Garbage dumping sites surrounding Bangkok to undergo major reorganization

[webfact]

Garbage dumping sites surrounding Bangkok to undergo major reorganization

BANGKOK: -- Garbage disposal sites in six provinces surrounding Bangkok will come under reorganisation in the effort of the Department of Pollution Control to resolve the garbage dumping problems on a sustainable basis.

The move of the department came after it was allocated 526 million baht to reorganise the garbage sites in six provinces namely Ayutthaya, Lopburi, Nakhon Pathom, Saraburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan.

Director-general of the Department of Pollution Control, Mr Vichien Juengroongrueng, disclosed that the department has received the budget to implement the reorganisation campaign as part of the National Council for Peace and Orders roadmap to reorganise the garbage disposal sites surrounding the capital.

Under the junta s roadmap, it was tasked to undertake three phase disposal strategy.

The first phase will take six months covering six priority provinces surrounding the capital.

The second phase will take one year, and the third phase will involve permanent solution which will take over a year to accomplish.

He said provincial governors have been assigned to look after the overall implementation of the campaign in respective provinces.

The department also plans to propose inclusion of proper garbage disposal as part of the education curriculum to establish childrens discipline and to expedite a draft legislation on garbage which is expected to be discussed at a meeting next week.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/garbage-dumping-sites-surrounding-bangkok-undergo-major-reorganisation/

-- Thai PBS 2014-09-01

[webfact]

Feature

Thailand totters towards waste crisis
by Aidan JONES

BANGKOK, September 1, 2014 (AFP) - A blaze at a vast rubbish dump home to six million tonnes of putrefying trash and toxic effluent has kindled fears that poor planning and lax law enforcement are tipping Thailand towards a waste crisis.

Locals had long pressed for the closure of the foul-smelling Praeksa landfill site, which is wedged between a cluster of industrial estates on the fringes of Bangkok.

But a ferocious eight-day fire that cloaked the eastern suburbs of the capital in poisonous smoke earlier this year thrust Praeksa to the heart of a national debate over rubbish.

Bangkok -- a sprawling city of 12 million and counting -- produces around 10,000 tonnes of waste a day, a substantial portion of the 27 million tonnes generated each year across the kingdom.

The ruling junta has put waste disposal high on its to-do list, recognising that poorly regulated pits are fast filling up and prone to disaster.

But Thailand is not alone in struggling to tame its trash.

From Jakarta's Bantar Gebang dump to Manila's 'smokey mountain', open landfills blight Southeast Asia's booming megacities, as urban planners labour to keep pace with rapid urbanisation and industrial growth.

Experts warn those dumps are a timebomb for the environment and the increasing number of communities forced to live cheek-by-jowl with them.

Open dumping "offers a quick and easy solution in the short run," the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific says in a study, warning of severe environmental problems and long-term health issues caused by contaminated water and land.

- 'Close the dump' -

Of Thailand's 2,500 open rubbish pits, just a fifth are properly managed, according to the kingdom's Pollution Control Department.

The rest are at the mercy of illegal dumping -- including of hazardous waste -- fires and seepage into nearby land and water systems.

The department says the mid-March blaze at Praeksa, which has caught fire several times since, was just one of 10 raging every month at dumps across a kingdom.

A lack of enforcement is to blame, says Nicha Rakpanichmanee of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH), explaining the whole waste disposal chain is skewed towards "anyone who can pay".

She says that 1.9 million tonnes of toxic waste goes unaccounted for after leaving factory gates every year, with many factory owners flouting laws to save on the costs of safe disposal and tip operators willing to turn a blind eye to the illegal dumping of toxic run-off.

"The people who will remain with the problems are the poorest who cannot move," she says of the communities forced to live with contaminated water and land.

For residents near Praeska, in Samut Prakan province neighbouring Bangkok, the intensity of the blaze has left them in little doubt that inflammable chemicals swash around the fetid mounds of trash.

The tip is meant for household waste only.

"I want it closed," said 85-year-old local resident Jad Pimsorn. "I have lived with it but I don't want my children and grandchildren to live with it too."

The dump operator denied he had allowed chemicals to be illegally stashed at his site.

"But there were several companies operating the pit before me," Krompol Samutsakorn told AFP.

- Trash talk -

Until the Praeksa blaze, talking about trash was a conversation few wanted to have.

Currently Thai households pay less than half a dollar a month to get rid of their waste.

Local authorities say that leaves them short of cash to invest in modern, environmentally friendly incinerators or recycling plants, but they are reluctant to raise rates on would-be voters in already poor neighbourhoods.

That could be about to change, with military ruler General Prayut Chan-O-Cha vowing to tackle the kingdom's garbage problems.

"Can people throw away garbage in outer space?" he asked in a typically enigmatic weekly television address to the nation on August 8.

"They cannot.. they have to throw it away in Thailand."

The comments from the can-do junta chief have raised hopes of a policy revival towards waste after years of short-term planning -- abetted by short-lived governments -- in the politically turbulent kingdom.

