Prepared for the APFED 3R Expert Meeting on 5 March 2006, at Tokyo, Japan

by

So SASAKI Supported by

Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP)

Bangkok Thailand, March 2006

Better Practice of Waste Management in Thailand

2

APFED 3R Expert Meeting, at Tokyo, Japan, 5 Mar. 2006

Better Practice of Waste Management in Thailand

So SASAKI* * Ph.D. candidate, Graduate School of Economics, Hokkaido University

* Research Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

* Visiting Research Fellow, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.

Address: Graduate School of Economics, Hokkaido University

KITA9, NISHI7, KITA-KU, SAPPORO, 060-0809, JAPAN

E-mail : sasakiso@hotmail.com

To promote the 3Rs or International Trade of Recyclable Resources, it is necessary for each nation to

consolidate various relevant legislations. And it is effective to share among the countries facing

common difficulties in achieving the environmentally-sound management of wastes good practices

and the reasons for their success. This paper is intended as an investigation of Better Practice of

Waste Management in Thailand. Let us consider Better Practice from three perspectives, (A) Solid

Waste Management, (B) Industrial Waste Management, and (C) International Trade of Recyclable

Resources as follows.

3Rや国際資源循環を推進するには、各国が関連する法令を整備することが必要である。また、廃棄物の適正処理に関して、各国が共通に抱える課題について、課題を克服した優良

事例やその成功要因などを共有化することも有効である。このレポートの目的は、タイに

おける廃棄物管理の成功事例の調査研究である。以下のようなタイの成功事例を(A)一般廃棄物管理、(B)産業廃棄物管理、(C)国際資源循環の 3つの視点から考察してみる。

A-1 Food Waste Disposal B-1 Industrial Hazardous Waste C-1 Secondhand MarketA-2 Hazardous and Infectious Waste B-2 Waste oil & solvent Recycling C-2 Import Used Car and PartsA-3 E-waste B-3 Waste Battery Recycling C-3 Import Used PCA-4 Biggest Junk Shop B-4 CRT Recycling C-4 Washed CRT cullet recycled from JapanA-5 PET Bottle Recycling B-5 CFC gus distroying (If available)C-5 Copy machines from the Asia Pacific Region recycledA-6 Waste Bank

A.Solid Waste Management B.Industrial Waste ManagementBetter Practice of Waste Management in Thailand

C.International Trade of Recyclable Resources

List of Acronyms 3Rｓ Reduce, Reuse and Recycle DIW Department of Industrial Works, Ministry of Industry JETRO Japan External Trade Organization JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency PCD Pollution Control Department, Ministry of National Recourse and Environment UNDP United Nations Development Programme WEEE Waste electrical and electronic equipment

3

A-1 Food Waste Disposal Introduction

Food waste is one of the inevitable problems in the promotion of waste reduction in Thailand since it occupies about 50% of the total waste in wet-weight ratio. Here we introduce advanced cases in the cities of Pakkret and Rayong. In Pakkret, a compost plant was built for 1.37 million Baht ($1=40 Bahts) with support from JICA. The plant collects food waste from 170 households in the local community, processing 300kg/day (Fig. A-1-2). Rayong city introduced a methane fermentation electric plant with Finnish technology that extracts methane and anaerobic compost from food waste (Fig. A-1-4). The initial investment was 142.86 million Baht. The potential processing capacity is planned to be 60tons/day although the collected volume stands at around 10-15tons/day in the current initial stage of the operation. The methane power plant is scheduled to sell 625kw for 2 Baht/wh and use the benefit for the running cost. Issues

Although it has been said that Thailand lags way behind in trash separation, both cities rely on the communities to develop dedicated food-waste collection systems (Fig. A-1-1). Since Rayong is a larger city than Pakkret, the waste generated in Rayong often contains plastic trash. To treat the plastic trash, Rayong introduced a separation line in the collection facilities (Fig. A-1-3). Future study on an appropriate scale of the community’s waste separation will be required.

