Material flow analysis for industrial waste management in Thailand

Material flow analysis (MFA) is an excellent tool in supporting decision making regarding waste management problems. MFA allows the calculation of the amount and composition of wastes by balancing the process of waste generation and the process of waste treatment. MFA can be used to analyze wastes flow because inputs-outputs of waste treatment can be linked. The industrial waste management system in Thailand is still lacking comprehensive data on industrial waste generation and flow. Therefore, MFA can be used to determine inputs-outputs of the waste treatment processes. This study estimated the annual amount of the total industrial waste generation in Thailand from 1999 through 2004. It calculated industrial waste flows and employed MFA to illustrate the flows of industrial waste from waste generators to waste disposers. Using the industrial waste flow was effective in analyzing the waste management system in Thailand. The industrial waste flows show tine dominant waste treatment method of Thailand was reuse and recycling, accounting for 83.6 % of disposal on the average from 2002 to 2004. Industrial waste generation, y in millions of tons, had an interrelation with economic growth (gross domestic product per capita) of the country, x in USS as y = -1.0059 + 0.0054x. The correlation coefficient was 0.7616 which can be assumed to represent a good relationship. The average waste generation per GDP and waste generation per capita in Thailand from 1999 to 2004 were 80.3 kg per 1,000 US$ and 215 kg per person respectively.