Thailand and its waste problem
It may be a boring, dirty contribution about a malodorous subject, but we've seen it appear several times on Thailandblog, so go ahead.
Is there a waste and waste disposal problem in Thailand? Yes, POINT. Despite courageous efforts, but so sporadic, amateurish, well-intentioned, haphazard that the problem did not get smaller, but actually got bigger because the necessary budgets were wasted.
The Thai people are usually aware of the fact that environmental efforts must be made, especially if there is a little money to be made. But once that money, the incentive is not there and it costs a small sacrifice/effort: moving, bringing it back, depositing it somewhere… then you can usually forget about it.
But you can also say the same about the majority of tourists: look at the rubbish that lies on the beaches and that floats in from the sea as well as was left behind by tourists and the local population, just to allow the free discharge of sewage water into open sea silent. That is the individual and government responsibility of everyone and the local, national community. Once the industrial and household waste has been collected, it is clearly a government matter.
Avoiding waste in business: the legislative work for this is broadly there, but the control is completely lacking. Too many people depend on business activities that have a heavy impact on the environment and they will be the last to get the ball rolling. The enforcers of the laws and legislators usually do not live in the affected area. Just an example: many farming families in Isaan (but also elsewhere) live partly from the proceeds of their latex sales. This industry (mostly in Chinese hands) is really not bothered by absolute odor nuisance (sulphuric acid fumes - H2SO4 combined with H2S = rotten eggs). Too bad for the farmers, too bad for their health... it's a choice between earning or getting sick and that is often the case in Thailand.
The optimal processing of household waste: that is a completely different story. After all, it comes up against an almost total lack of good insights and these can only be updated with the administrations involved. They often argue that the technique that is applied offers sufficient solace, but nothing could be further from the truth, but changing the opinions of the officials is a work of patience and endless re-convincing and compared with Chinese techniques that are at least one have a thing for Western / Japanese / Korean techniques: they are cheap…. And maybe there is a grain here or there to pick up. non-existent? From experience.
Division of the waste fractions is necessary in order to be able to start destruction and revalorisation. Each processing stage is specific to one group of products.
Compost – metal – PET – PUR – Poly Propylene – Paper – Glass
The approach is fragmentary and amateurish and sometimes endearing: the public administration for the environment of the Bangkok region was fully conducting a study to "valorize" the organic fraction of the household waste: the study was an arrangement of dozens of flower pots on hawker benches and the outdoor terraces of the office (even of the director) in which waste fractions – composted – were sitting and a poor plant was languishing. It's a smile but it's sad that a problem for the entire Bangkok area is being investigated in this way.
Another good example will not have escaped the readers of Thailand blog at the time: the dust pollution in the urban area of Bangkok was far over the danger limit (still). The administration then decided to deploy many more street sweepers to solve the problem root and all. The emission of dust from traffic and so on was not taken into account, but the large dust fractions that are really less dangerous than the small particles should have been less… who knows?
This could be a happy story if it happened about 100 years ago, but it is a pity now with the wisdom of today's "wise" officials. When looking for solutions (not those for the dust particles in the air, because that is a completely different story again), one constantly encounters these "wise people" who are also very difficult to convince of other solutions that are not Thai: we can after all, that is better and we also have those techniques, this is not an issue, not affordable,… and so on and the companies that can provide solutions are dismissed with a benevolent smile.
Is the problem solvable: yes, and there are some governments that did listen. But then you have to pick out those that:
- Make the time to listen.
- Have the goodwill to consider your story.
- Being able to provide the financial input to set up projects.
- Have no interest in purchasing any technical stuff.
- Not blinded by weird offers. For example, an incineration plant somewhere in Belgium was found to be insufficient due to dioxin emissions and had to be dismantled: great attention from these officials to buy those parts. Fortunately, they were discouraged.
Furthermore, waste processing is indeed seen too much as destruction instead of recovery: this recovery is left by the various authorities to a whole series of “unregulated clubs” who have taken on waste sorting for profit. They all have the sorting carried out by (illegal??) immigrants from Myanmar – Laos – Cambodia who live in appalling conditions amidst the dirt, raise their children (of course without school), have virtually no access to any health care and the absolute minimum of income and by that I do not mean the minimum set by the government.