Both cases are dedicated to food waste and have additional effects such as the reduction in the collection cost due to the food waste separation or people’s awareness of selling recyclable waste. In other words, if we can promote participation of local people in the food waste separation, which was the original intention, the recycling rate will be improved incrementally. Recommendations

The cases of Pakkret and Rayong we introduced here are both for experimental plants with large initial costs and hence cannot be applied to other cities immediately. Composting of food waste is effective in regional towns close to agricultural areas, while there might be low demand for compost in large cities and difficulty will be found in the management of the composting. Also, the influences of the produced fertilizers on the farm crops should be evaluated. However, the advantage of composting food waste is not only the reduction of the waste volume, but also the additional effects such as the enhancement of the recycling rate. So we could expect the composting to reduce the waste processing in local government and it is worth attempting as the first step to the waste measures. For this purpose, a survey on composting facilities should be conducted on an appropriate collection and investment scale.

Fig.A-1-1 Food waste collecting car of the community

Fig.A-1-2 Compost facilities in Pakkret

Fig.A-1-3 Separation line in Rayong

Fig.A-1-4 Anaerobic fermentation plant in Rayong

4

A-2 Hazardous and Infectious Waste Introductions

Hazardous waste from households in Thailand is not well separated, and goes to landfill, mixed with other solid waste. So there is anxiety about environment pollution. The Thai government conducted a campaign for collecting waste cellular phones in cooperation with the cell phone companies, and alerted citizens to the need to separate fluorescent lights, pesticides, and batteries, although the citizens have not been as supportive of these campaigns as planned.

On the other hand, 21,300 tons of infectious waste was produced in 2002 from 1,400 hospitals and 24,000 clinics all over the country [World Bank 2003].

Issues

The survey in 2004 conducted by JETRO estimated that 41 million waste fluorescent lights were produced in one year in the whole of Thailand. Based on this survey result, a pilot project for recycling waste fluorescent lights and collecting mercury is now in progress with PCD, but the largest problem is whether the citizens are supportive in separating the waste [JETRO 2005]. On the other hand, the factories that produce a large amount of waste fluorescent lights are obtaining ISO14001 and promoting the waste separation.

Bangkok produces 21% of the total amount of infectious waste, and collects almost 100% of the waste it produces. It burns the infectious waste in dedicated incinerators. However, only 46% of all the infectious waste in the whole of Thailand is incinerated and 37% is processed with other general waste, which may cause not only environmental problems, but also health damage to the collection staff and the scavengers. Recommendations

The citizen’s support of waste separation is essential for appropriate processing of the hazardous waste produced from households. However, the support has not been obtained successfully in Thailand and the citizen’s consciousness needs to be improved by environmental education. It would be successful if the citizens were encouraged to work on hazardous waste separation based on their understanding of the advantages of the separation, such as the reduction of the collection cost and waste volume, and this understanding would be deepened by experiencing the separation of food waste and recyclable waste before starting the separation of hazardous waste (See Case A-1, A-6).

Since it is easy to identify medical facilities as the emission source of infectious waste, the separation of the infectious waste needs to be imposed to promote its separate collection. If the local government cannot incinerate the infectious waste or conduct other appropriate processing, it is necessary to examine the possibility of wide area treatment in which the processing of the infectious waste is delegated to another local government that can manage it.

Fig.A-2-1

Waste fluorescent lights that are separated in factories

Fig.A-2-2 Separate collection of infectious waste in Bangkok

Fig.A-2-2 Incinerator of infectious waste in Bangkok

5

A-3 E-waste Introduction E-waste is discharged in the same way as municipal solid waste and there is no agency surveying and collecting data on the quantities of these wastes actually existing. In 2003, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and KOKUSAI KOGYO (THAILAND) CO., LTD. and I investigated Junk shops dealing with WEEE [JETRO 2004]. We evaluated the quantities of WEEE as follow table.

Estimation of the quantities of recyclable and non-recyclable WEEE in 2003

TV R/F W/M A/C-I A/C-O PC CRT TotalWeight %

Aluminium 82 533 227 1,049 934 2,825 4.9Circuit board 738 738 1.3Compressor 3,908 3,734 7,642 13.2Copper 82 114 242 373 811 1.4CRT glass (PC's monitor) 621 621 1.1Electric wire 246 114 81 93 54 587 1.0Glass 227 227 0.4Iron scrap 328 8,349 5,685 6,216 4,108 1,347 44 26,077 45.0Plastic 1,066 3,197 1,592 484 93 189 229 6,850 11.8Power Supply 253 253 0.4Printed Circuit Board 316 142 458 0.8Rubber gasket 355 114 469 0.8Total recycled weight(tons)1 2,542 16,342 8,073 8,072 9,335 2,105 1,088 47,557 82.1

