BANGKOK: In the Nong Khaem Waste Management Centre, western Bangkok, Thailand, garbage trucks enter a waste-to-energy plant, where waste is converted into electricity.
In the plant, no smoke can be seen from the towering chimney and there is no smell of garbage in the air.
It's hard to imagine that mountains of garbage were once piled up in the same place just over a decade ago.
Operated by C&G Environmental Protection (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a China-invested company, the plant has been in operation since 2016, with a daily processing capacity of 500 tonnes of waste.
To date, it has treated over 1.68 million tonnes in total and generated over 636 million kWh of electricity for the city's grid.
"Bangkok produces more than 10,000 tonnes of waste daily, most of which is disposed of in landfills," said Ning He, CEO of the company.
"Leachate and odours generated during transportation and disposal used to pose significant environmental challenges," he said.
The plant adopts high-temperature incineration and waste heat recovery to achieve harmless treatment and resource utilisation.
According to Ning, the project is an integrated solution based on more than three decades of China's experience in waste-to-energy development, adapted to local conditions in Thailand.
The success of the first plant has accelerated the construction of other plants. At the second plant, which is set to begin trial operation in early May, a waste storage pit measuring 73 metres in length and 30 metres in depth can hold more than 20,000 tonnes of waste.
The capacity of the second plant has been further enhanced, reaching a daily processing scale of 1,600 tonnes.
To effectively control odour leakage, the plant adopts a fully enclosed system with negative pressure control.
"Electronic nose" odour monitoring devices are installed at and around the garbage disposal points.
Any abnormal odour or gas detection will trigger automatic alerts to the control room. In addition, a real-time noise monitoring system ensures compliance with environmental standards.
Inside the central control room, Thai technicians monitor key operational indicators, including combustion temperature and emissions, to ensure stable and compliant performance.
The company has trained more than 100 local employees for positions such as control room operators and maintenance technicians.
"It is difficult to recruit workers with professional backgrounds or experience in waste-to-energy operations in Thailand," said Tachanon Thammasuk, the company's operation manager. "We train our own staff to meet operational needs."
The third plant is expected to come into operation later this month. Once all three plants are fully operational, they are expected to process nearly 40 per cent of Bangkok's daily waste.
Beyond environmental benefits, the company has also engaged with local communities through outreach programmes and social activities, earning continuous recognition for corporate social responsibility.
"For me, it is rewarding to be part of this progress in Thailand's waste management," said Tachanon, who has worked with the company for nearly a decade. - Xinhua
