Driving three-wheeled vehicles, scavengers and informal garbage pickers, colloquially referred to as saleng in Thai, navigate narrow streets inaccessible to larger vehicles to collect garbage from waste bins. They sort the waste, including plastics, to find recyclable material. By helping keep the city clean and preventing plastic waste from leaking into the ocean, collectors protect the health of the public and the environment, especially marine life. Indeed, they are the backbone of Thailand’s recyclable material collection and urban waste management system.
However, informal garbage pickers are often excluded from the decision-making process when waste management policies are formulated. They also have to deal with the stigma attached to their work picking up the dirty, unwanted items people have thrown away.
But now their cries have been heard.
Organisations, institutes, associations and the private sector have worked together to launch an initiative to help empower them and ensure they are recognised and included on Thailand’s transition pathway towards sustainable waste management.
“Saleng play a prominent role in urban waste management and resource efficiency. They collect garbage, sort it, trade it and sometimes even process waste materials. That’s why we need to support them,” said Wijarn Simachaya, president of the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI).
He was speaking at an event entitled “Driving Circularity Ecosystem” held at a hotel in Bangkok’s Laksi District in early May. A collaborative effort between the Program Management Unit for Competitiveness (PMUC), the TEI and their alliances, the discussions aimed to raise the bar for the informal waste sector and improve the quality of their work.
Behind the transition journey to a circular economy
Wijarn, who is also chairman of the Public Private Partnership for Plastic and Waste Management or Thailand PPP Plastics, noted that the circular economy approach mainly focuses on efficient use of resources and recycling materials as a solution for sustainable waste management.
Informal garbage pickers and recycling traders are a driving force behind the recycling process and for fostering circularity,” he said.
The TEI has conducted research designed to help empower informal garbage collectors and recycling traders. Funded by the PMUC and supported by Thailand PPP Plastics and the Saleng and Recycle Trader Association (SRTA) amongst others, the institute has worked with alliances to develop a database system for the registration of informal collectors and recycling traders and facilitated the improvement of their work quality through professional and occupational skills training.
We hope that collectors and traders who have attended sessions can apply what they learn to their work, helping to improve efficiency and enabling them to work safely on par with current recycling guidelines,” Wijarn said.
Assoc. Prof. Jintawat Chaichanawong, advisor to PMUC’s Circular Economy Programme, said the unit has strongly supported Thailand’s transition from a traditional linear economy to a circular economy that aims to drive economic growth in a sustainable manner by maximising resource efficiency, while minimising environmental impacts. To achieve this, the unit manages research and innovation funding for commercialisation. It also fosters a circular supply chain, supports setting standards and forming regulations, and assists in the creation of new business models.
“The PMUC not only manages funding but also facilitates the process of connecting policymakers to academic researchers and entrepreneurs to help drive a circular ecosystem. This ecosystem is more than just a response to environmental pressures; it’s also a framework for enhancing competitiveness,” said Jintawat.
An indispensable part of Thailand’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system
Thailand is taking a proactive approach to building a circularity ecosystem. To achieve this, the government, NGOs and the private sector have collaborated to empower informal garbage pickers and junk traders and make them part of a network of materials recovery facilities (MRFs).
Taweechai Jiaranaikhajorn, director of Waste Reduction and Utilisation at the Pollution Control Department, noted that Thailand has stepped up efforts in implementing the EPR policy, which mandates that producers take responsibility for their products throughout the entire lifecycle and encourages packaging manufacturers to keep resources in the loop as long as possible through product and packaging stewardship.
Packaging waste is rarely recycled or sustainably managed, he said, adding that around 75% of packaging waste was found to leak into the waste management system. Thailand has set an ambitious goal of making all packaging on the market completely recycled by 2027, Taweechai explained, adding that informal garbage pickers and recycling traders play an essential role in an efficient EPR system.
Setting a new standard for the informal sector
The SRTA’s secretary general Chatnaphat Teinmongkol said the association is more than happy to work closely with the TEI to create a reliable registration system for informal garbage pickers and recycling business owners.
“We encourage informal garbage pickers and recycling traders to register with the association, become members and attend training sessions. With knowledge and skills, they would become skilled collectors who can handle waste safely and effectively, as well as ensure proper sorting, disposal and recycling. This can help reduce landfill usage and promote sustainability,” he said, adding that so far more than 4,000 collectors and traders have registered with the association.
The training sessions provide knowledge about the economic and social benefits of effective waste management, occupational safety and health risks of informal waste pickers, recycling professionals, how to create a recycling business and environmental stewardship, he explained.
The development of a database and registration system allows for effective information management and searching for information about the association’s members, Chatnapat said. The data enable relevant authorities to see an overview of garbage they have collected, which serves as a reference point in their decision-making for an effective waste management system.
The system, he added, provides big data on collected garbage by combining diverse datasets, both qualitatively and quantitatively, from multiple sources provided by state agencies and the private sector. The integration provides useful insights which can be used as a baseline for effective environmental planning and resource management.
The association’s software management tools and other operational management tools have enabled the association to work closely with relevant state-run agencies and the private sector to better manage waste and tackle the problems, while connecting more closely to a network of waste management in response to society’s growing demand for better management.
“We hope that what we’ve done can help improve the public perception of scavengers, garbage pickers and make them become known and recognised in their profession and accepted in society. This can help enhance the quality of their lives and improve social welfare and protection of the informal sector.
“There are more people who casually throw garbage on the ground than those who collect it. If collectors gain the respect they deserve from the public, more people would enter the sector,” Chatnapat said.
Involving the informal waste sector
As the informal waste sector plays a prominent role in supporting the country and municipalities in environmentally sound waste management, Wijarn urged all relevant parties to work together to formulate policy, develop regulations, rules and measures at both national and local levels for effective implementation to help empower the informal waste sector.
He is also demanding the creation of a reliable integrated registration system for the informal waste sector. The system, he said, should combine accurate information from registers across the nation, adding that the registration helps verify their status and profession.
“This will open an opportunity for pickers and traders who have registered and give them access to knowledge, capital resources and technology that can be useful for their business,” Wijarn said.
“Financial incentives and tax exemptions for recycling business owners able to comply with rules and regulations should also be provided,” he said. “The informal waste sector is a mechanism for Thailand’s transition journey to a circular ecosystem. They need to be empowered so they are more recognised in their profession and more accepted in society.”