Concrete 3,070 3,070 5.3CRT glass (TV set) 4,757 . 4,757 8.2Particle board 227 227 0.4Polyurethane foam 1,421 1,421 2.5Wooden frame 902 902 1.6Total not-recycled weight(tons)2 5,659 1,421 3,297 10,377 17.9

Total weight (tons) 8,201 17,763 11,370 8,072 9,335 2,105 1,088 57,934 100.0

Not

-recy

cled

Remarks:(1)The quantity of the recyclable parts = the recyclable rate X the quantity of electrical appliances in the averageyear X the average weight.(2)The quantity of the non-recyclable parts = the non-recyclable rate X the quantity of electrical appliances in theaverage year X the average weight

Unit: Ton

Description

Rec

ycle

d

Issues When this survey is compared to Japan, the recycling rates for Washing Machines and Refrigerators are high, but low for TVs, because used CRT monitors are not recycled in Thailand. We are afraid that there are pollution problems, because CRT monitors are disposed of using informal means. Recommendations

Since the Thai people did not seem to cooperate with these campaigns and plans, the PCD

finally drafted the WEEE & Hazardous Wastes Management Act. It is important to set up the Take

Back System for recycling, so the introduction of a Product Charge is necessary. Currently, this draft

is being discussed by the National Environmental Board (NEB), following which the cabinet will

approve the act.

6

A-4 Biggest Junk Shop http://www.wongpanit.com/ Introduction

Phitsanulok in northern Thailand is the most successful city in Thailand in the processing of solid waste. One of the reasons for its success is the recycling company Wongpanit, which modernized the processing and pursues economic efficiency. It has a total of 143 branch offices, including foreign branches in Laos and Cambodia and franchises.

With this scale of recycling activities, Wongpanit has contributed to the reduction of trash in Phitsanulok. The city used to collect 140-180 tons of trash every day, but now due to the contributions from the company, the city has succeeded in reducing the trash volume by 70-80 tons and collects the trash only once or twice a week. Issues

There are two reasons for the company’s success. One is that the company surveyed Japanese recycling companies in 1990 and introduced press machines (Fig.A-4-2). It obtained the design specifications of the press machine from a Japanese seller of secondhand machines and started manufacturing the machines within Thailand. For example, an imported plastic-press machine costs 400,000 Baht but the one made by Wongpanit costs only 100,000 Baht. Now the company also sells the machines. The pressed recycle materials can be loaded on a truck at no extra space required and thus the transport efficiency, and hence transaction volume, have increased significantly.

The second reason is that the company made a network of the waste-buying sites. It recruits people from everywhere in Thailand who intend to start recycling businesses and provides them with a training program to teach them the necessary skills and experience (Fig.A-4-3). It then employs applicants as a franchise in the company’s group. This approach has enhanced the economical scale of the company and the bargaining power over buyers of the recycle materials. Wongpanit now provides a training program in Laos in collaboration with the UNDP, which is a good example of international cooperation. Recommendations

Currently the recycle materials mostly come from house trash, but it is planned as a future task to place emphasis on, and add value, to the industrial waste and international resource recycling. The present issues are not just the reduction of the waste, but also the imposition of the same corporation tax as other general companies even when the company contributed to the creation of local employment. Therefore, the government is now being asked for preferential tax treatment for recycle companies. Also it is now planned to develop recycle bases in industrial complexes, which are modeled after “Eco Town” in Japan.

Fig.A-4-1 Belt conveyer for separating recyclable trash the company bought

Fig.A-4-2 The press machine improved transport efficiency.

Fig.A-4-3 Training program for entrepreneurs

7

A-5 PET Bottle Recycling

Introduction

The Japanese manufacture Thai Negoro is a plastic recycling factory in Thailand. It uses

PET bottles as recycle materials to produce carpets (Fig.A-5-4). Four 1.5-liter PET bottles are

needed to produce a 1m2 carpet. The company’s production ability is 1.2 million km2/month. 85% of

the produced carpets are exported to Japan and the remaining 15% are sold in Thailand. The business

is highly regarded and Thai Negoro was the first plastic-recycling company to obtain a Green Label

certificate from the Thai Environment Association.

