Municipal Solid Waste Management in Bangkok: The cases of the promotion of source reduction and source separation in Bangkok and in Roong Aroon School

Source reduction and source separation are important ingredients for sustainable municipal solid waste management. They facilitate waste reduction and valorisation. However, waste managers find that it is challenging task to promote source reduction and source separation. The situation is even more difficult in developing countries and lack of environmental awareness and lack of public cooperation are frequently mentioned as main barriers. This thesis takes a different angle to investigate the issue. It looks into the management, not the people. Two cases in Bangkok, one at the city level and one at the school level, are studied with the focus on how source reduction and source separation was developed in relation with the waste management system in each case. Both the municipality, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and the management of Roong Aroon School intended to incorporate source reduction and source separation in an attempt to make their waste management systems environmentally sound. Nevertheless, the results were very different. The study identifies the sequence of the system evolution as the main factor contributing to the difference. Other factors such as vision of the waste management, management support, public participation, target groups, etc. are also discussed. The thesis also stresses that the waste manager at the city level should put more emphasis on biodegradable fraction, not recyclable, in order to make action at sources beneficial to the municipal solid waste management system.