Thailand faces up to putrid problem as waste crisis gets out of hand

A blaze at a vast rubbish dump home to six million tonnes of putrefying trash and toxic effluent has kindled fears that poor planning and lax law enforcement are tipping Thailand towards a waste crisis. A ferocious fire at the foul-smelling Praeksa landfill site, on the fringes of Bangkok, cloaked the eastern suburbs of the capital in poisonous smoke earlier this year and thrust Praeksa to the heart of a national debate over rubbish. Bangkok produces around 10,000 tonnes of waste a day, almost half of what’s generated each year across the kingdom. The ruling junta has put waste disposal high on its to-do list, recognising that poorly regulated pits are fast filling up and prone to disaster.

Can people throw away garbage in outer space? They cannot… they have to throw it away in Thailand.

General Prayut Chan-O-Cha

Military ruler General Prayut Chan-O-Cha vows to tackle the kingdom’s garbage problems. His comments have raised hopes of a policy revival towards waste after years of short-term planning - abetted by short-lived governments - in the politically turbulent kingdom. Fearing landfills are incubating massive health issues down the line, the Pollution Control Department wants to see collection rates raised locally and laws tightened to encourage recycling. But Thailand is not alone in struggling to tame its trash. From Jakarta’s Bantar Gebang dump to Manila’s ‘smokey mountain’, open landfills blight Southeast Asia’s booming megacities. Experts warn those dumps are a timebomb for the environment and the increasing number of communities forced to live cheek-by-jowl with them.

Asia-Pacific