Mr. Tosapol Phuanudom, Deputy Governor of Chiang Mai Province, chaired a meeting to address waste management issues in the Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organization's (PAO) wide area waste management (cluster). The Deputy Chief Executive of the PAO, the Director of the PAO's Division of Public Works, local executives, and officials, totaling over 50 people attend the meeting and shared the following information:
Chiang Mai is the largest province in Thailand, covering 25 districts with a population of 1.8 million people and a latent population of 2 million people, for a total of 3.8 million people. The average waste generation rate is 1.1 kilograms per person per day, or a total of 2,000 tons of waste generated per day (excluding the latent population). Currently, waste is separated into organic waste (30%), recyclable waste (17%), general waste (50%), and hazardous or infectious waste (3%).
The Ministry of Interior (MOI) is promoting organic waste separation in every household through the National Food Waste Management Campaign or Wet Waste Composting Bins project to reduce the amount of organic waste. The MOI is also promoting Recyclable Waste Banks to help create jobs and generate income for communities, in line with the policy of environmental protection and conservation and the 3Rs principle (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) under the Act on the Maintenance of the Cleanliness and. Orderliness of the Country, B.E. 2535 (1992) and the Public Health Act, B.E. 2535 (1992). The MOI is also increasing strictness for illegally dumping waste from outside the area.
Chiang Mai PAO is one of the cluster hosts in Chiang Mai province. The cluster consists of 106 local administrative organizations (LAOs) from 10 districts. Currently, the PAO has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with 63 LAOs out of 106 to bring their waste to the PAO's landfill site located in Doi Saket district. The average amount of waste disposed of is 250 tons per day. The PAO's landfill site has a total area of 160 rai (256,000 square meters) and has 4 disposal ponds. The PAO charges a disposal fee of 500 baht per ton, which is lower than the disposal fee at the private landfill site in Ban Ta subdistrict, Hot district, which charges 1,000 baht per ton.
Over the past 7 months, the amount of waste disposed has increased from 250 tons per day to 350-400 tons per day. It is expected that the landfill will reach its capacity in the future.
As a result, the PAO has developed an 8-megawatt waste to energy power plant project and has selected a private company as a successful bidder to manage and operate the project. The project will begin construction this July, test run systems in late 2025, and is expected to be completed in February 2026, a total of 2 years. The project will sell electricity to the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) in mid-2026.
Reference: https://www.talknewsonline.com/607068/#
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