Monday July 23, 2007

Island's waste problem mounting

APINYA WIPATAYOTIN : huket _ The rubbish problem on this tourist island could soon get out of hand because the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has rejected a proposal to build a second waste incinerator, the Phuket Municipal Authority (PMA) has warned.

Prachoom Suriya, director of the PMA's health and environment department, said the municipality had to deal with more than 500 tonnes of waste each day.

The existing incinerator could handle only 250 tonnes. The rest was being sent to a 129-rai dump which would be filled by the end of the year.

The landfill had been in use since 1993 and had the capacity to take about one million tonnes of garbage.

''One incinerator is not enough to handle Phuket's waste. We need one more to deal with the rapidly increasing amount of rubbish,'' Mr Prachoom said.

The Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, under the ministry, recently rejected a proposal to build a second incinerator capable of handling about 250 tonnes of garbage a day.

The agency said there was no guarantee a second incinerator, which would cost about 1.3 billion baht, would help the resort island cope with the increasing mountains of garbage.

Phuket has been declared a ''pollution control zone,'' which requires local authorities, with the help of the ONEPP, to come up with a plan on environmental protection and pollution control.

Pollution Control head Supat Wangwongwatana said during an inspection of garbage facilities in Phuket over the weekend that there was no need to build a costly incinerator to deal with the problem.

''Phuket's garbage problem can be sorted out simply by effective waste management, including garbage reduction, separation and recycling,'' he said. To support the city's garbage management, the department had included an action plan on garbage reduction in the five-year environmental protection plan for Phuket, starting this year, Mr Supat said.

Under the plan, Phuket's garbage will be reduced by 15% by 2009.

The PMA, however, disagreed with the plan.

''Phuket's garbage problem has reached a point of crisis. It cannot be solved by a recycling or waste reduction campaign.

''We need an emergency solution, not the long-term ones,'' he said.

The amount of rubbish had rapidly increased, mostly from residents in the municipality area, he said. Phuket residents and tourists are expected to generate over 1,000 tonnes of garbage and other waste a day in the next 10 years.