You see some of those pre-sorters working diligently on the garbage trucks, but it is the umbrella “organizations” that are in control. I hear people say: hey, that's good that sorting is already being done with a view to recycling. Yes, they are right in one respect, but then there are no or very few players who want to do the real job unless fully reimbursed by the government, which is just a bridge too far. Of course, this job involves investments (whether or not partially supplemented by the authorities), operation (and this must in any case generate a return for the investor), control over the entire collection and sorting circuit…
Some time ago we were investigating the dredging of the famous klongs. Well-intentioned officials, but then... it would be good, they said: dredging, avoiding odor nuisance, making hotspots disappear, a more tired cityscape and good navigable canals for public transport. We already got there and now… then suddenly people looked at the provider as if he could carry it out at his own expense and then he could acquire rights to…
Garbage-in-BangkokWhich areas are already in the “picture” by us? at least the entire Bangkok region, but now also Phuket and Rayong, which has a rapidly growing problem, but the list is long and probably still incomplete.
We can and want to help with companies that can provide relief from this and perhaps with the selection of a group that does want to invest, provided ...
It would be such a shame if a beautiful country, which everyone loves, were to go to hell like this.
We would also like to talk about the state of Thai agriculture one of these: with our experiences with EU projects in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, we may be able to shed some light on this.
Submitted by René Geeraerts
In my opinion, this is also partly a fault of Europe and the US. We want all products that are as cheap as possible and no accountability. Companies in Europe and the US have obligations with regard to the environment and that entails quite a lot of costs, so that the products become too expensive and the companies move to other areas with little or no rules and control.
As consumers we should be better informed about working conditions, environmental responsibility etc etc of those companies and our government should prohibit products that are not responsibly produced or tax them with a high tax. Would not only benefit the environment and the workers in those countries, our own employment would also improve
Yes, direct reference to Europe and US. When we talk about Thailand, we should look first at Japan and then at China, then at surrounding ASEAN countries and only then at Europe and the US.
The Thai government should arrange something for waste processing. But, the Thai wants to keep everything in their own hands and above all no outside interference, so why are we worried about that? If our own population does not protest and demand action, why should we as outsiders have any influence.
Second: in Thailand there are so many other, more urgent and more problems that we Westerners think should be solved, but it won't change (and won't change for the next 25 years either) so what are we worrying about this time too? .
To give some examples:
many unnecessary traffic victims every day, industrial accidents, drowning (which can be solved by swimming lessons), working with harmful substances in agriculture, horticulture and industry (pesticides, toxic gases, air pollution from industries, poor education, poor income distribution, no social safety net, no real old age provision (more than 15% retirees in 20 years), continuous major floods, regular major droughts, traffic chaos in Bangkok, corruption problems,
etc. etc.
And then a story is told here about waste processing… this is the last one for which a solution in this list of examples requires attention.
A very good and sensible story to promote awareness. I remember when I first went into Isaan 26 years ago to meet the ashes in law. I ended up with the poorest of the poor and started making a bathroom (there wasn't one), then a complete house was added, but at the same time I was disturbed by the garbage that I saw blown everywhere on the rice fields and every barbed wire. Every morning someone went to the market on a dilapidated moped and every thing at every stall was put in a plastic bag. On the way back home, the steering wheel was full of plastic bags. What mattered to them was the contents of the bag. The unusable packaging was deposited somewhere together, but at the first gust of wind it was scattered everywhere. I was going to take care of the yard and the entrance to the yard, fencing with concrete posts and barbed wire, but what would I do with all the rubbish if I was going to pick it all up? I did not know. I went old-fashioned like we used to do in Brabant, dig a hole to burn it up later. I was first declared crazy, but later they saw the benefit of it and they started to help me. It appeared to be clean, but it was not because it had been released into the atmosphere with the smoke from the fire. The Netherlands looks clean at first glance, but it is not! what is still often found here and there in the ground? Compare Thailand with Indonesia, then Thailand is not so crazy. How is the environment in China? They have become Industrial countries, why? cheap labour, lenient conditions and corruption. How much recyclable 'waste' Do countries like Thailand and China import? Around 2000 I had a Trading Office and my main product was Recycling paper. Thailand then imported 40.000 tons (ton is 1000 kg) per month! If you e.g looked towards the Phetkasem Rd towards Kanchanaburi where the containers were transported to the paper mills of the Siam Cement Group in Kanchanaburi, the trucks drove their 27 tons in a 40 Ft container bumper to bumper (by way of) Outside the local collection of recycle bare materials, Asian countries import a huge amount from Western countries. It is unimaginable what goes on in such Industries. I know very well what is happening in Belgium and the Netherlands. How much electronic waste, for example? I think it is amateurish in Thailand, but if you look at it closely, it is relatively effective. It is just like with corruption, in Thailand such things are 'transparent', so visible. (if one pays attention to it) while in Western countries it happens secretly and the mess disappears to receptive countries that desperately need the money and therefore cannot look into the long term and the development of their own country is less important. If you look at all these things (including the nuclear waste from Dutch nuclear reactors!) then one becomes depressing because then you see that the downfall is irreversibly underway. It has been swept under the table worldwide for too long! It was all about money. It is everywhere! In the air, the ground, the water.