Fearing landfills are incubating massive health issues down the line, the Pollution Control Department wants to see collection rates raised locally and laws tightened to encourage recycling.

One solution is better facilities to compost organic waste -- especially in places such as Thailand where nearly half of the daily 1.1 kilograms of household waste produced per person is bio-degradable.

As they heave a wheelie-bin full of rotting food and broken beer bottles into the back of a rubbish truck, a group of Bangkok binmen say Thais must change their habits or live with the consequences.

"It is hard to solve the problem," said Wutthichai Namuangrak, seemingly inured to the sickly-sweet stench rising from the back of the truck.

"We can help by collecting the trash, but people cannot just rely on us."


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-09-01

[NeverSure]

Easy solution. Just stop tossing it on the sidewalks, and push it out into the streets.

[retell]

Make trash collection mandatory , out here in the sticks most villages do not get tgeir trash picked up cos the villagers dont want to pay for it , instead they just burn it in front of their house , when have bigger trash it usually ends up next to the road out of the village ,

I asked for my garbage to be collected but they say as long as not the whole village does that they dont pick it up ,so now i drive with my rubbish to town 36 km to put em in containers of a market that get emptied every day , mostly plastic packaging and pampers , organic goes on the compost heap

[worgeordie]

Whatever is dumped by the garbage trucks,needs to be covered in soil

everyday,that cuts down on the smell,vermin,and plastic and paper blowing

around the environment,it would also help prevent the tip catching fire.

But as you can see by the mountain of rubbish in the picture,its not been done,

corner cutting once again.

regards Worgeordie

[webfact]

Pollution Control Department to reorganize garbage disposal scenes

BANGKOK, 30 Aug 2014 (NNT) - The Department of Pollution Control is to quickly reorganize garbage disposal scenes in six provinces within 6 months and will issue a law to mandate sustainable solutions to the problem.

Director-General Vichien Juengroongrueng stated that his agency has received a 526 million baht budget to implement the campaign, as part of the National Council for Peace and Order’s garbage disposal management roadmap.

He explained that his Department is tasked with a 3-phase disposal strategy. The first phase will take 6 months covering 6 priority provinces namely Ayutthaya, Lopburi, Nakhon Pathom, Saraburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan. The second phase will take one year, and the third phase involves permanent solutions taking more than one year to complete.

Mr. Vichien said provincial governors have been assigned to look after the overall implementation of the campaign in respective provinces.

He also said the Department has plans to include proper garbage disposal as part of the education curriculum to establish children's discipline and expedite the drafting of the national garbage bill expected to be discussed at a meeting on September 12th.


-- NNT 2014-09-01

[kannot]

Rubbish disposal lies firmly at the feet of every Thai person........... many of who'm seem to think its fine to chuck it anywhere, kids on the school bus lob it out the windows daily as they pass by, follow a motorcycle by me and often see it just thrown off the back (usually in a careful " i hope no one is looking" way)

[Josh88]

This is really a deep rooted cultural issue that needs to be resolved. It's perfectly socially acceptable to dump trash on the side of the road in Thailand, there's litter everywhere. Recycling is essentially non-existent, when the majority of litter is stuff like plastic bottles and paper that could easily be recycled. The trash burning in rural areas is a whole other ordeal.

Changes in this behavior need to be pushed hard in schools, or nothing is going to change. The next generation needs to be taught that blatant littering is not acceptable, and recycling has to be made a priority. It's sad to see how badly polluted some naturally beautiful areas in this country are already, and it's only going to get worse. This is a major issue in Thailand and should be at the forefront of the government's priorities.

[Xonax]

The only sustainable solution is to build large plants, where the garbage can be burned at high temperatures, in order to avoid pollution.

Unfortunately I get the impression, that most Thais don´t mind garbage pollution, as long as it is on someone elses land.

[ezzra]

This is how they go about fixing things here in this country... do the minimum, let it fester for as long

as possible, than ask the government for billions to fix the problem that should have been attend to

and cared for in the fist place, use the money to attempt to fix the problem, award the contracts to

your cronies and every body happy Thai style.... and the garbage problem? who cares....

[Kwic]

I was in Thailand for the first time around 3 months ago and I had a hard time finding some trash bin in the city.
When I was in Phi PHi island litter was very visible and when I went inside the "jungle" there was a lot of it.
I had some litter with me in Phi Phi and I was walking with it in my hand because there was no trash bin, and after a few minutes

the local said to put it on a pile of litter that was on the street, lol.
I'm not sure which island it was, let's say Viking Island (around Phi PHi) welcomed visitors with a huge pile of litter on the beach.

That is really a shame that a country so beautiful as THailand cannot deal with rubbish that make it look a lot less attractive.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Kwic

[Carl64]

"Thailand totters towards waste crisis"

Ummm it's already tottered a long time ago!

[glasswort]

....27 million tonnes generated each year across the kingdom.