Issues

The company’s factory is capable of recycling 400 tons of PET bottles a month. At present,

125 tons out of the 400 tons, i.e. about one third of the PET bottles to be recycled are collected in

Thailand and the remaining two thirds (275 tons) are imported in the form of chips (produced by

cleaning and tearing the PET bottles into pieces) from local governments in Japan, where the PET

bottles are collected by Packaging Recycling Law.

This is primarily because an increasing number of the waste PET bottles are exported from

Thailand to China and the transaction prices have increased drastically. As of December 2005, the

price of virgin materials was 50 Baht/kg and that of the materials produced from the waste PET

bottles was 45 Baht/kg (Fig.A-5-2). The second reason is that the waste PET bottles in Thailand are

dirty because of their rough separation in the households and possess low quality with a non-white

color even after the cleaning processing, and it is therefore necessary to import the waste PET bottles

from Japan (Figs.A-5-2, A-5-3).

Recommendations

The above case indicates that even the recycling of solid waste is influenced by the

international recycle resource prices, and exemplifies the increasing export of recycle resources from

Thailand to China. It also suggests that the separation of the waste in each household, i.e. the

emission source, would improve the quality of the recycle resources and promote the effective use of

the resources, just like in Japan.

Fig.A-5-1 PET bottle buyers

Fig.A-5-2 The buyers clean and tear the PET bottles into pieces.

Fig.A-5-3 Recycle resources imported from Japan (left) and bought in Thailand (right)

Fig.A-5-4 Recycled carpet manufactured in Thailand

8

A-6 Waste Bank in Primary & Secondary Schools

Introduction

Recently, a lot of local administrations have started trial recycling programs what is so

called as “Waste Bank” or “Garbage Bank” (Fig. A-6-2). Primary & Secondary Schools Students can

bring their recyclables like glass bottle, can, paper, and plastic (Fig. A-6-1). It imitates the system of

a monetary bank, except that the deposit is not cash but recyclables. Each member can withdraw his

or her savings as what they wish to have, such as bicycle, football, and games (Fig. A-6-3).

This is a good way to educate young children to conserve the environment. Children’s

change will influence the adults to follow. In this way, a lot of local administrations applied “Recycle

Bank” program to communities and succeeded to raise public environmental consciousness.

Now, around 500 waste banks in Thailand which can collect 18,000 to 30,000 tons of

wastes per year

Issues

Waste Bank is profitable to reduce waste and to raise public environmental consciousness.

However, in Phisanulok municipality, parents observed the value of recyclable waste, and made their

children to take directly recyclable waste Junk shops where people sell waste. Now, many schools

can not collect recyclable waste. All the same, Waste Bank contributes to reduce waste.

By the way, Waste Bank collects only recyclable waste, so the question of Food Waste and

Hazardous waste remains unsettled.

Recommendations

As mentioned above, many other local administrations have started recycling program

thought Waste Bank Program. But the programs are still in the preliminary stage. Local

administrations have little idea of how to extend recycling program and where to go as the next step.

Local administrations succeed in reduce waste thought Waste Bank, the next step will tackle Food

Waste and Hazardous waste.

Fig.A-6-2 Waste Bank in Primary School

Fig.A-6-1 Sorting Recyclable waste

Fig.A-6-3 Amount of Recyclable waste deposit /month

9

B-1 Industrial Hazardous Waste Introduction

In 2002, 963,000 tons of industrial hazardous waste and 5,890,000 tons of industrial non-hazardous waste were produced in Thailand. With recycled and reused volumes being extracted, the final disposals are 788,000 tons of industrial hazardous waste and 1,271,000 tons of industrial non-hazardous waste. The amount of industrial waste in Thailand is only about 1.7% of that produced in Japan, about 400 million tons. This is an extremely small percentage considering Thailand’s GDP and economic scale. This is probably because the waste from construction and agriculture industries, which occupies about 40% of the total amount of the industrial waste in Japan in weight ratio, is not counted in Thailand.