I might think that it will 'take my time' but I also have children and grandchildren………. I can't change the world alone, but if we don't do something about it, everything will go to shit. The above article seems to be based on a commercial way of 'cleaning nature' because they try to convince governments how important it is but they try to get 'orders' (business agreements). There we have it again! Money is what it's all about. Corruption can make it all easier (or harder). As long as people continue to look at it from a business perspective, far too little will happen.
Well described. Much remains to be done in waste management.
In 1999 I went to live in Chiang Kham, Phayao, 2 kilometers from the nearest village. There was already a collection service in the town, but not in the surrounding villages. People had to take their waste themselves to a landfill, 5-10 km away. That rarely happened, people burned their waste or threw it somewhere. In 2006 there was a collection service for all villages, waste bins for the houses and large garbage trucks. Five kilometers away on 'my' road, a waste installation was built: a place to separate waste and an incinerator. School children were called in to clean up street litter. When grass was mowed along the road, someone tipped after it to pick up rubbish. Since then there has been a great improvement, but we are not there yet.
More can only be done if the community is involved.
It's sad... the sea is also polluted, fishermen throw literally EVERYTHING overboard. It depends on the mentality of the population, all over the world!
What I see on the Belgian TV channel are those government 'commercials' as 'Public message' that promote awareness, but then the government has to lead the way and a sound system exists otherwise it won't work yet.
When the Thai became aware that their bicycle routes were not working, I wrote that they should look in countries where people have more experience with well-functioning and safe systems, then my comment was not placed in the Bangkok post.
I once lived between 2 well-established Hotels where 'siminars' were held almost weekly for government employees, a kind of refresher course and informative. Why not go on an excursion abroad with a group of responsible people who manage a budget.
But which country actually has a perfect waste system without being purely commercially focused but focused on preserving our Planet?
US Europe is all bullshit in my opinion. When a Thai boy or girl goes to buy something in the 7/11, they come outside and they innocently throw the plastic bag and the paper in which the rest is wrapped on the street. There is no one who protects the youth. and let's not forget the elderly being told to clean up the mess
I live in Isaan, all the rubbish is dumped on the roadside, what you don't see is no big deal, is the motto
It's time to teach the Thais that they are fouling their own nest and turning their country into a big garbage dump.
Do not immediately point the finger at Europe and the US
Was conscious in SAtun, surprised me that the garden served as a rubbish dump. There was junk everywhere
incomprehensible I thought, but it's in the Thai way.
When it's empty, go down.
It makes no sense to collect rubbish, as this is not collected, sometimes larger pieces than just burn them yourself, as fire places on the land showed. Or dump it somewhere.
Koh Samui has, yet?, problems. Had a garbage incinerator, went bad. Not made, so garbage problems. Another problem from Thai, no maintenance. Make it work once and then break it, never mind. Like countless tourist pullers, it was fun in the beginning, but then decay and leave it that way.
The Thai does not really know the garbage problem and certainly not the government, no responsibility for this at all. It's like traffic and a hospital, never mind and chaotic.
But just Indonesia, Philippines not the same with the same “problem”.
Garbage costs money and people don't feel like spending money there.
Only when the waste chases away the tourist will people realize something.
Ger has touched on some points, which is also on the list of political responsibility, but the Asian countries have other priorities. Perhaps also themselves first, as long as it doesn't bother them, after all they are the rich and you have to bow to that.
I had my Thai girlfriend visiting and she saw the underground dumpsters, she didn't know so I told her. She was amazed and even took pictures of it.
But should we clean up? Surely that only happens when you see money according to the Western financial sector model?!
I see the Netherlands running backwards with its garbage approach and more and more junk appearing.
My parents taught me, when you take a candy out of its wrapper, put the wrapper in your pocket and throw it away in the right place. What I still do, learned young old done. That's how I put it back on my kids and hope they act like it. So education in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and actually the whole world can certainly do no harm.
If they adjust their water management in Thailand to safe, drinkable water from the tap, it will save millions of plastic bottles !!!
But yes an alien is not allowed to do in water, like many jobs