Recovery of plastics from dumpsites and landfills to prevent marine plastic pollution in Thailand

Abstract

Marine plastic pollution has become a major threat to the ecosystem. The increasing production and use of plastic, combined with limitations of waste management practices, mean the leakage of plastic waste into the environment is bound to increase. This study focuses on the determination of plastic recovery potential from dumpsites and landfills in Thailand, to potentially prevent marine plastic pollution. In this study, two dumpsites were analysed wherein an average of 42% of plastic was found to be present. This value, when extrapolated for Thailand, is equivalent to 187.9 million tonnes of plastic waste in dumpsites and landfills. While there are 2380 dumpsites in the country, this study suggests that 973 of these spread over 42 provinces are located near water bodies or coastline, which should be considered as a priority. The plastic waste recovered from these dumpsites can be treated by co-fuelling in cement industries. Cement kilns can valorise plastic waste as they can reach up to 75% energy recovery from waste, which is much higher compared to traditional waste-to-energy plants. With adequate incentives and sound regulations, cement industries could help in the reduction of marine plastic pollution with controlled emissions and a very large capacity to co-fuel cement production, there is a readily available solution to manage the large volumes of solid waste generated.