Industrial Solid Waste Management for the Eastern Seaboard—Thailand's First Systematic Approach to the Problem

Abstract

Accelerating population growth, urbanization, and industrialization in Thailand are creating unprecedented problems requiring government intervention for achieving systematic planning and growth of existing and new urban centers. The first such regional planning project in Thailand, carried out under the sponsorship of the National Economic and Social Development Board in 1981–1982, was focused on the Eastern Seaboard, the coastal zone on the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast of Bangkok. Because of the recent development of major natural gas fields in the gulf, the Eastern Seaboard region seems destined to become a new regional urban-industrial center. The planning project resulted in preparation of a comprehensive plan for guiding continuing development in the region, with particular attention to industrial development and environmental pollution control. Preliminary concepts were developed for management of industrial solid wastes at the various urban growth centers in the region, including bulk or nonhazardous wastes and hazardous wastes. Both conventional and innovative practices, adapted to the Eastern Seaboard situation, are utilized.