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

3.3 Sample Size
The sample groups were chosen from relevant persons and organizations related to plastic
waste management in Thailand such as waste collectors, waste buyers, waste recyclers, and
responsible authorities. There are waste collectors and waste recyclers play the different
role on plastic waste management. First, the waste collectors are people who collect and
sell plastic wastes to the waste recyclers. They also reduce and reuse plastic wastes before
disposing wastes at landfills. Moreover, the waste collectors sell and distribute plastic
wastes to the waste recycler for generating new products. Finally, waste recyclers use
plastic wastes as raw material to produce plastic products, and then they sell or distribute
recycled products to buyers (consumers/household, shops, department stores).
There was the survey of informal and formal sectors because these sectors recycle plastic
wastes in different ways. The data collection was done on all groups of sample to
complete the results of study. The sample sizes (data were collected from these sample
groups) are described as below:
(1) Waste collectors consist of
- 100 consumers/households
- 10 waste pickers , municipal waste collectors, and transfer station/landfill
scavengers
- 2 the networks of waste collectors (waste bank and waste picker network)
- 2 middle dealers
- 2 informal waste shops
- 10 formal waste shops
(2) Waste recyclers consist of
- One formal plastic waste recycling factory (pelletizing)
- One plastic product factory (there use recycled plastic pellets)
- 2 plastic waste to oil plant (municipality and private sector)
- One cement factory
- One recycling machine factory
(3) Government and private organizations consist of:
- Pollution Control Department (PCD)
- Department of Public Cleansing, BMA office
- Thailand Institute of Packaging and Recycling Management for Sustainable
Environment (TIPMSE)
- Plastic Institute of Thailand (PIT)
- Thai Plastic Industries Association (TPIA)
- Thai Plastics Foam Recycling Industries Association (TPFRIA)
- Industrial Waste Management Bureau, DIW
The next steps after identifying the study area and sample size include describing the
methods of material flow analysis, stakeholder analysis, and developing plastic waste
management. The details of each method are described as below:
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