Interior Ministry to overhaul Thailand's waste management system

[webfact]

Interior Ministry to overhaul Thailand's waste management system

BANGKOK, 19 September 2014 (NNT) -- The Ministry of Interior has plans to overhaul Thailand's waste management system to deal with the rapidly increasing amount of waste in big cities across the nation.

According to Permanent Secretary for Interior Viboon Sa-nguanpong, a full-cycle waste treatment plant will be soon established on an area of 372 rai in Ayutthaya Province.

This pilot plant will apply proper waste disposal technologies that will include reprocessing of garbage into clean energy.

In the second stage, the ministry will hold talks with both government and private units concerned to lay down an overall picture of the country’s waste disposal system which should be able to deal with the volume of garbage both currently and in the future. Once drafted, the proposal will be submitted to the Cabinet for consideration.


-- NNT 2014-09-19

[halloween]

In the past, waste disposal plants have been a source of much interest (and capital) for politicians. This needs watching closely.

IIRC there was a garbage-fuelled power station built in India some time back, (donated by one of the Scandinavian countries??). Had a problem in that local garbage is scavenged so thoroughly there was nothing left that would burn. PPPPPP.

[jaltsc]

"The Ministry of Interior has plans to overhaul Thailand's waste management system to deal with the rapidly increasing amount of waste in big cities across the nation."

How about attacking the problem at the supply source? Induce people to bring their own shopping bags and other reusable containers with them when they shop. It's simple, just charge anyone who requests a plastic bag, styrofoam container for their purchases.. Base the fee on the size of the bag or container, starting at 10 THB for the smallest and going up to 100 THB for the largest sizes. To prevent vendors from supplying bags for free, put a heavy tax on bags at the wholesale/retail level, with the fee going towards financing the waste management plant.

Using old fashion banana leaves or other natural/easily composting materials would be exempt from this fee.

Does this make sense. Of course. That's why it will never be implemented it in Thailand.

[bluebluewater]

I guess "just dump it out by the side of the road" is not working?

To this day my biggest surprise and my biggest disappointment in Thailand is the way they trash their country.

[northernboy]

"The Ministry of Interior has plans to overhaul Thailand's waste management system to deal with the rapidly increasing amount of waste in big cities across the nation."

How about attacking the problem at the supply source? Induce people to bring their own shopping bags and other reusable containers with them when they shop. It's simple, just charge anyone who requests a plastic bag, styrofoam container for their purchases.. Base the fee on the size of the bag or container, starting at 10 THB for the smallest and going up to 100 THB for the largest sizes. To prevent vendors from supplying bags for free, put a heavy tax on bags at the wholesale/retail level, with the fee going towards financing the waste management plant.

Using old fashion banana leaves or other natural/easily composting materials would be exempt from this fee.

Does this make sense. Of course. That's why it will never be implemented it in Thailand.

In days gone by the tax on plastic made the shop owners not want to give plastic bags away. As well as the profitable smuggling plastic pallet from Malaysia to Thailand.

It is not so simple as only the carry bags ending up in trash. It is all the packaging the local market place and consumers has been told is items need. as well as the cost of labour going up making curb site scavenging and separation less viable with higher minimum wages.

I also want to ask how many banana trees do out think there are now in Thailand? The cost of shipping them fresh to the larger cities would cause more fuel consumption and not to mention the deforestation or that would be created.

[jaltsc]

I guess "just dump it out by the side of the road" is not working?

To this day my biggest surprise and my biggest disappointment in Thailand is the way they trash their country.

Visit anyplace in Cambodia besides Siem Reap and it will amaze you how clean Thailand is when you return.

[rubl]

I guess "just dump it out by the side of the road" is not working?

To this day my biggest surprise and my biggest disappointment in Thailand is the way they trash their country.

Visit anyplace in Cambodia besides Siem Reap and it will amaze you how clean Thailand is when you return.

I have no problem accepting your statement that things in Cambodia are a bit worse, never been there myself.

The problem is that other countries being worse doesn't help me here in Bangkok. When ever a closed fence is removed to work on a plot I'm amazed at the amount of rubbish piled behind (the fence). Truly amazing, especailly as some tourists are ordered to pay 2000 Baht for allegedly or truly dropping a cigarette but.

I keep telling all my young nieces and nephews from the day they start to walk what a garbage bag is for and how a 7-11 bag can be used for such. My granddaughter started saying 'ga, ga' and even started to pick up garbage along the road to the annoyance of some. The moment I loose contact though they tend to revert back to Thai attitudes.

[JDGRUEN]

"The Ministry of Interior has plans to overhaul Thailand's waste management system to deal with the rapidly increasing amount of waste in big cities across the nation."

How about attacking the problem at the supply source? Induce people to bring their own shopping bags and other reusable containers with them when they shop. It's simple, just charge anyone who requests a plastic bag, styrofoam container for their purchases.. Base the fee on the size of the bag or container, starting at 10 THB for the smallest and going up to 100 THB for the largest sizes. To prevent vendors from supplying bags for free, put a heavy tax on bags at the wholesale/retail level, with the fee going towards financing the waste management plant.ote,

Using old fashion banana leaves or other natural/easily composting materials would be exempt from this fee.

