Navy officers in protective PPE suits walked along Mae Ramphueng Beach in Tambon Map Ta Phut, Rayong province, using absorbent sheets to absorb black stains that washed ashore by the waves in late January last year. The Governor of Rayong Province and the Pollution Control Department and its officials visited the beach area to inspect the oil slicks that landed on the shore. They collected some samples for further examination to try to address their source of origin. 

Star Petroleum Refining (SPRC) had reported to the Rayong Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office about the incident of crude oil leaking from an undersea pipeline at its single point mooring (SPM), which is the company’s offshore oil transfer point on the night of January 25. 

Initially, at least 160,000 litres of crude oil were reported as leaking and spilling over one square kilometre of the seawater. 

This was not the first. A similar incident occurred in the same province around nine years back, damaging tourism as the spilt oil was washed ashore at its famed Samed island. According to Greenpeace, over 200 oil spills took place in the last 45 years, with at least nine major incidents reported, challenging the country’s management of pollution from oil spills.
Photo: ©Panumas Sanguanwong

THE SPILLS: A CLOSE LOOK INTO HAZARDOUS WASTE SPILLS AND THE CLEAN-UPS

Photos/Story: Panumas Sanguanwong
The Photo Essay series: SDGs I The Depth of Field
JUNE 12, 2023

At the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, where the UN member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development together, a clear vision on sustainable consumption and production patterns was set alongside other key challenges 

Their joint agenda noted; “We envisage a world in which every country enjoys sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and decent work for all. A world in which consumption and production patterns and use of all natural resources_from air to land, from rivers, lakes and aquifers to oceans and seas_are sustainable.”

From the vision, the UN member states turned these promises into their new commitment known as Sustainable Development Goals, with 17 goals set in total, and sustainable consumption and production has become part of these new goals since (SDG 12).

The member states said they committed to making fundamental changes in the way that societies produce and consume goods and services. Therefore they called on governments, international organizations, the business sector and other non-state actors and individuals to contribute to changing unsustainable consumption and production patterns, especially to help developing countries move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.

“We encourage the implementation of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production. All countries take action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries,” the member states said of their new agenda.

Alongside other waste challenges, chemicals and hazardous waste were highlighted. As noted in the report on progress towards the SDGs by the UN’s Secretary General at the beginning of the implementation of the SDGs goals in 2016, “sustainable growth and development require minimizing the natural resources and toxic materials used, and the waste and pollutants generated, throughout the entire production and consumption process.” 

Important conventions were then emphasised and lined up for countries to participate, ranging from the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, known as the Basel Convention, the Rotterdam Convention (on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade), and the Stockholm Convention (on Persistent Organic Pollutants). According to the UN, all member states with six exceptions at that time were party to at least one of these conventions. 

Under SDG 12, 11 targets and 13 indicators to guide the governments’ action were introduced, including the commitment to this 10-year framework and the conventions. In Thailand, the sustainable consumption and production roadmap was developed along with other critical measures for concerned parties including good practices for the business sector. The roadmap will run until 2037, according to the NSEDC (The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council).

Still, some major challenges including the management of hazardous waste are stressed by the agency. It cited that all concerned parties must get serious in tackling the hazardous waste problem seen as it still poses a challenge to the country’s waste management.

As shown by an anti-industrial pollution advocacy organisation, EARTH (Ecological Alert and Recovery-Thailand), at least 25 sites concerning hazardous or industrial waste and pollutions have been plotted in its new map to try to help locate the problems for the public. EARTH said this is just the start and it expected to see more. 

Among the longstanding hazardous waste-related problems are the clean-ups and recovery and recycling processes themselves, which are challenging the existing regulation and management plans, as seen from the cases in Ratchaburi and Rayong provinces. These cases were recently captured on camera by Thai News Pix’s photographer, Panumas Sanguanwong

Immediate impacts of the oil spills on the environment could be observed from life on the beach. Seen in the photo were ghost crabs soaked in the oil that was washed ashore where they inhabited. Such impacts are subject to controversy as state agencies and concerned parties hardly disclose the studies to the public if there are any.
Photo: ©Panumas Sanguanwong

Firefighters and rescue volunteers rushed to the scene and tried to control the fire that broke out of an explosion within a foam pellet and plastic factory, Ming Dih Chemical Co., Ltd in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan province, in the early morning of July 5 last year.

The Commission of Insurance Commission (OIC) examined the initial damage after the incident and found that it had caused damage to houses, factories, and vehicles within a radius of 500 meters. The OIC reported that one person died as a result, while there were more than 30 injuries, more than 70 houses damaged, along with more than 15 vehicles. Other properties were also subject to further examination, according to the OIC, which investigated the company’s insurance policies to see how it could cover the costs and damage.
Photo: ©Panumas Sanguanwong

An officer photographed a helicopter of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DPP), which sprayed chemicals to put out the blazing fire at the factory. Due to the fire, the hazardous chemicals had turned into huge toxic fumes. It dispersed in the air and settled in the environment nearby including the water sources.

This incident led to various questions on city planning, disaster management and preparedness, and last but not least, existing industrial works and substances regulation, as well as environmental rehabilitation from such an incident.
Photo: ©Panumas Sanguanwong

Several farm plots in Nong Phawa community near a hazardous waste treatment plant of Win Process Co., Ltd. in Ban Khai district in Rayong province have been contaminated by chemicals and wastewater. Fully grown trees like rubber and betelnuts were left strained and dead.

Nong Phawa reservoir nearby has also been contaminated to the point that the water cannot be of use and a sign imposing a ban on the use of water is erected to warn people there.

The Pollution Control Department ever inspected the quality of surface and groundwater both around the plant and in farm plots nearby. It found contamination of heavy metal substances in the water, which was also highly acidic.

The residents there said that they have been affected by the pollution for many years and they too have fought the case in court. 
Photo: ©Panumas Sanguanwong

Since being conceived in 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, “sustainable development” has become a buzzword that has helped guide development around the world. The goals have followed a steady trajectory of increased emphasis — from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, strengthening the world’s new development paradigm. At the heart of the SDGs addressed by the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are 17 key goals that call for action by all countries to end poverty and other deprivations. These must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth — all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests, according to the UN. The only challenge is: how to translate all those goals into a strong commitment and action. To flesh out the ideas so that people can understand them easily and therefore take action, Bangkok Tribune has come up with a new project: “SDGs I The Depth of Field”, using its signature style of photojournalism — storytelling through photo essays — to interpret and translate the ideas and challenges behind the goals into powerful visual stories told through the lenses of noted photographers.