3Rs Policy and Strategy for Municipal
Waste Management in Thailand
C. Boonchit
Abstract Arising problems from municipal solid wastes will cause environmental
and health impacts which will subsequently affect on society, industry development,
tourism business, trade and environment issues. Solid waste in Thailand has magnificently increased from 16 million tons per year in 2011 to 27 million tons in
2017 due to socio-economic development and technological changes. Growing up
in volume and variety properties of solid wastes make it difficult to manage under
conventional disposal methods and local capability limitation. A new attempt of solid
waste management is to apply 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) to promote waste minimization by reducing waste generated quantity, reusing post-consumer products and
packages and recycling wastes as raw material or energy. The 3Rs strategies used
in waste management system include social-based activity, research and development approach, capacity building, international cooperation and laws enforcement.
As result of 3Rs program implementation, municipal solid wastes recovery rate has
significant increased to 25% of the total generation in 2017. The 3Rs programs are
proven to be effective for waste management in terms of pollution prevention and
human health protection from pollutants caused by reduction amount of wastes to be
final disposed of. In future, law and regulation which contain Circular Economy Concept, Extended Producer Responsibility Principle and Economy Instruments might
be needed to increase more effective 3Rs and waste management in Thailand.
Keywords International Society of Waste Management · Air and water
1 Introduction
In the last decade, the amount of garbage has continuously increased. In 2011, total
municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in Thailand was 15.98 million tons per
year and has increased to 27.37 million tons in 2017. Increasing amounts of MSW
are from socio-economic development and technological changes. The average rate
of MSW generation is between 0.4 and 1.5 kg/capita/day. At present, there is only
C. Boonchit (B)
Pollution Control Department, Bangkok, Thailand
e-mail: chaiya.b@pcd.go.th
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
S. K. Ghosh (ed.), Solid Waste Policies and Strategies: Issues, Challenges
and Case Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1543-9_19
205
Waste Management in Thailand
C. Boonchit
Abstract Arising problems from municipal solid wastes will cause environmental
and health impacts which will subsequently affect on society, industry development,
tourism business, trade and environment issues. Solid waste in Thailand has magnificently increased from 16 million tons per year in 2011 to 27 million tons in
2017 due to socio-economic development and technological changes. Growing up
in volume and variety properties of solid wastes make it difficult to manage under
conventional disposal methods and local capability limitation. A new attempt of solid
waste management is to apply 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) to promote waste minimization by reducing waste generated quantity, reusing post-consumer products and
packages and recycling wastes as raw material or energy. The 3Rs strategies used
in waste management system include social-based activity, research and development approach, capacity building, international cooperation and laws enforcement.
As result of 3Rs program implementation, municipal solid wastes recovery rate has
significant increased to 25% of the total generation in 2017. The 3Rs programs are
proven to be effective for waste management in terms of pollution prevention and
human health protection from pollutants caused by reduction amount of wastes to be
final disposed of. In future, law and regulation which contain Circular Economy Concept, Extended Producer Responsibility Principle and Economy Instruments might
be needed to increase more effective 3Rs and waste management in Thailand.
Keywords International Society of Waste Management · Air and water
1 Introduction
In the last decade, the amount of garbage has continuously increased. In 2011, total
municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in Thailand was 15.98 million tons per
year and has increased to 27.37 million tons in 2017. Increasing amounts of MSW
are from socio-economic development and technological changes. The average rate
of MSW generation is between 0.4 and 1.5 kg/capita/day. At present, there is only
C. Boonchit (B)
Pollution Control Department, Bangkok, Thailand
e-mail: chaiya.b@pcd.go.th
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
S. K. Ghosh (ed.), Solid Waste Policies and Strategies: Issues, Challenges
and Case Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1543-9_19
205