A tip-off from a US environmental group about more than 200 hazardous waste containers arriving in Thailand this month highlights the urgent need for more decisive government action to prevent the country from becoming the world's dumping ground for toxic waste.
It is not the first time that the Seattle-based Basel Action Network (BAN) has provided information about hazardous shipments sent our way.
In August of last year, they issued a warning about two cargo vessels carrying 100 containers of toxic waste from two European countries, bound for Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri. The alert helped officials block the containers, loaded with toxic furnace dust, at Singapore's deep-sea port and have them returned to their ports of origin.
Last month, police and Department of Industrial Works officials were able to locate six containers loaded with printed circuit board scrap. The containers were shipped from the US to a factory located in the Special Economic Zone in Chon Buri.
BAN stated that the current shipment consists of 222 containers, 219 of which contain electronic waste, and that the remainder hold plastic waste. These containers were shipped from New York and are scheduled to arrive in Thailand between May 30 and June 21.
Thai officials at the Customs Department and the Factory Department have been informed and are currently investigating the matter while preparing to intercept the containers. Apart from returning the toxic waste to its port of origin, officials must identify which local companies and recycling factories are associated with these shipments. Without recipients, such shipments would not be sent to Thailand.
As we await the officials' response, there are additional concerns to consider. How many illegal toxic waste shipments have already docked locally? What would have happened if the government had not been alerted by BAN?
Over a decade ago, China was considered the world's primary electronic and toxic waste dumping ground before Beijing cracked down on it in 2018. As a result, such operations migrated to Thailand and other parts of South and Southeast Asia.
Part of the concerns over this issue is that the junta government issued National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) order 4/2559 in 2016, which made it legal for biomass power plants and waste-management facilities to be constructed near local communities.
We are now in a situation where a month doesn't pass without reports of illegal waste transport, local communities complaining about pollution, or even fire accidents caused by recycling factories, many of which are owned by foreign investors, primarily Chinese investors.
One glaring example is the case of villagers in Ban Soong Moo 3 in Phanom Sarakham district of Chachoengsao. Local villagers complained to the police after discovering that soil donated by a recycling plant in the community had been contaminated with crushed electronic waste.
The government needs to ramp up guardrails to prevent these illegal shipments from entering Thailand. That means the Customs Department's monitoring systems must be more efficient. Suspected shipments, particularly those destined for factories and recycling plants, must be thoroughly inspected.
Letting the problem continue as is will only see Thailand become a dumping site for the world's toxic waste, damaging our communities, farms, tourism and the environment.