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Economic motivation can provide the necessary incentive for people to adopt the reuse and recycling of waste. A good example of the potential role of the private sector can be found in Phitsanulok, Thailand, where a private company is making an impact on the recycling of city waste.
The Municipality is satisfied with waste separation at source for recyclable materials adopted by residents. The results have shown that the amount of waste disposed at landfill site has reduced to be almost 50 %. Such a competitive waste segregation system could evolve because there is such a good market for recyclable materials. The private sector, consisting of the Wongpanit Company and smaller waste dealers, provide this market incentive and ensure a good price. The municipality supports this private sector activity, because it improves environmental awareness among citizens and it minimizes the stream of waste.
price is made on the flyer and distributed clearly to the residents on monthly basis. (see example below).
Monthly price list of Wongpanit Company, February 2000. product Price product Paper Iron scraps Bottles-broken glass 3-4 baht/kg 2-3 baht/kg 1-2 baht/kg Plastic Other metals Coconut residues price 3-10 baht/kg 20-45 baht/kg 5-9 baht/kg
4.1 Paper
After cardboard and paper of very inferior quality only is collected at the central plant, it will be pressed with a hydraulic engine to obtain a block of 1 ton. The other paper, e.g. white writing paper is sorted manually and put in bundles. These blocks and bundles are then transported in 20 ton trucks and sold to a paper recycling plant at Siam Craft factory (Siam Cement group) in Kanchanaburi province.
Table of recyclable recyclable Card board Old newspaper Book/paper scraps Printed paper and non-recyclable paper materials (Wongpanit Co.) Non-recyclable Plastic coated paper or laminated paper i.e. present wrap , tetra pack Paper contaminated with engine oil Paper made from rice straws i.e. apple boxes from China
4.2 Glass
There are two types of glass bought at Wongpanit: bottles and broken glass. Most of unbroken bottles will be sent back to its original manufacturer to be cleaned and reused again i.e. the beer bottles, fish sauce bottles, coke one-way bottles etc. The broken glass is divided into three fractions: 1) clear glass, 2) brown glass and 3) green glass. These fractions will be sent off to the glass recycling plant at Bangkok Glass factory in Pathumthani province.
4.4 Plastics
There are many types of plastic that can be recycled. The most common ones collected by the Wongpanit Company are; Polypropylene (PP), Polystylene (PS), Polyetheylene (PE) and Polyvinylchloride (PVC). After plastics are collected, they will be sort into each of these four groups. In each group they are then sorted into different colors. Contaminants e.g. aluminum foils must be removed. The plastic is then crushed, washed, dried, packed and sent to a plastic recycling plant in Samut Prakarn province. Some types of plastic are not recycled in Thailand, e.g. PVC, because the quality of the recycled material is lower than the original. PVC plastic scraps are exported to Burma, where there is a market for the lower quality product. Polyethylene plastic (PET), e.g. from containers of cooking oil and some type of drinking water bottles, are packed with a hydraulic compactor and exported to China for making, elastic fibers and textile fibers.
4.5 Others
Other recyclable waste products collected by Wongpanit Company are: coconut shell and coconut residues used for oil extraction old mattresses stuffed with kapok, kapok can be used for doll stuffing or mixing with virgin kapok to make new mattress. used car batteries will sent to the processing plant for lead recovery. All these products have a market for recycling in Thailand.
Dr Walter Scholl, principal adviser from GTZ sees a big problem in the handling of motor oil. There is a lot of oil spill, which can pollute groundwater
8 Contact addresses
Wongpanit Company (head office) 19/9 Moo 3 Tumbon Tharthong, PhitsanulokBangkrathum Road. Ampore Muang Phitsanulok 65000 , Thailand Tel +66 (055)284494, (055)231733 Fax +66 (55) 231734; Email wongpani@loxinfo.co.th City of Phisanulok municipality, Muang, Phitsanulok 65000, Thailand Tel +66 (055) 232301 Fax (055)232300; email Munici@ksc.th.com Dr. Walter Scholl, Solid Waste Management Program for Phitsanulok City of Phisanulok municipality, Muang, Phitsanulok 65000, Thailand Tel +66 (055) 232301 Fax (055)232300; email swmphit@psnulok.loxinfo.co.th RISE-AT (Regional Information Service Center for South East Asia on Appropriate Technology) P.O. Box 111 Chiang Mai University 50202 Thailand. Tel +6653 942459-60, Fax + 66 53 892189, email riseat@chmai.loxinfo.co.th