This should come as no surprise any of the city’s residents, but one of the biggest problems facing Bangkok in the next decade is how best to manage its garbage.
According to a report from the Nation, both Bangkok’s attitudes toward garbage and its prodigious production of such are threatening to turn the city into one of ASEAN’s smelliest commercial centers.
Apparently, Bangkok not only produces more garbage per-capita than many of its Southeast Asian neighbors, it is also more poorly equipped to handle this onslaught of refuse.
Of the 9,745 tons of garbage the capital produces daily, only 12% is actually recycled. The rest either winds up in landfills, or by the side of the city’s streets.
Both academics and politicians have sounded off on this problem, offering a variety of solutions that could help Bangkok reduce its citywide funk. Chief among these ideas are programs to encourage recycling, both by incentivizing recycling among Bangkok’s citizens and by separating waste at landfills into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories.
