**2.1. Legislation affecting waste management**

the trunk extending down the Malaysian peninsula between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Thailand had a population of approximately 66 million in 2017 [2] and the provincial administration of Thailand is divided into 77 provinces. Thailand's climate is influenced by tropical monsoons and the weather in Thailand is generally hot and humid across most of the country throughout the year. The central, northern, and northeastern Thailand, especially the landlocked provinces have three different seasons, summer, the rainy season, and a cool season, whereas the southern and the coastal regions of Thailand have only two seasons which are the hot and rainy seasons. Generally, it is relatively hot most of the year. The cool season and the summer occur from November to February and March to May respectively. Between February and May the weather is mostly hot and dry. The rainy season, lasts from May to November and is dominated by the southwest monsoon, during which time rainfall

in most of Thailand is at its heaviest [3].

**Figure 1.** Provincial administration in Thailand [4].

218 Advances in Biofuels and Bioenergy

Generally, local authorities in Thailand are responsible for SWM on their administrative zones and the collection, treatment, and disposal of municipal, industrial and infectious waste is under the control of those local authorities. The MSW generated by the population of 66 million people is currently about 71,700 tons a day. The government of Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Prime Minister (hereafter PM) in power in Thailand since 24 September 2014, has recognized that the amount of waste generated and its management constitutes a serious issue and the government has adopted policies relating to SWM including the management of solid and hazardous waste. As part of this policy, the government has directed that each province should identify locations for the construction of waste facilities including proper landfill disposal sites and facilities to convert waste into renewable energy. This national strategy was incorporated into a solid and hazardous waste management roadmap which was drafted by the MNRE and represents a significant step in defining the national agenda relating to the solid waste issue. Further regulations relating to this national agenda on SWM were announced by the office of the PM in the form of an act of parliament, published in the royal gazette, in September 2014 [10]. Under the decentralization strategy adopted, responsibility for SWM was passed to each province under the authority of the provincial governor in collaboration with the MNRE, who will provide back-up on technical and management issues to support the provincial administrations. At the beginning of the fiscal year 2015, the MNRE assigned national SWM policy to local provincial administrative and local government organizations in order to implement this policy [11]. The main concept of the national roadmap for solid and hazardous waste management is divided into four categories;

• Model S clusters waste disposal sites into those that receive a daily input of waste of up to 50 tons per day. The provinces in which this model was initiated were Nakorn Ratchasima,

Sustainable Waste Management and Waste to Energy Recovery in Thailand

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.74988

221

• Model M clusters waste disposal sites into those that receive a daily input of waste of between 50 and 300 tons per day. Model M was piloted in municipalities in Nan and Rayong

• Model L clusters waste disposal sites into those that receive a daily input of waste of more than 300 tons per day. The pilot provinces for the L model were Nonthaburi, Phuket, Songkhla (including both Songkhla and Hatyai municipalities), Chiang Rai, and Bangkok [12]

• Screen hazardous waste out of MSW and gather it at a transfer station before sending it to

Under model S the same processes would be operated as those under models M and L but a different approach to waste recovery would be adopted with composting being utilized instead of electricity generation at small scale sites and employing private contractors for

**3.** Reinforce the role of the private sector in waste management and increase investment espe-

**1.** Henceforth, governors are the provincial regulatory waste management administrators

**2.** Legislation to introduce and standardize procedures including waste reduction, separation, collection and transportation, and, to standardize waste disposal fees for solid, hazardous and

The roadmap focuses on policy and legislation while the practical implementation of measures on waste management have been decentralized to provincial administration organiza-

In the first stage covering a period of 6 months, governors meet with provincial waste management committees selected from related stakeholders e.g., local administration representatives, academics, NGOs and the private sector, to brainstorm and discuss SWM with a view to drafting a provincial solid and hazardous waste management model. From this an overview of the implementation of the provincial SWM model is prepared incorporating an assessment of local preparedness and how collaboration between all the stakeholders can systematically

Under the M and L models waste would be processed by the following procedures:

• Rehabilitate existing landfills into sanitary landfill sites for continued dumping.

• Implement a combination WMS and convert waste to electricity.

hazardous waste management instead of landfill rehabilitation.

and Buriram

provinces.

private contractors.

cially in waste incinerators

infectious waste

tions in three stages.

*2.1.3. Waste management measures and policy*

• Promote the separation of waste at source.
