Nirmala Menikpura Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and other impacts from recycling activities: a case study in Thailand

General Background of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management in Thailand In 2009 the volume of garbage in Thailand was approximately 41,410 tonnes per day Only 23% generated waste is separated and sent to recycling centers The remaining fraction is disposed at open dumps and non- engineered landfills Promotion of recycling activates in Thailand is crucial in order to minimize the severity of waste problem 2

Collection of recyclables Pre-processing : cutting, cleaning, baling Energy, materials Emissions e.g: GHG Emissions e.g: GHG Energy, materials Emissions e.g: GHG Transportation to the recycling facility ) Energy, materials Emissions e.g: GHG Recycling process Avoided Energy, materials Avoided Emissions Recovery of materials and avoided virgin production chains Life Cycle Effects of Recycling Activities All processes are required significant amount of energy and materials and result in environmental impacts due to consumption of resources, emissions 3

Recycling as an option to replace virgin production Considerable amount of materials can be recovered from recycling and therefore virgin production of materials can be avoided

Recycling as an option to replace virgin production

Nonthaburi municipality was selected to evaluate the implications of recycling activities on the sustainability which is located 20 km northwest of Bangkok The Municipality covers an area of 39 km 2 hosting a population of 0.27 million Nonthaburi municipality is making an effort to maximizing recycling and minimizing waste generation Public participation and awareness raising campaigns were recognised as key factors for such successful achievements as well as the strong political will of the local administration MSW generation is 370 tonnes per day and approximately 90 tonnes of recyclables separated at the household level and sent to the recycling facilities Quantification of the effects of recycling -A Case Study in Nonthaburi 7

LCA Framework for assessment LCA was used as the basic tool to evaluate the environmental, economic and social impacts Quantification was done for “recycling of one tonne of waste in a recyclable mix”

Data Collection for Sustainability Assessment Basic data on material and energy consumptions, costs and revenues, employment opportunities etc were collected from various sorting plants and recycling facilities in Thailand Indicators for sustainability assessment of recycling 9

Composition of recyclables and material recovery rate The composition of the recyclable mix and material recovery rate of the different materials are important factors to assess the amount of materials that can be recovered from recycling Composition of recyclables mix in Nonthaburi (weight basis) Recovery rate of recyclables 10

GHG emissions from recycling GHG emissions from virgin production is significantly higher than recycling except plastics recycling Benefit of aluminium recycling is outstanding in GHG mitigation Net GHG emissions = GHG emissions from recycling –GWP virgin production-GHG emissions from landfilling of recyclables 11 Net GHG emissions = -4,520 kg CO2-eq/tonne of mixed recyclables + values=GHG emissions - values=GHG avoidance

Abiotic (fossil) Resource Depletion Potential from Recycling Contribution of recycling on saving abiotic resources are remarkable as compared to the virgin production processes Net resource depletion = -21.3kg Sb-eq/tonne of waste Recycling contribute for saving aboitic/fossil resources that would otherwise be occurred through virgin production process chains + values= resources consumption - Values = resources saving 12

Economic Feasibility of Recycling Gross Life Cycle Cost = Capital Cost + Operational and Maintenance Costs + Environmental Cost Net LCC = Gross LCC – Revenues from valuable by-products Net LCC = -11,700 baht/tonne ( 31Baht =1US$) Net earnings from the daily amount of recyclable (90 tonnes) generated in Nonthaburi municipality is 1.02 million baht 13 + values = Cost - Values = Revenue

Net damage = Health damage avoidance DALYs/tonne of mixed recyclables Damage to human health = Mortality (YOLL)+ Sever Morbidity (YLD)+ Morbidity (YLD) Social Impacts of Recycling 14 + values = Health risk -ve values = Health damage avoidance

Social Impacts of Recycling Activities

type of waste Collected amount (tonnes/day) Recyclables category Weight (tones/day) Income Price (baht) /kg Total price (Baht) Paper Office paper , Newsprint , Laminated paper , Kraft paper , Milk carton , Plastic 2.96 PP PET , PVC , PS Foam(EPS) HDPE , LDPE , Glass 6.58 Clear glass , Amber , Green Aluminium Metal Aluminium ,076, Metal , Total ,569, Income generation potential from selling of recyclables in Nonthaburi

Employment opportunities created – 7 labours /tonne of mixed recyclables Total created employment opportunities from 90 tonnes of recyclables Potential Employment Opportunities 17

Income generation from selling of mix recyclables -17,440 baht/tonne Wages based income generation potential from recycling -2,900baht/tonne Total income generation per tonne of mix waste recycling–20,340baht/tonne This income would sufficient to cover monthly living cost of 4 individuals Nonthaburi Municipality is a good example for us to understand the Environmental, economic and social effects of recycling on Improvement of Income Based Community Well-being 18

Conclusions The evaluation results of this study clearly indicated that the recycling activities are significantly contribute for GHG emission mitigation and well as an option to save the fossil resources There are important socio-economic benefits from recycling Therefore, recycling would contributes to improve sustainability of the entire waste management system in place This research findings would be useful in strengthening law enforcement, recommending inclusive 3R policy initiatives for moving towards sustainable MSW management in Thailand 19

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION Dr. Nirmala Menikpura Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Group Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)