According to the questionnaire surveys conducted in 2001 and 2004 by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok, 61.5% of the companies selected “Processing of industrial waste” as the “Immediate environmental problem” in 2001, but the percentage decreased down to 30.1% in 2004. To the question on the “Cause of the immediate environmental problem,” “Number and performance of the waste-processing companies” was chosen by 29.7% of the companies in 2001 and 12.2% in 2004, and “Processing cost” was selected by 28.4% in 2001 and 16.2% in 2004, indicating the improvement during the period between 2001 and 2004. This improvement may be due to the increase in the number of the processing companies, the reduction of the processing cost, and the enhancement of the processing abilities in the deregulation of the industrial waste processing and recycle market enforced at the end of 2001. The number of licensed factories for industrial waste processing and recycling has now increased from 12 in December 2001, which was just after the deregulation of the market, to 819. Issues

On the other hand, the deregulation of the processing and recycling market showed some disadvantages such as the business difficulty of a large industrial-waste processing company that failed to win in the price competition with follow-on companies or the illegal dumping as a result of re-delegating the waste to an unlicensed factory. Although the Thai government introduced a Manifest system for the processing of the industrial hazardous waste, there are still few companies that emit the waste in accordance with the system. Recommendations

As stated above, there are advantages and disadvantages to introducing the market mechanism in the industrial waste processing now in Thailand. DIW has strengthened its own control of the industrial waste, and the introduction of the E-Manifest could be an effective measure. Also, in order to reduce the waste and improve the recycling rate in the waste-emitting companies, information provision in not only Thai, but also in English is required. (See: B-2)

Increasing Waste Disposer/Recycler in Thailand（source ）　Depar tment of I n du str ial Wo rks,

h ttp:/ /www.diw.go .th / diw_web/h tml/ve rsio nthai/dat a/ data1 searc h .asp

0

100

200

300

400

500

0100200300400500600700800900

101（wastewater

treatment/Incinerator Plant）

127 127 131 132 132 136 136 136

105（Sorting/Landfill） 294 308 331 377 383 414 436 444

106（Reuse/Recycling Plant） 154 168 175 202 204 216 234 239

Total 575 603 637 711 719 766 806 819

Jul-05Aug-05

Sep-05

Oct-05Nov-05

Dec-05

Jan-06

Feb-06

10

B-2 Waste oil & solvent Recycling

Introduction

Large amounts of chemicals are used in the cleaning process of IC boards and electronic

circuits in the electronic and electric industries, the major industries in Thailand. The waste

chemicals used to be one of the industrial wastes that were difficult to dispose of and recycle.

Focusing attention on this, Refine Tech Corporation was established in 2000 as a company to distill

and recycle the waste chemicals. It collects and recycles 12 kinds of hazardous waste chemicals such

as chloroform and acetone. More than a dozen Japanese companies use Refine Tech to recycle

300-400 tons of waste chemicals in a month. The company’s annual sales were 30 million Baht in

2004.

The business was highly evaluated and Refine Tech received an SME prize from the Thai

Business Council for Sustainable Development in 2004. It also obtained the international standard

ISO14001.

Issues

Most of the waste chemicals Refine Tech recycles are those that are delegated by foreign

companies to large processing companies for 6,000Baht/ton and re-delegated to Refine Tech. Most

foreign companies have not yet reexamined the already-established processing route even after the

deregulation of the industrial waste processing market at the end of 2001 promoted the entry of

many new recycling companies and changed the market. This implies that full advantage of the

market deregulation not been taken. Therefore, Refine Tech currently processes only 10% of its

potential capacity of 40,000 tons/year.

Recommendations

Managers of the foreign companies do not understand well the laws and market of the

industrial waste in Thailand and hence still cannot take full advantage of the new recycling

companies. It has sometimes been reported that unlicensed processing and recycling companies

participated in the waste disposal and illegally dumped or inappropriately processed the waste.

If the Thai government provides information on the laws and the processing companies not

only in Thai, but also in English, the foreign managers, as well as Thai managers, would be able to

make a contribution to solving the waste problems.

Fig.B-2-1 Factory view

Fig.B-2-2 Distilling facilities of waste chemicals

Fig.B-2-3 Recycled waste chemical samples

11

B-3 Waste Battery Recycling

Introduction

The waste car and motorcycle problem has not been very serious in Thailand, and batteries

have been recycled by informal recyclers although it is pointed out that these informal recyclers

collect the batteries just for obtaining valuable materials and emit the battery fluids that contain

sulfuric acid and other hazardous materials, causing environmental problems. AP Honda started

collecting and recycling the batteries in 2004 for the first time in the motorcycle industry.

