Evaluation of Plastic Waste Management in Thailand Using Material ...

4R principle includes recovery, recycling, reduction, and reuse which cause a reduction of
environmental pollution. The ultimate goal of these four terms are providing good
environment to the public (Dev, 2007). The sequence of the order will be changed
according to different processes. The categories of recycling are shown in Table 2.1.
Table 2.1 Categories of Recycling (Pichonsajja, 2002)
Type of recycling Examples
Reuse of article Returnable, refillable bottle
Non-sacrificial recycling: reuse of material Color-sorted glass cullet, newspaper re-
at similar quality level
pulping from newsprint production
Non-sacrificial recycling: reuse of material Roofing felt from paper wastes, fiber glass
at a lower quality level
insulation from plastic bottles
Sacrificial recycling: new use of material Road paving material from glass,
Thermal recycling: Conservation to storable
fuel
composting of paper
Pyrolysis of urban waste
Thermal recycling: Direct incineration to
produce energy
Incineration of urban waste
2.1.3 Waste disposal
Wastes from household, commercial zones, agriculture, and other are collected and transfer
to transfer stations, or burnt in incinerators, and disposed at landfills. The transfer station is
the facility where municipal solid waste is unloaded from collection vehicles before wastes
are disposed at landfills or other treatment or disposal facilities. The transfer station is built
because the distances between waste generation sources and disposal sites are so far. The
government will save money on the labor and maintenance and operating costs. They can
also reduce the total number of vehicular trips traveling to and from the disposal site (EPA,
2013b).
Combustion or incineration is the one method to reduce waste volume through burning
process. In addition, the heat energy generated can be used to convert water into steam or
generate electricity. Burning waste at extremely high temperatures also destroys chemical
compounds and disease-causing bacteria. The regular test ensures that residual ash is nonhazardous
before landfilling. Ten percent of the total ash in the combustion process is used
as daily cover in landfills and road construction (EPA, 2013c).
Landfill is the one of waste treatment in order to dispose solid wastes. Many landfills are
also used for waste management purposes, such as the temporary storage, consolidation
and transfer, or processing of waste material (sorting, treatment, or recycling). In general,
wastes are disposed at landfills are (1) confined to as small an area as possible, (2)
compacted to reduce their volume, and (3) covered (usually daily) with layers of soil. The
landfill site needed the specific operation and maintenance because it will cause many
environmental impacts if there is the lack of operating and monitoring followed the local
regulations, especially bad odor, groundwater contamination, and waste expanding to
environment.
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