Phuket Governor Nisit Jansomwong presided over the seminar held at the waste management centre next to the Provincial incinerator and during the seminar he promoted the idea of a lower carbon city and encouraged all residents to collect and dispose of hazardous materials properly.
Phuket City Mayor, Somjai Suwansuppana, city officials and residents were also present.
Mayor Somjai said, “Phuket City Municipality is responsible for overseeing the islandʼs waste management and have assigned local administration offices from each area to collect and dispose of hazardous materials to designated areas and decide whether to treat, recycle or dispose of the materials according to procedures set out by the Ministry of Industry.
“In March 2015, Phuket City Municipality received a budget of B1,471,000 to fund a waste management program and to improve the hazardous waste room, which opened on May 1 to store hazardous materials, to be more sanitarised.
“Hazardous materials such as batteries, mobile phones, fluorescent lights and spray cans can be dropped off at the facility on the 20-25 of every month, every three months once they have been sorted they are then sent to private businesses which have a permit to dispose of them.
“They will then dispose of the materials according to the guidelines set out by the Ministry of Industry,” said Mr Somjai.
Gov Nisit added, “According to information received from the Pollution Control Department, the majority of people throw hazardous materials away with other trash.
“All these dangerous materials are then collected and taken by the rubbish collectors to the incinerator.
“If these materials then get burned, it will cause air pollution and will be a health hazard," Gov Nisit said.
“Now that we have a proper area to store these materials before they are sent to be disposed of correctly I would like everyone to bring their own materials to the disposal centre to help create a clean environment.”