Waste creator, Waste treatment operator, Waste Receiver

Name Phuket Province

Waste creator

Phuket Municipality (city-municipality) Waste treatment operator

Wichit Municipality (town-municipality) Waste Receiver

Population (2015) 386,605 78,421 47,336

Space (Km²) 576 km² 12 km² 56 km²

Density (P/km²) 740.31 (Rank 5^th) 6,294 691.09 Number of local

administrative organization

19 (Provincial : 1, city : 1, towns : 2, subdistrict : 9, TAO:6)

1 1

(Phuket Provincial administrative organization, n.d.) I. Phuket Province- waste creator

Phuket is the name of a province and is the biggest island in Thailand. This island is in the Indian Ocean, on the western coast of Thailand. It is far from Bangkok around 867 km by car.

There are a group of bridges connecting between Phuket Island and mainland, Phang Nga Province.

This province consists of one big island and other surrounding smaller islands. Since 1993 Phuket Province was establish and has been the center of West-coast Thailand. Tin mining was the chief economic activity of Phuket and the surrounded area in the past. However, today, tourism constitutes the main income of this province. In 2016, around 13,410,658 tourists visited the Phuket province, and it generated at least 377,878 million Baht for the provincial economy. This

is approximately 43.38% of Phuket’s GDP.

Tourism makes Phuket to rank 8^th in terms of GDP per capita and 1^st in terms of tourism provinces in Thailand (Thailand, National Statistical Office, n.d.). Urban developments are spread across the Phuket province especially for tourism purposes.

However, some parts in the province are reserved as residential, forestry, and agricultural areas. Phuket is the center of the region for transportation, finance and service, education, and government administration. It also hosts an international airport and ferry port, departmental stores and exhibition halls, and international and national educational institutions. Good facilities and high level of urban development attract both Thais and foreigners to live in or visit the Phuket province.

The Phuket province consist of three districts, 17 sub-districts, 95 villages (rural

communities), and 58 urban communities. These 17 sub-districts are governed by 18 sub-district administrative organizations and one provincial administrative organization. These 18 sub-district administrative organizations comprise a city-municipality (Thesaban Nakhon), two town-municipalities (Thesaban Mueng), six Subdistrict-town-municipalities (Thesaban Tambon), and six rural administrative organizations ( TAO- Tambon administrative organization) (Phuket Provincial

Figure 4.1: Picture of Phuket Island, tourist area, residential area, and waste treatment site

(adapted from “Phuket Province”, n.d.)

administrative organization, n.d.). Most of the population lives in the Phuket municipality and the surrounding sub-districts, constituting 61% of the whole population of the province (Ministry of Labour, Phuket province, 2015). However, as a tourism province, a lot of the population in every area of the province, especially along the western coast, is temporary In terms of land usage, several areas of the island have been developed for the tourism industry such as beach resorts, hotels, and other establishments. Land used for residential and tourism purposes increased between 2001–2011 from 8.69% (50 km²) to 25.10% (144.576 km²) of the island, and this ratio keeps increasing. The most developed area of the island is the area of the Phuket municipality, which is in the southeast of the island. However, the Phuket municipal area is mostly residential and governmental. Most of the tourist facilities are along the west coast of the island, comprising several famous beaches. The most developed area of the west coastal zone is the Patong municipal area (town-municipality). The Phuket International Airport is in the northern part of the island.

The rest of the areas are agriculture and aquaculture areas. The main agricultural product is fruits.

Land use for fruit production is increasing while the areas of rubber trees and rice farms keep shrinking (Orwattana, 2012).

