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7/29/2019 Thailand Recycle

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Wongpanit: a successful waste recycling business in

Phitsanulok, Thailand

Article by Nongnut Foppes- Ayamuang

RISE-AT, May 2000

1 The need for waste recycling in Thailand

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in many societies have resulted in changing

of human livelihoods. More material wealth also brings more waste, which causesproblems of water pollution, air pollution and solid waste. Nowadays, solid wastes

created by human activities are one of the most serious problems for ourenvironment.

The increasing amount of solid waste from cities is a big problem in developing

countries. Local residents of big cities in Thailand are suffering from the increaseof solid waste and the lack of proper disposal methods. Municipalities are trying

various approaches to deal with waste. One of the most promising approaches isintegrated waste management, where local people participate in waste separation at

the household level.

Recycling can save energy and provide cheap base materials for industry. Recycling

also means less waste has to be disposed in landfills, so landfills can be used longerand more efficiently.

So far, integrated waste management has only been applied in a few places because

it is still unknown. The main bottleneck is not technical, but rather organizational,as many stakeholders need to cooperate.

2 The role of the private sector in waste recycling

Waste dealing business by in Thailand already exists for decades. A Chineseimmigrant, who roamed the street using pushcart or a tricycle collecting the usedmaterials, would be known as Saleng. Poor Thai people from remote rural areas

would exchange their local products with used clothes in the town etc. Wastedealing job has been generally considered as a very dirty, low status work. However,

private sector like recyclable wastes dealer could play an important role in waste

management in Thailand.In many countries in developing world, such local waste collectors or scavengersare actively recycling waste in an efficient manner. There is still not enoughrecognition of the positive economic effects derived from direct recycling by the

informal sector.


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Economic motivation can provide the necessary incentive for people to adopt the re-use and recycling of waste. A good example of the potential role of the private

sector can be found in Phitsanulok, Thailand, where a private company is making animpact on the recycling of city waste.

3 The example of Wongpanit Co. in PhitsanulokSomthai Wongcharoen, is a 42 years old successful businessman in Phitsanulok. Mr.

Somthai deals with recyclable waste. He started his business 26 years ago, roamingaround with a small pick up car to collect recyclable wastes as one of many small

waste buyers. He bought recyclable materials or exchanged with children forcandies. Nowadays he owns a business of waste recycling with an estimated worth

of hundreds of million Baht. The Wongpanit Company buys waste from localresidents and sells recyclable materials to recycling factories in Thailand, Burma,

China, Singapore and England.

The Wongpanit Company is very well known in Phitsanulok and surroundings. Manyinterested people, representatives from the solid waste sector of Bangkok

Metropolitan Authority (BMA) and Minister of Science and Environment have beenvisiting this company to learn how to develop a successful recyclable waste

business.

3.1 Marketing Strategy

Wongpanit Company has 6 branches located at almost every major street junction

of Phitsanulok, a provincial capital with 120,000 inhabitants. A leaflet with a list ofprices is distributed very month to local people at the main entrance of big

department stores such as LOTUS, BIG C and MACRO. These three majorswholesale and retail shops serve the residents of Phitsanulok and three surroundingprovinces.

Thai people love to go shopping in a big department store, and they like to go asoften as possible. These three big department stores receive at least 2,500

families a day, especially on the weekend. The Wongpanit Company uses thisopportunity to distribute their leaflets to inform and educate people about the

unexpected value of their waste. The results have been spectacular. People dontfeel that waste dealing job is a shame for them any more and they are eager tosort waste at home to sell to the Wongpanit Company. Recyclable wastes rejected

by most people before, are now considered as black gold by many people. When wevisited the Wongpanit Company in April 2000, we could see many groups of people

who came to sell recyclable materials. They came in all sorts of vehicles: tricycles,tuk-tuks, pickup trucks, waste collection trucks and expensive saloon cars.


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3.2 The supportive role of the municipal authorities

The Phitsanulok municipality provides two types of waste collection: door to doorand roadside waste collection. The most common system is the roadside collection

system, where the municipality provides groups of residents with a communal waste

bin along the roadside. Resident families do the first separation of waste and keepthe most valuable parts, which they can sell, to small waste dealers or to theWongpanit Company. The remainder is dropped at the communal street bin.

Street scavengers are allowed to sort out recyclable materials to sell to smallwaste buyers or itinerant waste buyers. The municipality also provides these groups

with training on how to take care of themselves when dealing with waste. Themunicipality award certificates to the itinerant waste buyer groups who arerecognized as caretakers of environment.

The municipal waste collection crews pick up the waste bins by truck in most areas

only once a day, in some areas every second day and in major roads in the center ofthe city two times per day. The municipal waste collection crews sort the waste athird time and often stop at the Wongpanit Company and drop recyclable materials

on their way to the dumpsite. The municipality allows its waste collection crews tosort out sellable waste to increase their income. The Wongpanit Company hasallocated a separate site, reserved for municipal waste collection crews to drop

their recyclable waste quickly so the crew can conduct their main task effectively.

