Abstract The increasing municipal solid waste
(MSW) generation along with the high fraction of
organic waste and a common disposal of open
dumping is the current scenario in many areas in
Thailand. As a response to this problem, the country’s
Pollution Control Department (PCD) aims to reduce
the MSW generation rate to less than 1 kg/capita/day,
increase the collection efficiency, and improve the
recovery of recyclables. For many years, more than
60% of the solid waste disposal system in Thailand has
been carried out by open dumping. According to the
survey conducted by this study, in 2004 there were 425
disposal sites (95 landfills; 330 open dumps) in
Thailand and an estimated methane emission of
115.4 Gg/year was generated based on this practice.
It has been estimated that the anticipated methane
emission in Thailand will rise from 115.4 Gg/year to
118.5 Gg/year if the largest open dumpsites in
provinces with no existing landfill are upgraded to
sanitary landfill; and it will increase to 193.5 Gg/year
if the existing sanitary landfill is upgraded to integrated
waste management facilities. Moreover, Bangkok
metropolitan have the highest methane emission
(54.83 Gg/year) among all the regions in Thailand.
The methane emission forecast of 339 Gg/year by
2020 (based on LandGEM methodology) provides a
stimulus to create a comprehensive plan to capture and
utilize methane as an energy source.