Network urges closure of Praksa dump
Janjira Pongrai
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- THE ANTI-PRAKSA Dumpsite Network yesterday called on the authorities to close permanently the 100-rai (16-hectare) dump in Samut Prakan that caught fire earlier this year and badly affected local residents.

Suchat Naknok, the network's president, said they were planning to ask the National Council for Peace and Order to put in place seven measures to prevent this from happening again.

The measures would include declaring the Praksa garbage site as a polluted zone in order to make way for rehabilitation, prohibiting any business activity that might affect people's health, and requiring businesses to keep the fence around their operations low so people can see what is going on.

The group will also ask for a committee - comprising affected residents, landlords or business operators as well as representatives of civil society and state officials - to be set up to follow related progress, he said.

His comments were made at the "Praksa Model" seminar held to discuss garbage-management issues in Thailand. The forum was hosted yesterday by the network, the Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH) Foundation and Chulalongkorn University's Social Research Institute.

EARTH director Penchom Saetang said 20 garbage-dump fires since last year, 15 of which occurred in the first six months of 2014, with at least three fires occurring in Praksa alone. She said many dumpsite fires may have stemmed from arson to "destroy evidence in garbage piles", adding that the Praksa case had alerted the authorities to keep an eye on dumps.

The Pollution Control Depart-ment has also recently revealed that 2,024 of the 2,496 community dumps were not being properly managed.

Pichaya Ratchadawong, a lecturer in environmental engineering at Chulalongkorn University, voiced concerns about polluted water from the Praksa dumpsite ruining the food chain and affecting the fish farms nearby. Hence, he said, the authorities need to watch for subsequent impacts and notify the public.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Network-urges-closure-of-Praksa-dump-30237974.html


-- The Nation 2014-07-08

Pure greed and lack of law!

Once civilization encroaches on a dump-site, it is time for it to relocate to a less populated area. As it is, if they close it within the year, it will still be a huge and expensive task to make the site safe for the people and industry around it. They should never again be allowed so close to the sea or a stream/river where the runoff can spread uncontrollably. Now would be a good time to use the knowledge the world has garnered to make a blueprint for future dumps in Thailand. I wish them luck to get this implemented.

A lot of Thai hot air in that room.

The polution of surrounding waterways and land areas, and ground contamination of that area must be unbelievable.....in all probability, totally unable to be rehabilitated after so many years of illegal dumping...all with no management...the costs would far outway any thought of doing this.

Waste management nowadays is a huge challenge...not just here, but globally.......it's time now for Thailand to get a grip and start doing things....not simply more talk fests!