**2. Waste situation in Thailand**

Currently, the increases in the generation of municipal solid waste (hereafter MSW) caused by population growth and increasing economic development in developing countries has become one of the most serious environmental issues. Solid waste management (hereafter SWM) is difficult to implement as part of integrated management strategies and sustainable development in developing countries. A large amount of mixed waste is usually dumped in open landfills or burned outdoors. Many Asian countries have poor practical waste separation [5]. Despite the adoption of waste management strategies such as the so called 3Rs strategies (reduce, reuse, recycle), which have been widely implemented throughout the world during the last decade, a complete solution to the problems of SWM has not been found. Developing countries such as Thailand still produce large amounts of MSW which for some time have been overwhelming the available landfill sites. MSW generation has continuously increased over the years and in 2016, the total amount of MSW in the country, as reported by the Pollution Control Department (hereafter PCD), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (hereafter MNRE), Thailand, was 27.06 million tons which represented an increase of 0.2 million tons since 2015. As an illustration, the amount of waste generated annually is equal to a hundred times the volume of the highest building in Thailand, "Baiyoke Tower II" which is 328 metres high. Of this waste only 14.81 million tons was placed in disposal sites, with waste recovery accounting for a further 4.64 million tons with the remaining 6.91 million tons accounted for by other means [6]. The efficiency of waste collection is about 80% countrywide but only 36% of the total generated waste is disposed of using acceptable processes such as incineration, composting or landfilling [7]. However, there are only 2500 waste recovery entrepreneurs nationwide of which only one fifth use proper waste disposal methods, the remaining four fifths use illegal waste disposal methods such as open dumping, and direct burning resulting in environmental contamination through leaching, and leakage of substances. Several landfills have been burned as has been reported in newspapers [8]. Only a small fraction of the MSW collected is managed by proper treatment or disposal and there is a need for a sustainable solution to these problems as well as the implementation of public participation strategies [9]. It inevitably involves municipalities, scavengers, investors, teachers, and people.
