IWD mandates waste monitors

Business News - Friday December 14, 2007

IWD mandates waste monitors

New regulation to be enforced next year

YUTHANA PRAIWAN

The Industrial Works Department(IWD) plans to order manufacturing plants next year to have a permanent staffer to oversee waste treatment control systems to ensure that pollution is monitored strictly. According to director-general Rachada Singalavanija, the new regulation would primarily target large factories that produce massive amounts of waste water and more than 50 cubic metres a day of hazardous substances from their production processes.

The regulations would also impose requirements on factories that generate between 500 and 10,000 cubic metres of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).

Apart from the monitoring, Mr Rachada said, the waste treatment staff controller would be required to properly treat hazardous waste.

The new rule is part of the department's policy to improve waste treatment monitoring among manufacturers since the industrial sector has a huge impact on climate change. Many factories have installed waste treatment systems as required by law, but the systems are not being fully utilised and some have not starting operating properly.

''We have to find out some efficient measures for mitigating pollution problems as complaints from local communities have grown a lot from several years ago,'' he said.

One problem is the shortage of system control specialists in Thailand. The country has a severe shortage of human resources to meet the demands of the industrial sector as the field is still largely unfamiliar, Mr Rachada said.

Only 2,000 fresh graduates with skills in this profession have emerged over the past two years, he said, well short of demand for about 30,000 professionals.

So far, only Kasetsart University has a training course on industrial waste management.

The regulation also requires factories to install infrared cameras that can monitor air emissions closely after the treatment process is completed. The camera will send data directly to the department's pollution control centre.

The air-quality monitor would slightly push up operating costs by about one million baht, although this is still lower than the three million baht the monitors used to cost.

IRPC Plc, formerly known as Thai Petrochemical Industry (TPI), will be the first to install an air-quality monitor. Its plant in Rayong will serve as a pilot project to ensure the quality of the advanced monitoring system. IRPC has been strongly criticised by environmentalists for poor pollution control.

The regulations would set the rule violation penalty fines in a range from 20,000 to 400,000 baht, he said.

The Finance Ministry is also conducting a feasibility study to set a tax rate for emission control in order to raise funds from large factories that contribute substantial amounts of waste, as well as high amounts of toxic gases.

The details of the tariff have yet to be discussed as it will require a public hearing including feedback from industry representatives first.

The IWD will partly assist with technical support.

Bangkok Post