AP Honda began sales of used motorcycles in 2001 to reduce the waste in society and

maintain the quality level of its own products (Fig.B-3-1). The price of used motorcycles whose

average duration of use is 6 years is about $500, 70% that of the new models, although the price

varies with the miles on the clock. AP Honda thus needed to reexamine the method of disposing

waste batteries at the service factories for used motorcycles.

Before AP Honda started the recycling, it paid 9,500 Baht/ton to a large recycling company

to dump waste batteries in a landfill. Now AP Honda sells waste batteries to T.K. METAL

TRADING LTD., PART for 8 Baht/battery (Fig.B-3-2). The collected batteries are melted in a

furnace to make lead ingots, which are then sold to battery manufacturers to complete the battery

resource cycle (Figs.B-3-3, B-3-4).

Issues

The average life of motorcycle batteries is about 2 years. Therefore, most waste batteries

are disposed of when they are replaced with new ones. AP Honda plans to recycle the batteries

replaced at dealers and develop 42 regular dealers in the vicinity of Bangkok by June 2006.

Recommendations The hazardous waste transport license is required to transport the batteries collected by motorcycle dealers

to recycling companies. AP Honda is a manufacturer and hence has little knowledge about the license. It thus encountered difficulty in obtaining the license. Positive advice from the waste administration on the license application and transport methods would promote voluntary actions of the manufacturers.

Fig.B-3-1

Service factory of approved used motorcycle

Fig.B-3-2 Collected batteries

Fig.B-3-3 Melting furnace of waste batteries

Fig.B-3-4 Lead ingots used again for batteries

12

B-4 CRT Recycling Introduction Vuteq Thai is only off－specifications CRTs Recycling company in Thailand. Off－specifications CRTs had to send them to Japan for cleaning and recycling, before Vuteq Thai started this activity. In Thai CRT and also Toshiba Display, some CRTs produced do not pass the quality control and break these CRTs into pieces and sends them(Fig.B-4-1). CRT cullet contains chemicals such as lead and phosphor, Vuteq Thai cleans them(Fig.B-4-2). After cleaning Vuteq Thai sends the glass to Siam Asahi Technoglass. So, there the glass is re-melt to become raw material(Fig.B-4-3). Issues According to A-3, it is problem that 4,757 tons/ year of CRT monitors are not recycled in E-waste. There are probably pollution problems, because CRT monitors are disposed of using informal means. And the quantities of some secured landfill companies treated are very small compared with the total quantity of E-waste generated. Especially, landfill companies in Thailand do not have enough capacity to treat all the waste generated in the country. To sum up, it is necessary for Thai government to set up recycling law. Recommendations Vuteq Thai treats off－specifications CRTs cullet 2,490tons in 2004. The full capacity of cleaning is 6,000tons/year. Hence, they could recycle more. If Thai government would set up set up recycling law and collect used CRT monitors, Vuteq Thai could recycle them for potential.

Fig.B-4-1 off-specifications Panel CRTs

Fig.B-4-2 Sorting waste CRTs cullet

Fig.B-4-3 Panel after washing

13

C-1 Secondhand Market Introductions

The developing countries usually have an income gap, which encourages the development of used product markets. Used electric appliances, used PC (C-3), and used car parts (C-2) can often be found in the used product market in Bangkok. In the used electric appliance market, one can find not only used products (Fig.C-1-2), but also the parts taken from the disassembled waste electric appliances (Figs.C-1-1, C-1-4) and the products made from the used, but still usable parts.

Issues

Here is an example of the products made from the parts: Although a new legitimate VCD player costs 2,000-2,500 Baht, one can buy a similar model with additional functions such as DVD and MP3 for about 1,200 Baht in the used product market. These extremely-low price products seem to have new external panels but have used parts inside, which may cause intellectual property right problems (Fig. C-1-3).

Recommendations

The survey conducted by JICA [2002] revealed that the penetration of electric appliances in the Bangkok area varies depending on the income level. From this data and the actual situation of the used product markets with its many used and repaired products, we can see the following flow. The products used and disposed of by high-income groups are sent as used products to the middle-income group. At the end of the product life, the middle-income group disposes of these used products, and the parts of the products are used to make recycled products, which are then sent to the low-income group. In other words, it is a domestic “cascade use of resources” and the difference in the penetration into the income groups creates the demand for used and repaired products. Collating statistics of the penetration in each income group would be effective for understanding the generation of waste electric appliances and the trend of the used product markets, and effective for the waste policies.

