A tale of two Thai landills
by Jay Mariyappan
On my last trip to Bangkok a few weeks ago, I opened up local and national newspapers to catch up on the latest in the ongoing Government upheavals and protests that have captured the attention of most Thais and many international observers for the last few months. Instead, I was surprised to see that the front page stories were focused on a local incident at the nearby Samut Prakan landfill.
A fire had broken out at the dump site. It took 20 hours for fire fighters to get it under control. Over 200 residents had to move because of the release of poisonous gases, such as sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide.
Only a couple of weeks later (April 2nd), another fire had broken out nearby, exacerbating the situation for local residents.
These incidents reminded me of the excellent work my colleagues are doing on the Landfill-gas to energy projects that Sindicatum has developed in Thailand, and what a difference they can make to the local community particularly by reducing the risk of potential hazards like those that occurred at Samut Prakan. The projects developed by the Sindicatum team in collaboration with a local partner reduce the hazard by collecting combustible methane (landfill) gas from the well organized and sanitary landfill; then using this gas to generate electricity fed into the Thai grid. Any excess landfill gas collected is destroyed through a flare to minimise release into the atmosphere and its impact on climate change (methane is a potent greenhouse gas).
The projects are summarized in a video and currently generate the most electricity of all of Thailand’s very small power producers (VSPP), with excellent plant availability and supply of electricity to power around 60,000 homes. These projects highlight the impact a well designed and developed waste-to-energy project can make to the local community and to Thailand itself. The projects which have been developed as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and registered with the Gold Standard, transfer new technology and techniques for gas collection, provide jobs and training for local staff and students (through an internship scheme), enhance the quality of the environment locally and abate greenhouse gases. In addition, the projects raise awareness via open days at the showcase sites, through visits from many Thai organizations as well as visitors from other parts of Asia, Africa and USA.
The question of what to do with municipal and industrial waste has been a conundrum for Governments for many years, with open dumps being the norm in Asia.
These projects show how foreign investment and new technologies/techniques brought through an international mechanism to fight climate change can, in collaboration with local organizations and communities, successfully bring many benefits to the local economy and to the environment while fighting climate change. What we need are more examples of this kind of cooperation that can be replicated in Thailand and the region, leading to the safe disposal of waste and to the generation of energy and other products from renewable resources. The incidents at Samut Prakan have brought vocal support for something to be done in Thailand by politicians and the public. This support has to be harnessed into real, long term commitments and actions enabling the public and the private sector to work together so that these commonly occurring incidents do not happen again, while the local economy continues to benefit from well-designed renewable energy projects.