At the municipal sanitary landfill site, 38 km out of town, poor resident scavengers

collect the remaining recyclable materials. The municipality supports these privatescavengers with a basic health care/vaccination program and provides them with

protective clothing such as gloves, boots and masks.

In short, waste separation occurs at four levels:

1. by households, for selling to Wongpanit Company or small waste buyers;

2. by street scavengers, who sell mainly to small waste buyers;

3. by the municipal collection crew, who sell mainly to Wongpanit Company;

4. by resident scavengers at the landfill, who sell to small waste buyers.

It is estimated that the generated waste in Phitsanulok is about 140 ton/day (1.1

kg/capita) and 80 ton of solid waste are collected daily and brought to the sanitary

landfill site. Therefore, it is estimated that in the city 60-70 ton of recyclablematerials are generated and sorted out by residents. The efficiency of therecycling sector can be seen from the fact that almost 90 % of the materials,which are presently accepted for recycling are taken out before disposal. The

remaining 10 % of recyclable materials are sorted by scavengers or disposed at thesanitary landfill


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The Municipality is satisfied with waste separation at source for recyclablematerials adopted by residents. The results have shown that the amount of waste

disposed at landfill site has reduced to be almost 50 %.

Such a competitive waste segregation system could evolve because there is such a

good market for recyclable materials. The private sector, consisting of theWongpanit Company and smaller waste dealers, provide this market incentive and

ensure a good price. The municipality supports this private sector activity, becauseit improves environmental awareness among citizens and it minimizes the stream of

waste.

3.3 Quantity of recycled waste

The recyclable materials for Phitsanulok at arrived at land fill site and aftersorting out by The Wongpanit Company buys about 70-100 tons of recyclable waste

per day, which is equivalent to 250,000-350,000 Baht per day. Those recyclable

materials come from Phitsanulok town or province and also from other provincessuch as Uttaradit and Sukhothai. We were told that the business grows slowly butfirmly with a rate of 10 % a year.

The other, smaller waste dealers supposedly buy all together at least 20 - 30t/day,most likely even more. This would mean that those small waste dealers areresponsible for the handling of about 30% - 40% of recyclable materials.

3.4 Working conditions and working man force

At the moment the Wongpanit Company employs about 100 workers which 30permanent workers and about 70 temporary workers, hired on a daily basis. The

workers are provided with food three times per day, lodging, protective clothingand basic medical care. They are trained to take precaution for safely working

environment. Special security guards are looking after the overall securitymanagement in the plants.

3.5 Quality control and Price listing system

The company emphasizes on the accuracy, equity and safety of its management. Therecyclable materials are placed orderly in to groups. Computerized weighing scalescan measure materials up to 50 ton. The client can see the weight of their sold

materials immediately. For high price smaller items such as copper and bronze,

finer scales will be used to get a better accuracy.

The prices given by Wongpanit are formulated on the basis of key factors such asthe buying price at recycling plants, transport costs, labor costs and a fixed

company profit margin.

The prices listed of recyclable materials by Wongpanit are subject to change due

to transport cost and given price at recycling plants. Announcement of the given


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price is made on the flyer and distributed clearly to the residents on monthly basis.(see example below).

Monthly price list of Wongpanit Company, February 2000.

product Price product price

Paper 3-4 baht/kg Plastic 3-10 baht/kg

Iron scraps 2-3 baht/kg Other metals 20-45 baht/kg

Bottles-broken glass 1-2 baht/kg Coconut residues 5-9 baht/kg

4 Types of waste bought by Wongpanit Group

Recyclable wastes bought by WP are divided in to 5 groups: Paper Plastics Glass Others

Metal scraps

4.1 Paper

After cardboard and paper of very inferior quality only is collected at the centralplant, it will be pressed with a hydraulic engine to obtain a block of 1 ton. The

other paper, e.g. white writing paper is sorted manually and put in bundles. Theseblocks and bundles are then transported in 20 ton trucks and sold to a paper

recycling plant at Siam Craft factory (Siam Cement group) in Kanchanaburiprovince.

Table of recyclable and non-recyclable paper materials (Wongpanit Co.)

recyclable Non-recyclable Card board

Old newspaper

Book/paper scraps

Printed paper

Plastic coated paper or laminated paper i.e. present

wrap , tetra pack

Paper contaminated with engine oil

Paper made from rice straws i.e. apple boxes from

China

4.2 Glass

There are two types of glass bought at Wongpanit: bottles and broken glass. Mostof unbroken bottles will be sent back to its original manufacturer to be cleaned and

reused again i.e. the beer bottles, fish sauce bottles, coke one-way bottles etc.The broken glass is divided into three fractions: 1) clear glass, 2) brown glass and

3) green glass. These fractions will be sent off to the glass recycling plant atBangkok Glass factory in Pathumthani province.


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4.3 Metal scraps

Three types of metal scraps bought by Wongpanit are iron, aluminum, and othersi.e. bronze, copper stainless steel. Bronze and copper have a high value and can be

exported to Singapore and England.

