All factories will be required to register with the Industrial Works Department within two months in a move by the Industry Ministry to track how factories manage their industrial waste.
Fires that hit the Praeksa garbage dump several times this year prompted authorities to look for more efficient methods to manage waste. SOMCHAI POOMLARD
Deputy director-general Seri Atipatta said, starting today, the department will send officials to check garbage management systems and compile a database.
"Our department is going to check all factories in Thailand within two months," Mr Seri told a seminar co-hosted yesterday by Chulalongkorn University's social research institute on the Praeksa model.
The model refers to the 150-rai garbage site in Samut Prakan province that was hit by fires in March and April and produced toxic air pollution that led to several households being evacuated.
The model shows ways for victims to get cured, how to revive the Praeksa dump and how to handle future accidents.
Mr Seri said more proper garbage sites are required after the fires.
"Most garbage dump sites in Thailand fail to comply with the standard required. Moreover, they carry waste both from industries and communities, although that is illegal under the factory law," he said.
Prof Pichaya Rachadawongs from Chulalongkorn University's environmental engineering faculty said surrounding areas can easily become contaminated if no standards are set for garbage sites to be built with a proper base and a covered surface.
Even though some items were valuable, it is hard to use garbage from the Praeksa site, as the area is 80% full of water and it will take a long time to survey how much toxic waste is included. A survey would also be expensive, he said.
Sumetha Vicheanpetch, a waste and toxic substances management expert at the Pollution Control Department, said: "Garbage is a valuable resource. If we manage it well, it can benefit the country.”
Penchom Saetung, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand, said if the Praeksa model was successful, it should be applied at all garbage sites in Thailand.