URBANIZATION AND ENVIRONMENT:

TRENDS AND CONSEQUENCES OF SOLID

WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THAI CITIES OUTLINE
| Introduction
| Overview of urbanization and environment
| Thailand urbanization and SWM

| Trends and consequences

| Related initiatives

| Cases

| Conclusions
Dr. Vilas Nitivattananon
1 and
Siwaporn Tangwanichagapong

Urban Environmental Management 2

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
vilasn@ait.asia

INTRODUCTION
| Increasing levels of urbanization are caused by natural
growth and migration
y Driving forces include the opportunities and services
offered in urban areas – especially jobs and education
y There is a strong relationship between national levels of
human development and urbanization levels
| However, the implications of rapid urban growth
However
include increasing environmental degradation, lack of
urban services, overburden of existing infrastructure
and lack of access to land, finance and adequate
shelter
y Managing the urban environmental sustainably will
therefore become one of the major challenges for the future
3
| Cities will continue to grow as positive externalities 4

outweigh negative ones

UNEP (2002)

URBAN POSITIVE ECONOMIC OUTCOMES AND URBANIZATION –

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OVERVIEW

5 6

1
URBANIZATION - MEGA CITIES IN 2015 URBANIZATION - MEGA-CITIES
| Mega-cities take up only 2% of the Earth’s land
surface
| But mega-cities account for
y 60% of human water use
y Almost 80% of all human produced carbon emissions
| Nearly half of the world
world’ss urban population now
lives in Asian cities which,
y during the next decades, will absorb two-thirds of the
growth in the world’s urban population
| The number of mega-cities (populations of 10
million or more) is increasing
y Half of them (12 out of 21) are found in Asia
7 8
y Seven of the 10 most populous cities are in Asia

CITIES AND WASTE GENERATION

URBANIZATION - CLIMATE CHANGE

| The energy demand of urban areas – including Asia’s

rapidly growing cities – are major contributors to
GHGs
| The Asia and the Pacific region stands to be most
affected by climate change
y Cities in Asia are most exposed to the effects of climate
change: due to size, geographic location or elevation
y They are especially vulnerable to frequent extreme
weather events such as droughts, floods, cyclones and
heat waves

9 10
Waste Generation Rates for Selected Asian Cities
Source: IGES (2005)
10

WASTE GENERATION AND GHG EMISSIONS

THAILAND URBANIZATION

| Source: United Nations, World Urbanization

prospects database, 2010.

11 12
Source: United Nations, World Urbanization prospects database, 2010.

2
THAILAND SWM: BACKGROUND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT (SWM)
HIERARCHY

Avoidance
Minimization
Reuse
Recycling
Recovery
Treatment
Disposal

13 14
Source: PCD (2008,2009)
14

Thailand SWM - Recycling THAILAND SWM: CURRENT PRACTICES

| MSW Collection and Transportation
¾ Provincial Administration Offices (PAO), Municipalities and
Tambon Administration Offices (TAOs) are responsible for
collection, transportation and disposal
| Only 3.3 million tons or equal to 22% were reportedly
recycled
| through recycling bank
bank, municipal collectors and junk shops

Table 2 Efficiency of SWM in Thailand

16

Source: PCD (2009)

TRENDS AND CONSEQUENCES: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

THAILAND SWM: CURRENT PRACTICES

| The disposal and treatment of
¾ MSW disposal was still not waste can produce emissions of
meeting with sanitary several greenhouse gases
purpose such as (GHGs), which contribute to
global climate change
open dumping, and open
burning
| Waste prevention and recycling
help address global climate
¾ The open dumping is the change by decreasing the amount
most commonly used of GHG emissions and saving
energy
method of MSW disposal

Source: Ngoc and Schnitzer (2009)

Source: UNEP (2004)

http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/contribution-
17 from-waste-to-cl 18
climate-change

3
 ITIES

19 20

UNEP(2010) UNEP (2010)

RELATED INITIATIVES – THAILAND SWM

| National waste management targets
¾ Waste reduction; to have the waste segregation system for
reuse and recycling in every community over the
country, and to minimize 30% of total waste

¾ Aims to reduce the MSW generation rate less than 1

kg/capita/day

| Policy frameworks by National Government (PCD)

