การประเมินขีดความสามารถของกรุงเทพมหานครในการจัดการของเสียอันตรายจากชุมชน ASSESSING CAPACITY OF BANGKOK METROPOLITAN ADMINISTRATION IN MANAGING HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE

Abstract

          Household hazardous waste (HHW) has increased continuously as a result of economic growth and urbanization; however, there has been little research on this issue. This article presents a framework for indicator development in order to assess the capacity of local administrative organizations (LAO) regarding HHW management, taking the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) as a case study. The indicator assessment results showed that the BMA has clear plans and indicators in terms of HHW collection. However, several shortcomings were found, including the lack of source separation facilities and the lack of continuity in promoting source separation. Lack of the necessary budget and personnel to promote source separation is a key barrier that has led to the low performance of the BMA’s HHW collection. In order to solve this problem, the Ministry of Interior should put waste separation high on its agenda, with clear evaluation indicators. This would help encourage the BMA and other LAO administrators to take the HHW agenda seriously. In addition, concerned agencies should accelerate the promulgation of laws that would assign producers liability to set up take-back systems for some products regarded as HHW when they become obsolete or discarded. This would help lessen the burden of local governments in managing HHW properly.