Does this make sense. Of course. That's why it will never be implemented it in Thailand.

Total feel good Malarky... you are NOT dealing with a Western Society... Better to organize a minimum solid waste disposal plan based on developed and approved models... Recycling should be at the forefront of such a long term plan -- supported by redeemable values added to each item type by a sales tax added to each plastic or other recyclable item ... By adding value to each discarded item - collectors will then collect and mass the items for recycle to redeem the value..

Thailand is a developing country not a developed country ... Scavengers will collect and clear an area based on the real value of the item -- per each item or per kilogram ... Aluminum cans have an intrinsic value as being a directly recyclable item due to the nature of being aluminum metal - which can be melted and processed directly into other aluminum products... The same can be established to other materials by assigning them a redeemable - recoverable value...

[JDGRUEN]

I have spent time in about 15 Thai cities/sizable towns and have passed through dozens more. What I see is not just a disposal problem - but also a collection problem - near absence. What ever system for collection there may be in a given city it is not very visible... Most seem to only have haphazard efforts. Nothing of a standardized method can be seen from one part of a town to another and in many cases seemingly absent.

Organized collection systems could be done with private enterprise, if the government mandated that merchants and residents pay a reasonable fee for collection - and - such an order also mandated standardized methods of putting out garbage for collection. Special containers for collection of recyclables would have to be part of the plan. Again private enterprise could be part of the solution (if corruption could be greatly reduced - but mostly wishful thinking).

Each large community should have a proper landfill method - pending development of 'waste to energy' systems as was described in the announcement. It will take a long time for that to come about. I have noticed many areas have old excavation sites where rock or 'dirt' / soil have been extracted. These are most often left standing - unused. They could be sectioned off - a rubber liner - like a giant pond liner place in use. This is standard practice in the U.S. and it works. Layers of processed trash are laid down - with each layer covered with 'dirt'. At the time when the layers have reached the top - pipes are pushed into the different layers to collect the methane gas which will form. This gas can be used locally to provide electricity by generators to run conveyor belt systems for moving the trash though various final scavenging efforts and final dumping. Scavenging done at burial sites is often done with water flotation methods - preceded by efforts done by workers. What is left is mostly organic residue and a fair amount of plastic. Some of the plastic will degrade in the burial over time - but not all.

Each area serviced by the landfill could have compacting stations where initial scavenging would take place of obvious items such as plastic bottles, glass, and at some point even plastic bags which can be turned into usable products. Compacted trash makes it more efficient to transport to remote landfill sites.

Under my plan - which is just an amalgam of what is done in the U.S. and other places - modified for use in Thailand... Recyclables are picked up at the collection site and separated - taken to a collection site where individuals can be paid for what they have collected. The recycled plastic, glass, wood and other materials would go further up the chain to be made into useful products - much as they are now... but just more organized and thorough. The second site of scavenging would be done as the trash moves along to the compaction machines. The final scavenging would be done at the land fill site.

It is possible that at a landfill site that much of the final debris could be composted into usable 'dirt'/earth replacement for use in landscaping - becoming a valuable product.

Recycled products: In the U.S. and other places plastic bags are collected and ground into fine bits with a hammer mill - then combined with sawdust - mixed and laced heavily with epoxy substances - then hydraulically extruded into lengths of decking 'lumber' that is a highly marketable product. Such decking is insect proof, rot proof, mold and mildew proof, sawed, hammered and nailed just like regular wood lumber and will last 30 years. This would be a great product for Thailand... Sawdust could be substituted by ground coconut coir and other hard cellulose waste. There may be some of this going on in Thailand but I have not seen it.. I have seen plastic imitation wood products - but not what I describe.

A company out of (either Australia or New New Zealand - can't recall which one) has a system using hydraulics to highly compress processed trash into various sized building blocks suitable for building structures - using the cement/stucco covering as is the standard in Thailand.

In the U.S. glass is often recycled by shattering and grinding into cullet - small chips of glass - amazingly mostly without sharp edges. Cullet is used very often in manufacturing 'glassphalt' - a mixture of asphalt and cullet as the aggregate to pave roads. Cullet, of course, is also a great raw material for making new glass products.

Recycling could be a huge industry for Thailand and should mostly be done by private enterprise under contract to perform using government ordered mandates of best practice and methods. This is the pie in the sky part - if corruption is not stopped in this area - then Thailand will never get a handle on waste disposal.

I suggest a start would be not to concentrate on 'waste to power' ideas (save that for later) but proceed along the lines and ideas I present all done with an order mandating that each province and district adhere to approved plans for local processing as I have described above ... plus provide incentives for private enterprise to get into the waste disposal and recycling effort.

My point is that 'waste to power' is a great idea and is already working in other countries. But 'waste to power' depends totally on a smooth running collection and processing system being in place. Thailand has no effective waste collection and processing system - what there is - is rudimentary, non standardized and spotty at best... So you see by discussing 'Waste to Power' Thailand is getting the 'cart before the horse'.

[victor70]

I have been regular in Isarn those small villages have no garbage trucks to collect the garbage, so the burn it next to the street plastic etc...