Abstract—General as well as the MSW management in Thailand
is reviewed in this paper. Topics include the MSW generation,
sources, composition, and trends. The review, then, moves to
sustainable solutions for MSW management, sustainable alternative
approaches with an emphasis on an integrated MSW management.
Information of waste in Thailand is also given at the beginning of
this paper for better understanding of later contents.
It is clear that no one single method of MSW disposal can deal
with all materials in an environmentally sustainable way. As such, a
suitable approach in MSW management should be an integrated
approach that could deliver both environmental and economic
sustainability. With increasing environmental concerns, the
integrated MSW management system has a potential to maximize the
useable waste materials as well as produce energy as a by-product.
In Thailand, the compositions of waste (86%) are mainly organic
waste, paper, plastic, glass, and metal. As a result, the waste in
Thailand is suitable for an integrated MSW management. Currently,
the Thai national waste management policy starts to encourage the
local administrations to gather into clusters to establish central MSW
disposal facilities with suitable technologies and reducing the
disposal cost based on the amount of MSW generated.