Iron scraps must be cut with length according to processing factory requirements.However, there are some components, which must be excluded in this type ofrecyclable wastes, e.g. shock absorbers, pressure containers, gas container,

ignitable substances, bullets, dynamite and scraps from car tires. Such items cancause serious explosion during smelting. The plant that processes those iron scraps

in Thailand is Siam iron, Thalan, Saraburi (Saim cement group).

Aluminum is separated into two types: thick aluminum, e.g. automobile spare parts,and thin aluminum e.g. cooking pots, washing tubs. Aluminum will be pressed into 40-

50 kilogram block before being transported to the recycling plant.

4.4 Plastics

There are many types of plastic that can be recycled. The most common ones

collected by the Wongpanit Company are; Polypropylene (PP), Polystylene (PS),Polyetheylene (PE) and Polyvinylchloride (PVC).

After plastics are collected, they will be sort into each of these four groups. Ineach group they are then sorted into different colors. Contaminants e.g. aluminumfoils must be removed. The plastic is then crushed, washed, dried, packed and sent

to a plastic recycling plant in Samut Prakarn province.

Some types of plastic are not recycled in Thailand, e.g. PVC, because the quality ofthe recycled material is lower than the original. PVC plastic scraps are exported toBurma, where there is a market for the lower quality product. Polyethylene plastic

(PET), e.g. from containers of cooking oil and some type of drinking water bottles,are packed with a hydraulic compactor and exported to China for making, elastic

fibers and textile fibers.

4.5 Others

Other recyclable waste products collected by Wongpanit Company are: coconut shell and coconut residues used for oil extraction

old mattresses stuffed with kapok, kapok can be used for doll stuffing ormixing with virgin kapok to make new mattress.

used car batteries will sent to the processing plant for lead recovery.All these products have a market for recycling in Thailand.


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5 Other activities initiated or supported by

Wongpanit Group

5.1 Training workshops

Wongpanit Company organizes a 5 days intensive training workshops on how to startand success with the waste recycling business to be held at the head office. Thecourse is available for 30 persons. Interested group can contact and make

requirement for the course. The course will be conducted if number of participantsis sufficient. The charge is about 2,500-3,000 bath a person per course. It covers

materials used, food and lodging. Arrangement can be made through his company.

5.2 Waste banks

With initiative of municipality, the community of Ban Boromtrilokanart has started

a waste bank project. The aim of this activity is to encourage residents in the

community to separate their waste at home. The separated waste can be depositedat a collection site. The collection program takes place every Sunday. When the

collection point is filled up with materials, Wongpanit Company comes to purchaseand transport the materials from the collection site. The revenue from selling

waste is given back to the members who are mostly the youth in the community.

A primary school in Phitsanulok has also been carrying a waste bank project where

school children bring recyclable materials from home and deposit them at a schoolcollection point. The system of the school waste bank project is similar to the

community waste bank, but the income earned from selling the products is divided

into two parts. School children get 60 % of the income and the remaining 40 % areput into a school fund, used to support school activities.

This type of waste collection projects educate young people to appreciate the valueof recycling wastes, to take responsibility for a clean living environment and to use

their spare time in a fruitful way.

6 Some problems remaining to be addressed

Mr. Somthai recognizes that some operational problems remain to be solved: The quality of treated wastewater from plastic cleaning and leachate does not

always meet the requirements standard before released to public water bodies. Bad odors occurring during rainy season may cause disturbance to neighbors;

Noise from operating the machines may also cause disturbance to neighbors.Mr. Somthai is trying very hard to solve theses problems and he is willing to do

anything to improve the present situations. He is really looking forward to hearingsome suggestions and willing to take action to improve the conditions of hisbusiness.


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Dr Walter Scholl, principal adviser from GTZ sees a big problem in the handling ofmotor oil. There is a lot of oil spill, which can pollute groundwater

7 Outlook for future

This promising private sector business is a good example that should be promoted inother big cities in Thailand, like Chiang Mai, Korat, Hat Yai, Khon Kaen, etc. Close

cooperation and mutual support of municipality and private sector are an essentialcondition to create these market-driven systems of urban waste recycling.

8 Contact addresses

Wongpanit Company (head office) 19/9 Moo 3 Tumbon Tharthong, Phitsanulok-Bangkrathum Road. Ampore Muang Phitsanulok 65000 , Thailand Tel +66(055)284494, (055)231733 Fax +66 (55) 231734; Email [email protected]

City of Phisanulok municipality, Muang, Phitsanulok 65000, Thailand Tel +66(055) 232301 Fax (055)232300; email [email protected]

Dr. Walter Scholl, Solid Waste Management Program for Phitsanulok City ofPhisanulok municipality, Muang, Phitsanulok 65000, Thailand Tel +66 (055)

232301 Fax (055)232300; email [email protected]

RISE-AT (Regional Information Service Center for South East Asia onAppropriate Technology) P.O. Box 111 Chiang Mai University 50202 Thailand. Tel

+6653 942459-60, Fax + 66 53 892189, email [email protected]

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