Narumas dissects the legacy of NCPO Order 4/2559 that unlocked zoning laws, opening the door for foreign waste capital to seize Thailand. She points out that although parliament voted to repeal the order, thousands of toxic factories remain unresolved, urging the government to review licenses retroactively and comprehensively resolve the issue.
On 4 Nov 2026 GMT+7, Ms. Narumas Pheombundit, MP for Chonburi District 6 from the Prachachon Party, addressed the environmental crisis and industrial pollution in the Eastern region. She noted that residents currently face ongoing incidents of industrial waste warehouse fires, water pollution, and chemical leaks. Most recently, in October, chemical waste from factories in Sri Maha Phot District, Prachinburi Province, leaked, worsening flood conditions and leading to orders to suspend operations and shut down several factories.
Narumas said that shutting down factories case by case is merely a reactive measure, failing to address the structural question of why Thailand has so many waste sorting and recycling factories and why these plants can be located in the midst of agricultural areas, near public water sources, and adjacent to residential neighborhoods.
She emphasized that the root cause stems from past policy decisions. On 20 Jan 2016 GMT+7, the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) exercised power under Section 44 to issue NCPO Order 4/2559, exempting certain business types, especially waste treatment and disposal factories—such as those handling hazardous waste (factory type 101), sorting or landfill waste (type 105), and recycling waste into raw materials (type 106)—from the application of comprehensive zoning ministerial regulations. This instantly dismantled the zoning mechanisms that used color-coded zones to protect agricultural and community areas, allowing hazardous factories to obtain licenses anywhere nationwide. Alongside NCPO Order 9/2559, which permitted some projects to proceed before environmental impact assessments (EIA) were approved, these orders effectively left the country’s doors wide open.
This timing coincided with external shocks when China announced its “National Sword” policy banning imports of waste and plastic scrap from early 2018. Recycling capital and operators previously based in China sought new production bases, and Thailand—having just exempted zoning enforcement—became a primary target. Data shows many recycling factories established in Thailand during 2017–2018 were backed by Chinese investors aiming to circumvent strict environmental laws at home. Consequently, Thailand’s plastic scrap imports surged about eightfold in 2018, from approximately 69,500 tons to over 552,900 tons, totaling more than 1.1 million tons from 2018–2021. Electronic waste also flooded in massively, while Thailand’s bans lagged significantly—electronic waste imports were banned only in September 2020 and plastic scrap imports only fully banned on 1 Jan 2025—allowing these capital groups to establish and expand extensive factory networks.
Narumas highlighted statistics showing that within just two years after enforcing Order 4/2559, 516 new factories of types 105 and 106 emerged nationwide, with Chachoengsao Province alone adding 82. According to the Department of Industrial Works data as of March 2024, Thailand has 2,718 waste treatment or disposal factories. Alarmingly, the ratio of waste-generating factories to waste treatment factories dropped from 40:1 to just 26:1 in 2023, indicating waste treatment factories are growing faster than actual industrial waste produced domestically. Only about 300,000 tons of hazardous waste are properly processed annually, suggesting abnormal inflows of foreign waste and hazardous materials into the system.
Narumas further noted that these factories cluster densely in the Eastern region, such as Prachinburi Province, where 105 licensed factories operate under the order, with over 91 concentrated in Kabin Buri and Sri Maha Phot districts. It’s no surprise that repeated incidents occur, including recycling factory fires in Ratchaburi, Rayong, and Prachinburi, as well as illegal dumping of electronic waste in protected forest areas. These are not coincidences but outcomes of a legal framework that facilitates factory establishment while state oversight mechanisms lag behind.
She pointed out that although the House of Representatives voted on 23 July 2025 to repeal NCPO Order 4/2559, effective immediately upon publication in the Royal Gazette—closing a loophole open for over nine and a half years—this action does not erase the thousands of factories or the toxins remaining in soil and water. Addressing the problem requires proactive measures going forward, including:
1. The government must audit and review all licenses issued under Order 4/2559 retroactively, especially for factories situated contrary to previous zoning principles.
2. Investigate actual operations to verify compliance with authorized activities, and publicly disclose licensing processes transparently for public scrutiny.
3. Enforce the Polluter Pays Principle, requiring polluters to bear environmental restoration costs, rather than burdening public budgets and citizen health.
4. Halt expansion of industrial waste reception zones within the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) until effective, safe management and control of existing factories are established.
She concluded by stating that Thailand must not be transformed into a dumping ground for the world’s waste and pollution, and local communities should not bear health costs and losses resulting from policy decisions made without public consultation from the outset.