3Rs Policy and Strategy for Municipal Waste Management in Thailand

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.