Fig.C-1-1 E-waste buyers near disposal site

Fig.C-1-2 Electric appliances sold in the used product market

Fig.C-1-3 Products made from used parts Fig.C-1-4 Used parts

and broken electric appliances

The coverage of products for each income group

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Car Motorbike TV Video Deck Telephone Air

Conditioner

Refrigerator Washing

machine

Source: Kokusai Kogyo Co., Ltd., Ex Corporation for DIW, PCD and JICA 2002

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Lower income groupLess than 20,000 baht

Middle income group20,000-39,999 baht

Upper income group40,000 baht or more

Total

14

C-2 Import Used Car and Parts Introduction

In Thailand the import of used cars has been regulated, except for personal use, to protect domestic industries since the announcement from the Ministry of Commerce in 1991. The trend of the used car trade in 2004 is shown in the table below. From the table we see that almost half of the imported cars come from Japan, although the total number of imported used cars is only about 35,000 obviously due to the regulation. On the other hand, used cars are exported mostly to Asian countries and “Others” in the table include low-income countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia. The Ministry of Commerce in Thailand is now considering the deregulation of the import of used cars to promote the used-car export.

import from unit rate export to unit rateJapan 15,601 44.4% Indonesia 38,015 31.2%

Indonesia 8,240 23.4% Singapore 22,748 18.7%Germany 4,098 11.6% Philippine 14,805 12.2%Others 7,237 20.6% Others 46,233 38.0%

Total 35,176 Total 121,801

Trend of used car trade in Thailand

(sorce)　The Customs Department, "Trade Statistics of Thailand",HScode8703.21,8703.229,8703.239,8703.249,8703.319,8703.329,8703.339

The used car part market has nation-wide distribution. For example, there are about 300 used part stores located in close proximity to one another in Pathumwan district in Bangkok. They have Thai staff in car scrapping sites in Japan, purchase waste cars, disassemble the cars into parts, and import the parts by cargo containers. In recent years, the import volume has tended to decrease and accordingly, the unit price of used parts has tended to increase, due to the increase in the local supply rate of the parts for the cars that are manufactured in Thailand.

Issues＆Recommendations The import regulation of used cars is effective for the protection of Thai industries. On the

other hand, the export of used cars from Thailand to neighboring low-income countries prolongs the car life, although the problem in the treatment of waste cars remains.

The import of used car parts also prolongs the car life and reduces the number of waste cars, while there remains the problem of air pollution caused by the large-environmental-load engines with the prolonged life. Also in the used car markets, people repair and maintain used cars on the ground. The discharged oil could cause ground and water pollution.

The announcement by the Department of Commerce in 1998 prohibited the import of used diesel engines (HS-Code 8408.90) to prevent air pollution, although they are in fact imported as scrap iron. This makes the situation difficult to understand and hence Japanese and Thai custom houses should share the information.

Fig.C-2-1 Used engines imported from Japan

Fig.C-2-2 Car bodies imported from Japan

Fig.C-2-3 Repair and maintenance work on the streets could cause land pollution.

15

C-3 Import Used PC Introduction

The Ministry of Industry issued restrictions on the imports of used electrical goods, PCs and other items in October 2003. This was based on worries by the Thai government that the Thai market would be flooded with used EEE, because China had imposed a similar ban on the importation of crushed electronic and electrical products in 2002.

In response, used copiers imported for reuse must have been manufactured less than five years previously, while all other electrical products (28 items) must be less than three years old. Imports of used electrical products that are notified to the authorities are subject to inspection by the Ministry of Industry. Issues Based on this regulation, importers must apply to DIW for import permits and submit packing lists and letters that guarantee imported goods made less than three years ago. Moreover, importers are frequently inspected for any illegal aspects by DIW, meaning this regulation helps highlight the best importers.

The DIW can grasp the real amount of imports based on this regulation. According to the DIW, import goods for reuse included 776 thousand computers, 71 thousand car air conditioners, 64 thousand copiers, and 8 thousand video decks, while the number of computers requiring repair or sort parts was 2 million 650 thousand between February 2004 and May 2005 (Fig.C-1-1, C-1-2). The exact figure obtained from these documents amounted to approximately 266 thousand tons, although they do not specify from which countries the used products were imported.

