Govt urged to reform toxic waste management laws
Bangkok Post 25 January 2025
Activists have urged the government to amend relevant laws to address ineffective hazardous waste management practices, which have increased since an uptick in foreign investment.
Speaking at the "Ratchadamnoen Talk" organised by the Thai Journalists Association on Wednesday, Penchom Sae-Tang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery - Thailand (EARTH), said many local communities countrywide are suffering from a polluted environment caused by very low standards in hazardous waste management.
The number of such complaints has rapidly increased due to the government policy of welcoming foreign investment, regardless of concerns over the country's environment and natural resources.
She said the government amended many regulations to encourage foreign investment in waste management, but without implementing proper environmental guidelines.
There are enactments of legislation that facilitate the convenience of setting up recycling plants and waste management factories, she said.
For example, regulations that limit waste management operations to specific provinces were changed to allow every province to house such plants. Meanwhile, a regulation that required industrial waste to be disposed of only by burying it in a landfill was changed to allow it to be recycled. Importantly, the National Council for Peace and Order's 4/2559 directive has allowed waste sorting factories for landfill and industrial waste recycling plants to operate anywhere by suspending the use of city planning laws.
This has dramatically encouraged many entrepreneurs from China to do business in Thailand, with most of them using outdated technology for hazardous waste management, which has impacted people's health and the environment.
"Many governments have given us a 'polluted heritage' through mismanagement of policies," Ms Penchom said.
"We will lose our clean environment and natural resources in exchange for insecure economic growth from low-grade factories occupying our land," she said.
She added that law amendments are needed to ensure greener and better technology is used for hazardous waste management and recycling plants.
The Ministry of Industry says there are about 2,500 industrial waste management plants in Thailand. The majority of these, critics say, are small-scale plants, which are inefficient and of low quality.
www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2947157
