Questions/Answers

The main purposes of the initiative, 1-2-0 Public Participation Model for Waste Management, are: 1. To reduce the amount of waste disposal. And shut down the open-dump sites that had been a major source of pollution in the sub-district. 2. To promote public participation in the reduction, the reuse, and the recycling of products and materials in order to create a sustainable consumption pattern. 3. To share both responsibility and ownership in providing public service and fully utilizing natural resources to enhance economic, social and environmental benefits.

The initiative focuses on public participation to solve the waste management and achieve the target of SDG 11. Thus, it reduces the pollution that would otherwise affect vulnerable populations. In addition, the resources that have been recovered are used to enhance the livelihood of women, elders, and local groups and to educate the youths to foster the new generation of change agents.

The improvements in waste management directs at Target 11.6 aims at reducing per capita environmental impact in cities. It has already diverted more than 80% of solid waste from final disposal and led to close-down of most open-dump sites. The initiative is also contributing to Targets 12.4 and 12.5 on reducing hazardous chemicals and promoting 3Rs. The collection of waste for recycling also help achieving Targets 6.3.1 and 14.1.1 by stopping plastic waste to find its ways to our water bodies and ocean, respectively. The initiative is found on Target 17.17 as it has been mobilizing resources from PPP.

The initiative diverts from the conventional waste management in which a local government would provide waste removal service and charge households waste collection and disposal fees according to the Public Health and Public Cleanliness Acts. It was calculated by the researchers from Mae Fah Luang University (MFU) that if there was no source separation, the average monthly fees should be 173 THB per household. This would be a considerable amount for many households in Ngao most of whom were farmers. In addition, it was not uncommon that adults went to the bigger cities to find jobs in the industries and left elders and their children in Ngao. The 1-2-0 initiative has encouraged the villagers to help reducing the amount waste that needed to be disposed instead of generating waste and paying fees. The co-production of the public service brought down the costs incurred by the municipality to only 39 THB per household per month. In addition, women and other groups in the communities have additional incomes from selling recyclables and handicrafts made of recycled materials. The households can also reduce living expenses by producing safe food for their own consumption using the compost from organic waste.

While waste reduction is a national policy to reform waste management, Ngao Tambon Municipality has taken it to a whole new level. Compared to the 5% reduction target set in the 2017 Clean Province Action Plan, Ngao has diverted 85% of waste from landfill. This was possible only by public participation. So, the upside-down pyramid of waste management hierarchy is put in action. Engaging youths and deploying ICT equipment in the promotion of source separation ae other novelties of the initiative.

The concept of zero waste is not new but the way it has been put into action is novel. The high participation rate is achieved because of youth volunteers. The municipality has been working with the schools to educate students on proper waste sorting and encouraged them to test their knowledge by checking the practices of households. In late 2017, a mobile application was introduced to visualize the results of the monitoring. The tool enables all actors to put a concerted effort to reach the goal of zero waste disposal, as in 1-2-0 concept.

Ngao is selected by the Chiang Rai Provincial Administrative Organization (CR PAO) as a role model for sustainable waste management for Thoeng District. It has been working closely with the other 9 tambons in the districts to adapt the Ngao model, especially in Tap Tao where the popular tourist destination, Phu Chi Fah, is located and facing the problem of tourism waste. In addition, Ngao is working as a mentor for Song Tambon Municipality in Phrae Province in the Toyota-Thailand Environment Institute’s Stop Global Warming Program.

The municipality finances the initiative. It integrates budgets from various developmental projects to achieve the one goal of zero waste. It is a vision of Ngao that public participation for environmental sustainability will be the core of enriching the livelihood of its people. Therefore, individual households, groups, local businesses and communities contribute in terms of human resources and materials. For example, composting of organic waste was promoted as part of the safe food project in which households were trained to make the backyard composters using local materials like bamboo. Youth monitoring is part of the educational program.

Environmentally, it has changed behaviors. 85% of waste that is generated is either reduced or transformed into resources. A life cycle assessment (LCA) by MFU has showed a reduction of all impact categories due to the lower demands for garbage collection (that is fueled by fossil fuels) and waste disposal (that creates leachate and landfill gases). The recovered resources also benefit the local economy in line with the late King Rama IX’s Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP). Economically, people are better of in two ways: 1) reducing household expenditures in terms of utility costs and food production for their own consumption and 2) additional revenue streams from selling products from recycling efforts. Last but not least, if the economic incentives are what keep the environmental program continuing, it is the social force that drives the 1-2-0 initiative. The public participation model has enriched the social capitals in the communities. People in the villages are now working together toward a common goal and getting stronger in the process. Thank to the improved cleanliness the incidence of diarrhea has dropped from 1,839 to 325 per 100,000 population and dengue fever has disappeared from Ngao.

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Internally, Ngao Tambon Municipality has been working with all villages to monitor the results of the initiative. Youth volunteers are rating sorting practices of each household using a 3-tier system (green for good, yellow if small improvements needed, and red for urgent improvements). The results are visualized in the mobile application used by the village heads and municipal officers. External evaluations have been done by MFU on cost and environmental effectiveness, the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP) on zero waste competition, the Toyota-TEI on climate mitigation and adaptation, and the Office of Prime Minister on good governance.

The internal evaluation consists of a checklist of household practices in cleanliness, hygiene, waste containers, and waste sorting. The academic evaluation focuses on the benefit cost ratio and 9 categories of environmental impacts for the LCA. DEQP’s competition uses a rubric of 6 topics covering from the generation of waste to the sustainability of the actions. The Stop Global Warming Program primarily concerns over the reduction of greenhouse gases from changes in behaviors and adaptation efforts. The good governance focuses on the process of delivering public services.

The internal evaluation shows continuous improvements in sorting practices (validated by the improvements in health statistics). The economic evaluation shows the return of 1.17 THB for every THB spent in zero waste and the LCA shows reduction in all impact categories. 4 villages in Ngao have been passed into a final round of the national competition of DEQP with Ban Donyang in the Top 5. Ngao was the runner-up in the Stop Global Warming Program and went on to make presentation in Japan in May 2017. It also got the award for good governance in the same year.

The municipality has collaborated with the team from MFU since 2014 in changing the approach toward waste management from the conventional waste removal services to zero waste. Three conditions were set to achieve the goal: 1) manage organic waste at source, 2) sorting recyclables, and 3) household monitoring. The idea was presented to the communities who agreed and designed the actions at a community level such as how to promote and use recyclables. Some villages developed recycling banks while others formed groups to use the materials. The implementation started with the sa-wian making activity where backyard composters made of bamboo were installed in all households in 2015. CR PAO provided training and the municipality organized a competition at both household and community levels. The District Agricultural Office and the local “soil doctor” trained by the Department of Land Development were engaged to improve the quality of compost. MFU added vermiculture and the Rajamangala Technological University of Lanna Chiang Rai introduced biogas systems. Villagers contributed their time and materials. The local sub-district health promotional hospitals and schools assisted the village committees in the monitoring of the households. This was later consolidated into the youth program for household monitoring.

The key lesson learned from this initiative is the power of co-production based on social capitals. The conventional division between users and service providers has created barriers for cost-effective solutions. When households and communities can be motivated to take up the responsibility not just in terms of paying the fees, the face of waste management has changed dramatically for better. Now the municipality is working on technological innovations for utilizations of the remaining 15% such as mixing plastics and glass cullet into building materials and producing refuse-derived fuels (RDFs).