Recommendations

Thus, regulation of the import of used electrical and electronic equipments is successful for Thailand. While based on my investigation in Cambodia, the amount of used EEE or WEEE imports has increased about 50% each year since Thailand adapted the regulation. Used EEE are trending to be exported to countries which do not have import regulation of Used EEE. It is necessary to construct international network to share information and revise the HS Code stipulations assigning separate statistical code numbers to used EEE and WEEE to grasp. By the way, many used PC were sorted part and sold as Rebuilt PC in Thailand (Fig.C-1-3). Rebuilt PC will be used longer times than imported Used PC as it is, and reduce E-waste. But the question of Copyright remains unsettled.

Fig.C-3-1. Import of Used PC from JAPAN to Thailand

Fig.C-3-2. Sorting parts and Rebuilding PC

Fig.C-3-3. Selling Rebuilt PC

16

C-4 Washed CRT cullet recycled from Japan

Introduction

In Japan, televisions are recycled under the electrical appliances recycling act, and the

present recycling rate is 81%. This process requires the recycling of the cathode-ray tube (CRT) (Fig.

C-4-1). However, electrical appliance makers in Japan stopped producing CRT televisions at the end

of 2004, while CRT manufacturers themselves also stopped producing and transferred all production

overseas, making CRT recycling in Japan problematic.

Now, the Japanese manufacturer, Siam Asahi Technoglass (SAT) Co., Ltd., imported 17

tons of Washed CRT cullet from Japan in May, 2005 excluding the Basel Convention. Their capacity

for using Washed CRT cullets is 40,000 tons/year, and they will import 25,000 tons from Japan in

2006, hence imports from the EU are also being considered, to meet demand.

Issues

CRT (Fig. C-4-2) should be controlled as a form of hazardous waste according to the Basel

Convention; no standard exists for Washed CRT cullets. The judgment as to whether Washed CRT

cullets are hazardous or not is entrusted to government and the Japanese Government judges such

material as industrial material rather than waste, hence Washed CRT cullets are collected, crushed,

and rid of hazardous lead under the electrical appliances recycling act (Fig. C-4-3). For these reasons,

Japanese government needed negotiations that the Washed CRT cullet be treated as non-hazardous,

excluding the Basel Protocol, by the Thai government.

Recommendation

It can be said that this case is a frank example, highlighting the necessity for International

Trade in Recyclable Resources in Asia. If developed countries could be wiped out the anxiety of

pollution for developing countries, International Trade of Recyclable Resources led to effective use

for the resource.

Fig.C-4-3 Washed CRT cullets Fig.C-4-1 Recycling of CRT Fig.C-4-2 CRT cullets

17

C-5 Copy machines from the Asia Pacific Region recycled

Introduction

In December 2004, Fuji Xerox created an integrated recycling system in Thailand, based

on an international resource recycling network comprising nine countries or regions (Fig. C-5-1).

The base for the integrated recycling system was established in Thailand due to the: (1) outstanding

recycling companies there with technology on a par with Japan; (2) strong support from the Thai

government; and (3) logistical convenience and efficiency, since Thailand lies in the center of the

Asia-Pacific region. These characteristics are expected to help achieve zero-landfill. Fuji Xerox is

also confident it can contribute to the reduction of waste in Thailand through the proliferation of this

system.

Issues

Because the Thai government was unwilling to accept this case as well as that above, three

years were necessary to establish the recycling factory. Then, Fuji Xerox Eco-Manufacturing Co.,

Ltd. constructed equipment and a recycling system more than equal to that of Japan. In Thailand, 64

materials are separated, compared to 44 in Japan, and materials such as fluorescent lamps, LCD

backlight lamps, Ni-Cd batteries and Selenium Drums, which can’t be recycled in Thailand, are

exported to Japan (Fig. C-5-2). This helps to reduce waste, as in the case of Thailand, which has cut

waste from around 25% to 0.4%. According to Mr. Yamazaki, General Manager of Fuji Xerox

Eco-Manufacturing Co., Ltd., they were recycling around 1,800 copiers per month, and reusing

50,000 supplies per month in June, 2005.

Recommendations

The construction of a new recycling business model is necessary for International Trade of

Recyclable Resources, namely a “Win-Win recycling business model” that benefits both Japan and

Thailand.

(Source) http://www.fujixerox.co.jp/release/2004/1207_recycling_system.html

Fig. C-5-2 Separate materials process Fig. C-5-1 Recycling system in AP regions

18

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