¾ Applying 3Rs for achieving waste reduction & utilization;
¾ Promoting the integrated waste management system to
reduce the landfill areas and generate the renewable energy;
¾ Encouraging the cooperation of adjacent Local Governments
for establishment of waste management facility;
¾ Endorsing public and private sectors to participate in waste
management project.
22

BMA (2009) 21

RELATED INITIATIVES – THAILAND SWM RELATED INITIATIVES – THAILAND SWM

¾ Example of successful project Public –private collaboration on waste management

“Organic Waste Compost and
Energy Production Plant, Rayong”
| Thai Toshiba Fluorescent

| Big C and Tetra Pak produce tables and chairs using Recycling
Beverage Cartons

23 24

Source: PCD (2009)

4
 RELATED INITIATIVES – THAILAND SWM CASE: NONTHABURI MUNICIPALITY

Project for establishing

|
recyclable center for Saleng Waste Segregation
group –
y Suratthani Municipality

| Project for Community

Recyclables Bank –
y Dong Mon Krating
Community, Lampang

| Promoting a community-
based solid-waste
management initiative in
local government:
y Yala municipality, Thailand
25

QUANTITY OF SOLID WASTE YEAR 1993-2007

TONS/DAY

400
370
350

300
280
250

Total
200
Landfill
Recycle
150

100
90
50

0
YEAR
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Case: School Garbage Banks in Ayutthaya municipality School Garbage Banks (SGBs) in Ayutthaya municipality
SGB Implementation Objectives
ƒTo reduce waste disposed at the landfills by
setting up the SGBs in the schools of Ayutthaya
municipality
ƒTo educate students and the people about the
Deposit Pass book importance of recycling and recovery of resources
ƒTo raise the awareness of the youth and through
them their parents regarding the potentials of
recycling waste
ƒTo enable income generation for the youth and
thus reduce family expenses.
Sold
29 to Recycling Shop
Storehouse 30 (SEA-UEMA, 2007)

5
 School Garbage Banks (SGBs) in Ayutthaya municipality School Garbage Banks (SGBs) in Ayutthaya municipality
SGB Processes
ƒ Establishment of SGB committee
¾ Teachers and students
¾ Share responsibilities to all members
ƒ Survey price of recovered material
¾ Determining the buying rate
¾ Cooperation with recyclable material buyer
Member application
ƒ Public
P bli relation
l ti
¾ Disseminating knowledge
¾ Publicizing the recycling activities
¾Announcing recyclable price to members
ƒ Prepare storehouse
ƒ Implementation of SGB
ƒ Evaluation of project implementation

31
Public campaign
(SEA-UEMA, 2007)

SCHOOL GARBAGE BANKS (SGBS) IN AYUTTHAYA MUNICIPALITY

RECYCLING STORAGE FACILITIES CONCLUSIONS
ธนาคารขยะโรงเรียนว ัดเขียน
| The challenge for urbanization is to accommodate
economic growth with rapidly increasing
populations,
y while facilitating improvements in the welfare of
cities inhabitants, raising quality of services, and
environment over time
y global consideration with climate change is an added
challenge
| Considerations for SWM
y Management hierarchy (Upstream VS Downstream)
y Inputs and VS Outputs
y Economics VS Environment
y Stakeholders (Public VS Private)
y Policies VS Practices
34

33

REFERENCES
| ADB (2006). Urbanization and Sustainability in Asia: case study of good practices.
Philippines
| Hardoy, J., Mitlin, D. and Satterthwaite, D.,(2001) Environmental Problems in an
Urbanizing World, Earthscan, 290 pp., London. THANK YOU!
| Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) (2005). Urban Environmental
Management Challenge in Asia. Part I Introduction: Economic
Development, Urbanization and Environment in Asia. Available:
www.iges.or.jp/en/fw/pdf/report01/part1.pdf
| Ngoc,
goc, U. N.,
., and
a Schnitzer,
Sc e , H.. (2009).
( 009). “Sustainable
S s a a e sosolutions
o s for
o solid
so waste
was e
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|
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Suttibak and Nitivattananon (2009). Assessment of factors influencing
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performance of solid waste recycling. Resource Conservation and Recycling. (WWW.3RKH.NET)
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| UNHABITAT. Global Report on Human Settlements (2009). Available: 35 36
www.unhabitat.org/documents/GRHS09/FS1.pdf
| UNHABITAT (2010). The State of Asian Cities 2010/2011.