BMA setting up green waste incinerator
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The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority is setting up a thermal incinerator at Nong Khaem Waste Management Centre that will convert garbage into electricity.
"This kind of incinerator is now in use in several countries," said Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra. "Nakhon Phuket Municipality is currently in the process of building one as well.
"It will generate a minimum of 5 megawatts of electricity, which will be sold to Metropolitan Electricity Authority. This incinerator will not cause pollution, as sanitary principles will be observed to ensure minimal impact to the environment. It is in full compliance with the statutory air-pollution requirements."
With its population of more than 10 million including people who have relocated from other provinces, Bangkok has used several measures to manage the consequent massive amount of waste generated, including sanitary landfills at two sites in Nakhon Pathom and Chachoengsao. The city produces 8,700 tonnes of waste, a figure that will continue to grow every year.
The BMA has since hired C and G Environmental Protection (Thailand) to invest in the construction and the operation of the high-temperature incinerator, which will be able to handle 300 tonnes of waste per day for the next 20 years. The thermal-treatment technology has been endorsed and implemented in several countries including Germany, Japan and Singapore.
Using relatively little space when compared with a landfill, thermal incinerators are capable of eradicating nearly all types of trash including infectious waste from hospitals while at the same time being greener.
They can be built where waste is generated to help lower transport costs. Output such as ashes from the incinerators can be used to fill land or produce construction materials and the heat generated can be used to make steam for buildings or to produce electricity. – The Nation
