiboon, a specialist in natural resources and environmental management at Mae Fah Luang University, who is on a panel drafting e-waste legislation, has urged authorities to crack down on dangerous e-waste separation practices at the two villages in the Thai Northeast.

If they didn't, he said people living in Kongchai district in Kalasin and a village in Ban Mai Chaiyapoj in Buri Ram, plus nearby areas would face the same fate as those living in Guiyu, in Guangdong.

Panet said that with fast-changing and more advanced technology, developed countries were discarding older electronic appliances outside their countries.

He said electronic gadgets and appliances were branded e-waste under the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal and found their way to Guiyu as "second-hand equipment" to be disposed of.

In 2001, residents of Guiyu, which consists of four small villages, changed the way they earned their livelihood - abandoning farming in favour of separating e-waste due to more attractive financial returns.

When pictures emerged of villagers separating e-waste without knowing the health and environmental risks, Chinese authorities were forced to ban the import of e-waste and ordered a crackdown.

There were toxic substances in the water and land at unprecedented and dangerous levels. More than 80 per cent of the town's children have experienced retarded growth.

After Chinese authorities put strict controls on e-waste, hazardous waste has been smuggled to India, Africa, Ghana and Nigeria instead.

Panet said although Thailand was not a major destination for the smuggling of e-waste, over the past few years the amount of old mobile phones dumped by local communities had jumped significantly due to the lack of controls by the central government.

He said the law states that waste management is the responsibility of local government, but officials lack knowledge about how to handle e-waste correctly.

Thailand's laws on handling e-waste lagged behind China, Vietnam and India.

He said e-waste in Thailand was also created unnecessarily as a result of wrong policies being issued, such promoting the use of new light bulbs, which resulted in old light bulbs being dumped.

51% 'get rid of gadgets'

Wichien Jungrungruang, head of the Pollution Control Department, said a survey showed that 51 per cent of people get rid of e-waste by selling it, while 25 per cent keep it, 8 per cent give it to others to use, and 16 per cent dump such appliances in the garbage.

As a result, he said 75 per cent of e-waste ended up in garbage bins - with 75 per cent of it toxic and unusable.

And e-waste was smuggled into Thailand because of legal loopholes.

"Although Thailand is not the major final destination of e-waste, our concern is our country can be used as a centre to separate e-waste,'' he said.

He said the National Environment Board had drafted an integrated strategy on e-waste management in 2007 but there had been little progress since.

"We have no idea when the new laws will be enacted, he said.


-- The Nation 2014-06-16

[selftaopath]

When there is little or no rule of law the effects are devastating in so many areas of a society. Are there more "takers" in Thailand than those interested in it's well being? An assessment might yield eye opening results.

[Piichai]

Probably full of all those worthless tablets Yingluck bought...

Edited June 16, 2014 by Piichai

[sjjmmi]

Just love the file photo, from where China ?? . . . . . LOL

[chainarong]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

When there is little or no rule of law the effects are devastating in so many areas of a society. Are there more "takers" in Thailand than those interested in it's well being? An assessment might yield eye opening results.

If only they let the farang in to help them with these sort of problems

[skorchio]

A hub of e-waste!!!

[mok199]

it is so sad how thais have no respect for thier city thier country or the planet....please stop the plastic bag,foam dish and now the tech waste..with some education,i have tried to educate my kids,and just when it seems they are''getting it'',they disapoiint me,yet again with the old lazy habits...plastic bags,foam bowls and general disrespect..but they sure respect pay day and thier i phones...thais just dont ''get it''...sad

[Estrada]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

When there is little or no rule of law the effects are devastating in so many areas of a society. Are there more "takers" in Thailand than those interested in it's well being? An assessment might yield eye opening results.

If only they let the farang in to help them with these sort of problems

They do, however only for the "percentage", they don't intend to listen if it spoils their "percentages" from landfill operators. There have been many Foreign Governments providing free technical assistance to the Thai Government Organisations and the BMA. I worked on one of the many Solid Waste Master Plans for Bangkok for the BMA's benefit. This included waste segregation and training for the communities especially as regards to solid waste. However the Thai Mai Bpen Rai" attitude is a problem as 99.9% of households refuse to separate the waste. Also I haven't seen a hazardous waste bin in any communities for years, probably because they just throw the fluorescent light tubes, batteries and electronic waste into the green bins with the garbage. Even the hazardous waste at the BMA Onnuch Waste Transfer Station was thrown on the ground in a corner of the depot so that lead, heavy metals and chemicals could seep into the ground. So if you did separate the hazardous waste they would just dump it on open ground instead of dealing with it as hazardous waste.

One study was carried out by Thai experts who just copied foreign experts study and on the cover of their study paper were photographs of the Hongkong Waste Transfer Stations which I helped design and which they had nothing to do with.

