Handling waste at Kamala

QUESTION

I am a tourist and I recently saw some different coloured bins at Kamala Beach and wondered what the different coloured bins are for? Is it for separating recyclable waste?

If so, is trash separated at the point of disposal, and hence disposed of properly for recycling? What happens to the waste put into these bins? Does the local council have a way of recycling waste, or at least making sure it gets to the right people who can recycle it?

– Kendra, from USA

ANSWER

The Kamala Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) uses bins of three different colours for the public to dispose of their general litter.

Green bins are for general waste such as food, yellow bins are for recyclable waste such as plastic bottles or even something that could be sold, and red bins are for “hazardous materials”, which includes batteries, paint cans, fluorescent light tubes and so on.

We have a lot of these throughout Kamala subdistrict, about 120 bins in total.

We provide one green bin for every three to five households in the area for residents to use together, while yellow bins are placed in front of Kamala Mosque and in front of houses of community leaders and local environmental officers in every village in Kamala.

Red bins we have placed in public park areas and in front of the 30th Rajaprajanugroh School Phuket.

We empty the bins twice a day: once in the morning to collect the waste put in the bins during the night, and again late in the afternoon to collect the waste put in the bins in the daytime.

Waste from the red and green bins is taken to the solid-waste separation and disposal facility at Saphan Hin. There, waste from the green bins will be incinerated and the waste from the red bins will be stored until there is enough material to economically transport it to a facility outside Bangkok for safe disposal there.

Waste from the yellow bins is sold to local people who collect recyclable waste, and they sell it on to a larger merchant dealing in recyclable waste. The money raised, only about B200-B300 a month, is donated to a local temple or mosque.

We do have an area behind Kamala OrBorTor office where some waste is stored. This is usually for burying items like discarded old sofas or branches of trees that we cut in the Kamala area.

– Somsak Chaochang, Chief of the Health Division, Kamala Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor).