The bustling metropolis of Bangkok, known for its vibrant street life and cultural landmarks, is making leaps towards an environmentally-conscious future. Coming to you from the city government’s quarters, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), in a march towards a cleaner, greener capital, has announced plans to raise the monthly household garbage collection fee from the current 20 to 60 baht by October of the forthcoming year.
The diligent whisperings of official news comes courtesy of one of the city’s advisors, Mr. Pornphrom Vikitsreth. As part of the green initiative, citizens now have the option to maintain the existing payment of discarding their waste, provided that they undertake the responsibility to pre-sort their rubbish before it gets collected. This program of sorted collection charges is a strategic move, aimed at encouraging citizens not only to adopt better waste segregation practices but also to curb their dependency on single-use items, a prime example being those notorious for their environmental harm – plastic bags.
The monetary increase, albeit seemingly steep, is to ease the fiscal burden faced by the BMA in managing waste-related operations. The city estimates that it shells out a whopping 700 million baht per annum on waste handling, while its collection is around a modest 500 million baht.
The city’s Chief Advisor, Torsak Chotemongkol, emphasizes the role of citizens in the successful materialization of the BMA’s forward-thinking ‘zero waste’ policy. He invites his fellow city dwellers to mull over a striking statistic: the capital’s staggering projected waste generation rate of 14,000 to 16,000 tonnes per month in the period from the forthcoming year till 2027.
The discussion and implementation of the hike in collection fee is not a recent affair. A preliminary plan to raise the figure to 80 baht per month was tabled a few years ago but was inevitably deferred due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As per the revised rate, households generating less than 20 litres of trash daily will have to shell out 60 baht monthly, bifurcated equally to cover the collection and disposal costs. The catch, however, is that they can dodge this fee if they opt to sort their trash on their own.
In what appears to be a silver lining, the BMA is optimistic that successful reduction in waste volumes can aid in lowering the budget allocation for garbage handling. The subsequent savings, then, could be redirected towards the city’s other socially relevant development projects. Amidst the string of changes, the BMA’s deputy permanent secretary, Chatree Wattanakhajorn, recently shared another environmental landmark looming on Bangkok’s horizon – the commencement of the city’s eco-friendly incineration facility in Nong Khaem, set to become operational by 2026.
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