Twenty years ago the BMA Governor had a business on the side to get the electronic waste for free from the BMA and I designed a machine to separate all the precious metals especially gold and platinum. However he was ousted from office so that was the last of Thailand's venture into dealing with hazardous electronic waste safely.

This guy is probably just after money rather than really being interested in doing something about the problem. Personally, after 32 years trying to get the Thais to do something about pollution, I am sadly disillusioned. Whilst we have been successful in getting some waste treatment plants built where an incentive has been paid to the right people, they do not provide the finance to cover the running costs unless there is an "incentive" available.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Estrada

[monkeycountry]

Keep in mind most of these people, and most other people in Thailand, care so much about the environment, that they happily throw their garbage anywhere but in the garbage bin. And if they do manage to collect a pile of garbage, they will simply burn it, even if it contains hazardous materials. In short, they do not care about their own health, or the health of anyone else, so why should anyone care about their health? My main worry in this regard, is if any of the waste ends up in the food those provinces grow and sell to the rest of Thailand.

[ldnguy]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

When there is little or no rule of law the effects are devastating in so many areas of a society. Are there more "takers" in Thailand than those interested in it's well being? An assessment might yield eye opening results.

If only they let the farang in to help them with these sort of problems

I hope you're joking. Farangs have caused most of the environmental damage in the world. It's also mostly farangs that export this waste to poorer countries.

[Maggusoil]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Keep in mind most of these people, and most other people in Thailand, care so much about the environment, that they happily throw their garbage anywhere but in the garbage bin. And if they do manage to collect a pile of garbage, they will simply burn it, even if it contains hazardous materials. In short, they do not care about their own health, or the health of anyone else, so why should anyone care about their health? My main worry in this regard, is if any of the waste ends up in the food those provinces grow and sell to the rest of Thailand.

it is so sad how thais have no respect for thier city thier country or the planet....please stop the plastic bag,foam dish and now the tech waste..with some education,i have tried to educate my kids,and just when it seems they are''getting it'',they disapoiint me,yet again with the old lazy habits...plastic bags,foam bowls and general disrespect..but they sure respect pay day and thier i phones...thais just dont ''get it''...sad

They do get it!

But like most children, need reminding. No dinner without speaking English to get served. That was from my childhood. No dinner without ordering it in French. No money for lollies, ice creams or the like if you throw the wrapper anywhere else. There are lots of ways to incentivise situations, if people cannot 'get it'.

I drive a lot when I am in Australia. I live in one of the world's cleanest cities with the highest recycling rate in Australia, but I still see people throwing cigarettes and lunch boxes out of their cars.

If you want to see real problems with waste, go to Indonesia.

[NeverSure]

The sad thing is that it's profitable to recycle those things but it takes a lot of skill and money to set up to do it. In Western countries that I know of its done by private industry for profit. It's profitable enough that there are places that will buy them.

"Recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by 3,657 US homes in a year.

One metric ton of circuit boards can contain 40 to 800 times the amount of gold and 30 to 40 times the amount of copper mined from one metric ton of ore in the US.

Almost all of the materials used to manufacture a cell phone can be recovered to make new products. Metals, plastics, and rechargeable batteries from recycled cell phones are turned into new materials and products.

Cell phones contain a number of different metals – gold, silver, platinum, palladium, copper, tin, and zinc – that are recovered in the recycling process. The recovered metals are then used by a number of different industries such as jewelry, plating, electronics, automotive, and art foundries.

When the rechargeable battery can no longer be reused, the battery can be recycled into other rechargeable battery products."

LINK

Edited June 16, 2014 by NeverSure

[SlackJawChef]

My Father was part of a weekly beach cleaning group on Koh Tao for a few years ... only westerners ever participated ... one time he was asked by a Thai bureaucrat of some kind, trying to get a photo-op with the group ..

She asked : Why do you care to pick up the plastic bags and garbage off the beach, this is not your country?

His reply was : Because it's my planet !

She was taken aback and just stood there amazed and said : Good answer ...

But I doubt she really understood its meaning ...... the locals used to just laugh at them every week cleaning the beach .... and sneer stupid farang..

They just did not get it .. even though their business was on the beach and you had to assume that they knew tourists visit for the beach ... they would not lift a finger to keep it clean..

Not going to change anytime soon without a concerted campaign on tv and in schools for the next 20 years then maybe there might be a glimmer of understanding.

S.J.C

Edited June 16, 2014 by SlackJawChef

[SlackJawChef]

Double post...

Edited June 16, 2014 by SlackJawChef

[ratcatcher]

Just love the file photo, from where China ?? . . . . . LOL

GOOGLE.? It's easy.

http://tbscene.com/2014/04/the-e-waste-problem/

Probably Ghana.