II. Phuket municipality: the waste treatment site owner

The Phuket municipality is the biggest city in the Phuket province and is also the owner of the Phuket municipal waste treatment site. The Phuket municipality is a city-municipality (Tessaban Nakorn)²⁸. It is located at the corner of southeastern area of the Phuket Island. Except the famous beaches, most of the areas are residential and government buildings. There are a limited number of tourist attractions in this region such as Phuket old town. Phuket municipality houses

28 In Thailand, there are only 30 city-municipalities (excluding Bangkok Metropolitan and Pattaya city). This kind of

municipality has the most advanced administrative organization in Thailand in terms of population density and duties.

around 78,421 people (2015) which makes ranks it at the 5^th position for population density in an administrative area in Thailand. The Phuket municipality is also a center for business and service for southern Thailand. Therefore, there are

several offices and market in the area.

Provincial schools and hospitals are also present in this area. The Saphan Hin Park is a multipurpose park for leisure and sport in this municipality. The Saphan Hin Park, which is next to the waste treatment site, is at the border of the Phuket municipality and the Wichit Municipality.

Urban development of Phuket municipality is not limited to this area but also extends to surrounding municipalities

such as the Wichit and Rassada municipalities. Population in these three municipalities is around 172,353 (2015) which is 44.58% of the whole province (Ministry of Labour, Phuket province, 2015).

III. Wichit municipality: waste receiver

The Wichit Municipality is a subdistrict-municipality (Tessaban Tambon) in the southeastern part of the island next to the Phuket municipality. It is home to 47,336 people (2015).

Certain parts of the Wichit urban area are expansions of the Phuket municipality, especially the central part where the Wichit municipality office is located. The northern part has been developed aggressively for residential purposes especially housing estates. Unlike the Phuket municipality,

Figure 4.2: Area of Phuket Municipality and Phuket municipal waste treatment site

(adapted from “Phuket municipality”, n.d.)

the Wichit municipality still has certain reserved areas of mangrove forest and agricultural area. The eastern and southern part of Wichit is known asCape Panwa. The north of the cape is an extensive mangrove forest where the Phuket municipal waste treatment site has been established. The rest of the cape comprises mountains, recreational forests, luxury villas, and tourist amenities.

The Wichit municipality governs 18 communities. Two communities—

Saphan Hin and Klong Koh Phee—are

located between the waste treatment site and a school. The Klong Koh Phee community used to be in a degraded forest land which is the present location of the Phuket municipal waste treatment site. In the past, the people lived without land title and worked as scavengers for the old municipal landfill (currently it is the Saphan Hin Park). After construction of the present waste treatment site, the community moved to the north of the site in the area provided by the Phuket municipality;

however, this new land was still without land title. Now, a majority of the Klong Koh Phee community are still working in the waste treatment site or 3Rs jobs (50%–90% dependent on source). The rest are local fishermen or do other kinds of job. Land title was always a major issue of the community, and they kept moving for community land title. In 2011, the Thai government

Figure 4.3: Area of Wichit Municipality and Phuket municipal waste treatment site

(adapted from “Wichit subdistrict”, n.d.)

by PM Abhisit Vejjajiva issued community land title to the Klong Koh Pee community²⁹. In order to get the community land title, the community had to operate several projects such as, community fund, and community regulation. (Siripong, 2011) (Wichit community land title, 2013) (Kawin, Mu1 village leader, March 14, 2018). The Saphan Hin community’s history is different from that of the Klong Koh Phee community. The Saphan Hin community is a housing estate settled in 1985.

Most of people in this community work in fishery and aquaculture jobs, retails, food selling, and general labour. A few of them work in the waste treatment site (Saphan Hin community, 2017).

29 Until today (2018), the status of the community land title has not been clarified. Although three community land

titles have been approved by the executive power since 2011, there are still some conflicts between Regulations of the Office of the Prime Minister on community land title establishment B.E.2553 (2010) and the previous Acts such as the National Reserved Forest Act, B.E. 2507 (1964). Therefore, executive orders still do not have a fully legal status.

Figure 4. 4: Klong Koh Phee community, Saphan Hin community, and surrounded area

(adapted from “Mu Ban Saphan Hin”, n.d.)

4.1.2 Basic Information of Phuket Municipal waste treatment site