News

EARTH REPORT 16 October 2021

Citizen of Klangdong subdistrict, Thailand, caught a factory conducting activities, while without permit. A video clip sent by a citizen of Klangdong subdistrict, Pak Chong district, Nakhon Ratchsima Province, Thailand, captured moments when a factory owned by Aek Uthai company conducted activities without permits. The clip showed mysterious smoke coming out of the factory compound. Municipal authority is investigating the matter.

EARTH REPORT 14 October 2021

CHACHOENGSAO, THAILAND – Locals of Tha Than subdistrict crashed a municipal authority’s meeting and convinced government officials to deny permit to a recycling factory. Following a polluting recycling company’s request for new permit, locals of Tha Than under the name “Tha Than-Ban Song Group” demanded to attend a meeting where the matter was being discussed. The factory, established in 2018 by a company called Banana Disposal, has been causing water pollution and foul smell in the Tha Than subdistrict. Locals have demanded government agencies to take actions for years, but to no avail. 

Bangkok Post 11 October 2021 | PENCHOM SAETANG & PUNYATHORN JEUNGSMARN

Thailand has been allowed to become a new global dumping ground and without public policy to counter it, the situation will only get worse. Ratifying the amendment will be a first big step to a more systematic approach to waste management and recycling in the country. Ratification of the amendment could lay the groundwork for the government to realise its oft-repeated dream of an effective circular economy that underpins a sustainable future.

Bangkok Post 11 October 2021 | APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL

Southeast Asian countries have become new landfill sites for the management -- and mismanagement -- of waste from North America, Europe, Japan and South Korea ever since China imposed a total ban three years ago on trash imports from rich developed nations. As foreign investment in waste management expands in the region, local communities have voiced their mounting concerns over toxic contamination and its impact on their health and the environment.

EARTH REPORT 09 October 2021

Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand (EARTH) and the Pro Bono Lawyer Network of Thailand (PLNT) held the first of four workshops to be conducted in 2021 under the topic “Use and Engagement of Legal Knowledge for the Protection of Health and Environment”. 

UN News 08 October 2021

The Human Rights Council recognised this Friday, for the first time, that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right. 

ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION 26 September 2021

In 2018, Southeast Asia became the world’s top destinations for waste exports after China’s waste import bans, leading to a sharp rise in illegal recycling facilities as well as illegal dumpsites, causing land, water and air pollution that has affected several communities across the region. Allegations of malfeasance, misconduct, and corruption abound.

Panelists:

• Daru Setyorini, Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (ECOTON), Indonesia

• Pua Lay Peng, Kuala Langal Environmental Action Organization (PTASKL), Malaysia

• Akarapon Teebthaisong, Ecological Alert and Recovery - Thailand (EARTH)

Moderated by Wong Pui Yi, The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center), Malaysia

EARTH REPORT  21 September 2021 

EARTH’s initial fieldwork at industrial waste covert dumping site in Lopburi found widespread chemical leakage with VOC level reaching the highest limit of portable air detector. More samples are being collected for further analysis.

Following last week’s reports of covert dumping of industrial wastes in Phatthana Nikhom District, Lopburi province, technical officers from Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand (EARTH) investigated the two dumping sites and collected environmental samples for analysis.

Bangkok Post 27 August 2021 | Punyathorn Jeungsmarn and Penchom Saetang*  

Last Monday, members of the Anti-Plastic Scrap Citizen's Network submitted a petition to the environmental minister. The petition demanded the government impose a ban on the import of plastic scrap by the end of this year.

Bangkok Tribune 25 August 2021

The import of “plastic waste” would hamper the state’s efforts to tackle plastic waste in the country while jeopardizing the local recycling business, the group reasons.

The network, led by EARTH and the Saleng and Junk Shop Association, has submitted a letter to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment calling for an end of the plastic waste import by this year. Over 108 CSOs and 32,000 supporters have signed through an online campaign in support of their move.