[Lupatria]

More than 80 per cent of the town's children have experienced retarded growth.

I know some villages in Isaan where this seems to be quite common even without e-waste

[ratcatcher]

it is so sad how thais have no respect for thier city thier country or the planet....please stop the plastic bag,foam dish and now the tech waste..with some education,i have tried to educate my kids,and just when it seems they are''getting it'',they disapoiint me,yet again with the old lazy habits...plastic bags,foam bowls and general disrespect..but they sure respect pay day and thier i phones...thais just dont ''get it''...sad

"it is so sad how thais many people have no respect for thier city thier country or the planet..."

Agreed, however, most of Asia has small areas that are garbage dumps. Many people spend their lives in a sea of trash. Sad, but a fact.

[louse1953]

it is so sad how thais have no respect for thier city thier country or the planet....please stop the plastic bag,foam dish and now the tech waste..with some education,i have tried to educate my kids,and just when it seems they are''getting it'',they disapoiint me,yet again with the old lazy habits...plastic bags,foam bowls and general disrespect..but they sure respect pay day and thier i phones...thais just dont ''get it''...sad

Sad but true.Education is the answer,it only takes one generation.I have just come from Nepal,and the plastic and other forms of waste there would make Thailand look like a model citizen.All i could see on the Bagmati River in Katmandu was plastic,i rekon you could walk on it.Then i read in the paper that school kids were cleaning it up,slowly.They probably bury it or burn it after,but thats another story.I picked up 1 bit of plastic every day,now if the whole population did that it would be a good start.

[Rimbuman]

My Father was part of a weekly beach cleaning group on Koh Tao for a few years ... only westerners ever participated ... one time he was asked by a Thai bureaucrat of some kind, trying to get a photo-op with the group ..

She asked : Why do you care to pick up the plastic bags and garbage off the beach, this is not your country?

His reply was : Because it's my planet !

She was taken aback and just stood there amazed and said : Good answer ...

But I doubt she really understood its meaning ...... the locals used to just laugh at them every week cleaning the beach .... and sneer stupid farang..

They just did not get it .. even though their business was on the beach and you had to assume that they knew tourists visit for the beach ... they would not lift a finger to keep it clean..

Not going to change anytime soon without a concerted campaign on tv and in schools for the next 20 years then maybe there might be a glimmer of understanding.

S.J.C

It is so sad that you are so right

I've seen some unbelievable waste and pollution along the beaches and to be on topic close to everywhere here in Thailand.

Really mind blowing and depressive.

[louse1953]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Keep in mind most of these people, and most other people in Thailand, care so much about the environment, that they happily throw their garbage anywhere but in the garbage bin. And if they do manage to collect a pile of garbage, they will simply burn it, even if it contains hazardous materials. In short, they do not care about their own health, or the health of anyone else, so why should anyone care about their health? My main worry in this regard, is if any of the waste ends up in the food those provinces grow and sell to the rest of Thailand.

it is so sad how thais have no respect for thier city thier country or the planet....please stop the plastic bag,foam dish and now the tech waste..with some education,i have tried to educate my kids,and just when it seems they are''getting it'',they disapoiint me,yet again with the old lazy habits...plastic bags,foam bowls and general disrespect..but they sure respect pay day and thier i phones...thais just dont ''get it''...sad

They do get it!

But like most children, need reminding. No dinner without speaking English to get served. That was from my childhood. No dinner without ordering it in French. No money for lollies, ice creams or the like if you throw the wrapper anywhere else. There are lots of ways to incentivise situations, if people cannot 'get it'.

I drive a lot when I am in Australia. I live in one of the world's cleanest cities with the highest recycling rate in Australia, but I still see people throwing cigarettes and lunch boxes out of their cars.

If you want to see real problems with waste, go to Indonesia.

Cigarette smokers would have to be the laziest people in the world.

[Maggusoil]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Keep in mind most of these people, and most other people in Thailand, care so much about the environment, that they happily throw their garbage anywhere but in the garbage bin. And if they do manage to collect a pile of garbage, they will simply burn it, even if it contains hazardous materials. In short, they do not care about their own health, or the health of anyone else, so why should anyone care about their health? My main worry in this regard, is if any of the waste ends up in the food those provinces grow and sell to the rest of Thailand.

it is so sad how thais have no respect for thier city thier country or the planet....please stop the plastic bag,foam dish and now the tech waste..with some education,i have tried to educate my kids,and just when it seems they are''getting it'',they disapoiint me,yet again with the old lazy habits...plastic bags,foam bowls and general disrespect..but they sure respect pay day and thier i phones...thais just dont ''get it''...sad

They do get it!

But like most children, need reminding. No dinner without speaking English to get served. That was from my childhood. No dinner without ordering it in French. No money for lollies, ice creams or the like if you throw the wrapper anywhere else. There are lots of ways to incentivise situations, if people cannot 'get it'.