Is this the amount that ends up in "official" tips? If yes then you can probably double that for the amount that is illegally and selfishly dumped every day. Travel some of the back roads of Jomtien and Pattaya (and probably every other town or village) and see what I mean.

Other ways to reduce the amount of garbage produced:

Make it compulsory for sales outlets to charge for plastic bags.

Ban the use of plastic bags altogether.

Encourage shoppers not to purchase pre-wrapped goods, particularly fruit and veg.

Encourage supermarkets not to sell pre-wrapped goods.

Ban the use of polystyrene food containers, plastic and paper cups etc. etc.

A pipe dream I know.

[Sparkles]

Case of out of sight out of mind. Thailand's method of dealing with waste and re cycling is still stumbling around in the dark ages.

[monkey4u]

I have a near perfect way to recycle

A kid who lives down the road was always tossing his rubbish in my drive way

The solution was to dump the contents of a few large black bags of garbage on his parents manicured garden.

They came with the police and much screaming. I just said I was returning sons garbage, after the kids old man beat the crap out of him

No more trash

You just have to smile as you dump it

[heybuz]

the thais are packaging mad iv'e never seen so much stuff wrapped in plastic

[ZABA]

California Legislature Passes Ban on Disposable Plastic Bags

http://online.wsj.com/articles/california-legislature-passes-ban-on-disposable-plastic-bags-1409381457

[max72]

Thailand needs recycling and selective garbage collection. But this requires education since the schools.

But we need to start at some point, don't we ?

The transitional government is uncapable to take modern actions, there are only generals at the posts of ministers and the do nothing about that.

Thailand needs a government of technicians and experts.

In this case we need to copy the european system of garbage treatment. In the long term we can't do without it.

[jacko45k]

Blimey, imagine how high that pile would be if they cleaned up the streets and beaches!

[peterb17]

Here in sunny Jomtien the rubbish is collected every day from my Condo- but I have no idea what happens to it. I see no reason why there cannot be recycling bins- in the UK you are threatened with a £1000 ( 50,000 baht) fine if you do not recycle .

I seem to generate a huge amount of rubbish- mostly bottles, aluminium cans , stunning amounts of plastic packaging, and food waste- much of this could easily be recycled . It could also bring in some income for the condo.

However don't just blame the Thai mentality- its everywhere. I moved from what was once a pleasant green leafy suburb in London - that every night became strewn with fast food boxes, bottles, cans, syringes.

Education is the key- and a pride in your surroundings

[seajae]

maybe if they did something about the rubbish the stink that nearly makes us puke when walking down the streets would go too. Where ever we see piles of rubbish there is the scent of rot and with the heat it just gets worse. This is one country that really does need to be taught to recycle and have dumping rubbish a jailable offence with huge fines. Everyone just tosses their sh*t in the street or wherever else they are standing, too much trouble to have to bin it tor take it home.

[FireMedic]

Or they could enforce the litter laws on streets and beaches.....and of course supply bins every 100 meters. But there we go thinking again.

[TechnikaIII]

Throwing stuff away. There is no such place as "away"

There need be no garbage.

Yes, it requires:

1. political will + education,

2. expertise + infrastructure

3. Convict labour, by way of commuted sentences > community service for non violent criminals to clean up the country.

4. A government works project for currently unemployed, together with current garbage collectors, to work in the new recycling industry

There already exists a lot of recycling. It needs expansion.

[MarkmBha]

Garbage is a huge problem now, and will get worse in the future.

It is time for the Thai people to wake up !

[kannot]

The only sustainable solution is to build large plants, where the garbage can be burned at high temperatures, in order to avoid pollution.

Unfortunately I get the impression, that most Thais don´t mind garbage pollution, as long as it is on someone elses land.

and even when that land is just 2 metres over their wall!!

[kannot]

Or they could enforce the litter laws on streets and beaches.....and of course supply bins every 100 meters. But there we go thinking again.

Fought at my condo for litter bins................answer " not look beautiful"...........but crap thrown anywhere is???

[shanahan]

The western world regarding wilful and careless rubbish disposal is not far behind Thailand. Go to an Aussie BBQ for example. The hosts are too lazy to wash up so plastic plates, cups, knives, forks ect are used and guests are encouraged to place their waste into a bin. Oh yes, it is all collected in an orderly fashion and not thrown everywhere. So to all who mock Thailand for its disregard for litter and land fill the west is hardly any better. Only that recycling is far more advanced.

Edited September 1, 2014 by shanahan

[AloisAmrein]

In comparison with Western countries Thailand is very dirty. Why they cannot learn from the West, build waste incinerators and recycle plastics, aluminium etc.? And ban the little plastic bags in every 7/11?

[carstenp]

In comparison with Western countries Thailand is very dirty. Why they cannot learn from the West, build waste incinerators and recycle plastics, aluminium etc.? And ban the little plastic bags in every 7/11?

I think they do. Bottles, plastic and so on. I'm selling it to garbage collect running in trucks

Last time I got 40 baht

[Local Drunk]

Never mind the dump sites, I'm waiting for the Gulf of Thailand to catch fire!