Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s National EnergyPolicy Council (NEPC) plans to increase the number of new waste-to-energy (WTE)projects next year to ease worries about the growing volume of garbage.
The council is preparing to invite investors to proposenew projects, with total capacity of 400 megawatts, early next year.
WTE plants, which were already granted licences inprevious auctions, operate in 36 areas, with combined capacity of 328MW.
Though projects promise a new business opportunity topower companies that want to join the growing trend in renewable energy,Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) encourages moving away from the profitincentive.
All sides should primarily focus on getting rid ofgarbage and view electricity as a byproduct, said TEI president WijarnSimachaya.
WTE projects must be done for the sake of theenvironment, helping Thailand better cope with garbage flooding the country,which ranks as the sixth largest polluter when it comes to dumping plasticwaste into the sea, he said.
In 2018, only 35 percent of 27.9 million tonnes of solidwaste in Thailand was sorted for recycling and 39 percent was disposed of atlandfill and incinerators as well as through WTE projects. Up to 26 percentended up in some other areas including land, rivers and sea, according to TEI.
Plastic waste made up 2 million tonnes of total garbage.Only 500,000 tonnes were recycled while the majority was disposed together withother types of garbage./.
The council is preparing to invite investors to proposenew projects, with total capacity of 400 megawatts, early next year.
WTE plants, which were already granted licences inprevious auctions, operate in 36 areas, with combined capacity of 328MW.
Though projects promise a new business opportunity topower companies that want to join the growing trend in renewable energy,Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) encourages moving away from the profitincentive.
All sides should primarily focus on getting rid ofgarbage and view electricity as a byproduct, said TEI president WijarnSimachaya.
WTE projects must be done for the sake of theenvironment, helping Thailand better cope with garbage flooding the country,which ranks as the sixth largest polluter when it comes to dumping plasticwaste into the sea, he said.
In 2018, only 35 percent of 27.9 million tonnes of solidwaste in Thailand was sorted for recycling and 39 percent was disposed of atlandfill and incinerators as well as through WTE projects. Up to 26 percentended up in some other areas including land, rivers and sea, according to TEI.
Plastic waste made up 2 million tonnes of total garbage.Only 500,000 tonnes were recycled while the majority was disposed together withother types of garbage./.
VNA