I drive a lot when I am in Australia. I live in one of the world's cleanest cities with the highest recycling rate in Australia, but I still see people throwing cigarettes and lunch boxes out of their cars.

If you want to see real problems with waste, go to Indonesia.

Cigarette smokers would have to be the laziest people in the world.

It does go with the territory somewhat. Dirty inside and out . . .

[kinmaew]

I remember a couple of poms were trying to start up a recycling biz on Phuket the Thais didnt want to hear about it fell on deaf ears. They were quite happy to continue to burn tons of rubbish a day, farangs dont know better only Thais do so let them live on their heap of e waste in lovely Issan, hope it does not affect the flavour of the Gai Yang or Som Tam though...

[Jim walker]

And to think only 50 years ago 60% of Thailand was covered with rainforests and remarkable wildlife and it won’t be long now before 60% of Thailand will be covered in rubbish.

[jphantom]

The file photo is NOT from China........ simply look at the blue sky above.......

[victor70]

Keep in mind most of these people, and most other people in Thailand, care so much about the environment, that they happily throw their garbage anywhere but in the garbage bin. And if they do manage to collect a pile of garbage, they will simply burn it, even if it contains hazardous materials. In short, they do not care about their own health, or the health of anyone else, so why should anyone care about their health? My main worry in this regard, is if any of the waste ends up in the food those provinces grow and sell to the rest of Thailand.

I have been at Ubon province at the village of my wife, there you see garbage all over, the only thing they can do is burn the garbage because there is no garbage collecting because the village is too small

[dunque]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

When there is little or no rule of law the effects are devastating in so many areas of a society. Are there more "takers" in Thailand than those interested in it's well being? An assessment might yield eye opening results.

If only they let the farang in to help them with these sort of problems

I hope you're joking. Farangs have caused most of the environmental damage in the world. It's also mostly farangs that export this waste to poorer countries.

Precisely - here is some revealing comparisons of CO2 emissions and municipal solid waste per person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/06/daily-chart-3

I think we farangs should reflect on this data before criticising others.

[monkeycountry]

Keep in mind most of these people, and most other people in Thailand, care so much about the environment, that they happily throw their garbage anywhere but in the garbage bin. And if they do manage to collect a pile of garbage, they will simply burn it, even if it contains hazardous materials. In short, they do not care about their own health, or the health of anyone else, so why should anyone care about their health? My main worry in this regard, is if any of the waste ends up in the food those provinces grow and sell to the rest of Thailand.

I have been at Ubon province at the village of my wife, there you see garbage all over, the only thing they can do is burn the garbage because there is no garbage collecting because the village is too small

Or because noone in the village wants to pay tax and/or rubbish collection fees.

They could also collect it themselves once a week on a pickup and drive it to the nearest incinerator.

I do not know how it currently works, but years ago in some areas of Thailand, people said they preferred to burn their rubbish, because they did not want to pay the 30 baht monthly fee to have it collected by the garbage truck.

Anyway, as I said, if they prefer to live in garbage, and risk their health, then I have no problem with that. My main concern is that they export food to the rest of us, and that food may be contaminated.

Edited June 16, 2014 by monkeycountry

[Thaddeus]

My Father was part of a weekly beach cleaning group on Koh Tao for a few years ... only westerners ever participated ... one time he was asked by a Thai bureaucrat of some kind, trying to get a photo-op with the group ..

She asked : Why do you care to pick up the plastic bags and garbage off the beach, this is not your country?

His reply was : Because it's my planet !

She was taken aback and just stood there amazed and said : Good answer ...

But I doubt she really understood its meaning ...... the locals used to just laugh at them every week cleaning the beach .... and sneer stupid farang..

They just did not get it .. even though their business was on the beach and you had to assume that they knew tourists visit for the beach ... they would not lift a finger to keep it clean..

Not going to change anytime soon without a concerted campaign on tv and in schools for the next 20 years then maybe there might be a glimmer of understanding.

S.J.C

Good post.

When I was a kid growing up in the UK, there was a massive "Keep Britain Tidy" campaign. It still took a few years for the average Brit to get it.

[jcisco]

@Estrada I can understand how you feel given your experience. However I think the chicken and the egg problem to some extent exists here. The reasons for the lack of action is a lack of education or knowledge as to the long term and even short term effects of waste.

They are probably entirely unaware of such things as beryllium oxide in cavity magnetron ceramic insulators, which maybe damaged trying to extract the copper anode. It is hugely toxic, I just hope that microwaves are low on the dismantle list for these people.

I not sure what you can do to get people to believe you and actually practice caring for themselves and the environment.

[DrTuner]

Looks like a large pile of recyclable materials to me. No recycling plants in operation in Thailand ?