[sustran] nmt and recycling in Bangkok

[John Ernst]

An interesting item from today’s Bangkok Post (15-Jun-98, p.1) notes that
Bangkok has 42 waste recycling trucks that are too big to use on narrow
streets in the inner city areas.  Each truck can hold 8 tons of garbage,
but reportedly has never collected more than 100 kg.  

The city, through an unnamed official, acknowledges that the public already
gives or sells recyclable garbage to garbage resellers on tricycles.
Indeed, the recyclable garbage collectors pedalling their tricycle trucks
around Bangkok neighborhoods are one of the last vestiges of non-motorized
transport in the city.

The city’s solution to their big truck problem, however, is to order 120
new trucks –in a slimmed down version.  The price tag is over 56 million
baht total (about US$1.3 million).  

It appears there is opportunity here for synergy between the low capital
costs of non-motorized transport, the frequently low profit margins
generated by recycling, and the need to provide employment opportunities.