Dr. Prap, candidate for Nonthaburi PAO president, introduced the 'MATRIX Nonthaburi Waste' policy proposing a provincial recycling center with the goal of reducing new landfill waste, highlighting the principle: "Before burning or burying, valuable items must be separated first."
4 Sep 2026 GMT+7 Dr. Prap Tham Phakborwon, candidate for Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organization president, number 6, former president of the Waste Recycling and Secondhand Goods Association, announced the waste management policy under 'MATRIX Nonthaburi,' proposing to establish a provincial recycling and resource recovery center in Nonthaburi, with a concept to continuously reduce new landfill waste, emphasizing the principle: "Before burning or burying, valuable materials must be separated first." He proposed shifting the approach from increasing waste disposal capacity to reducing the volume of waste reaching final disposal.
According to data from the Nonthaburi PAO waste disposal center in 2025, approximately 1,687 tons of waste enter the center daily. Before deciding on large-scale investments, the province should first understand how much of this waste can truly be reused, recycled, or managed by other methods. Therefore, he proposed conducting a 100-day MATRIX Waste Audit to survey actual waste composition daily, measuring tons of recyclable materials, organic waste, RDF materials, and residual waste, then using this data to determine production capacity and investment needs.
The proposed system follows the hierarchy: Reuse → Recycle → Organic Recovery → RDF/Energy → Residual Disposal. It includes establishing a Provincial Resource Recovery & Recycling Center as a central structure linking municipalities and Subdistrict Administrative Organizations (SAOs) to sort, dismantle, and prepare materials before returning them to industry. It would also handle bulky waste such as mattresses, sofas, tables, cabinets, and furniture to extract valuable iron, wood, plastic, and other useful materials before disposal.
Dr. Prap emphasized that "'Ending landfill' does not mean burning all waste, because recyclable materials must be separated first, organic waste managed separately, and RDF should be reserved for non-recyclable materials that meet proper criteria." Another proposal is the MATRIX Waste Flow Dashboard to publicly disclose incoming waste volumes, amounts recycled, organic recovery, RDF, actual waste requiring disposal, and costs per ton, allowing the public to monitor management performance. The long-term goal is to transform waste disposal sites from landfills into Resource Recovery Centers, shifting the question from 'How many tons of waste are disposed?' to 'How many tons of resources are recovered and how much waste truly requires disposal?'