Phuket landfill partly reopens as governor sets 5 steps

The Phuket landfill has partly reopened to rubbish deliveries after it stopped accepting waste on November 8, and city officials expect the island's main waste disposal centre to return to full capacity next week. Phuket City Municipality announced the partial reopening on November 12 after a meeting chaired by Phuket Governor Chotnarin Kerdsom, The Thaiger reported on Friday.

The closure came after trucks from several local administrations dumped loads that blocked the access roads. Our earlier report on the landfill closure as waste piles overflowed described how drivers, tired of waiting, left their loads on the road into the centre.

How the Phuket landfill kept working during the closure

The disposal centre did not shut down completely. Its incinerator kept running throughout the closure, with rubbish brought in for burning at night. At the same time, workers cleared and prepared space at the landfill so that it could accept new waste again.

The municipality has now eased its restrictions so that some deliveries can resume while work continues on the dumping area. Phuket City Mayor Supachok Laongphet said he expects the centre to be back to full capacity next week.

Years of pressure on the site

The mayor said the landfill has struggled with accumulated rubbish for years, as waste volumes kept rising after the Covid-19 pandemic. Projects to expand the landfill and improve disposal are more than a year behind schedule.

According to The Thaiger, the delays have several causes:

• regulatory hurdles that have slowed approvals;
• complaints, appeals and lawsuits linked to the projects;
• limited machinery at the site;
• heavy rain that has disrupted work.

Earlier reporting by the Bangkok Post linked the build-up to rapid urban growth, a larger resident population and the expansion of tourism, which keep daily volumes high. The weather has not helped either, as covered in our report on a Phuket heavy rain and flood risk warning.

Five measures from the governor

At the November 12 meeting, Governor Chotnarin introduced five measures meant to solve the immediate problem and prevent another closure.

1. Clearing the obstacles. Phuket City Municipality must identify the legal, procurement and administrative problems that are delaying landfill improvements and work to solve them under Department of Local Administration guidelines.

2. Controlling the trucks. There will be tighter control of rubbish trucks entering and leaving the centre and clearer rules on what waste is accepted, especially bulky items and materials that do not meet disposal rules. Officials were told to call police if anyone dumps rubbish illegally, threatens staff or blocks operations.

3. Environmental information. The provincial natural resources and environment office must provide environmental impact information, advise local bodies and residents, and prepare maps of landfill locations with monitoring and prevention measures.

4. Better separation at source. All 19 local administrations must improve waste separation in households, communities, hotels, restaurants and businesses. That means keeping general, organic and recyclable rubbish apart, using suitable bags or containers and reducing moisture before disposal, which helps the incinerator work better and cuts odours and pests.

5. Short-, medium- and long-term plans. Immediate priorities are restoring deliveries and improving traffic management at the centre. Longer-term work will focus on expanding disposal capacity, better separation and a more complete treatment system. Officials also plan incentives for people who separate rubbish well.

Why sorting rubbish matters

Supachok urged Phuket's other 19 local administrations to follow the city's lead. Phuket City Municipality already collects organic and general waste separately in Talat Nuea and Talat Yai, and the mayor noted that organic waste makes up more than 60% of the rubbish arriving at the disposal centre.

Wet food waste is heavy and hard to burn, so removing it from general rubbish can ease the strain on both the incinerator and the landfill. For residents and businesses, the practical message is simple: sort waste into general, organic and recyclable streams, and drain food scraps before putting them out.

What happens next

If the mayor's timeline holds, the Phuket landfill should be fully open again next week. But the governor's plan makes clear that officials see the closure as a warning. Without faster progress on the delayed expansion projects and much better sorting across the island, the province could face the same problem again as waste volumes keep growing.

Image: Trash bins at Rawai Beach in Phuket, where sorting rubbish is key to easing pressure on the Phuket landfill. Photo by Millevache via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.