Evaluation Report

1-2-0 Public Participation Model for Waste Management

1 = everyone unites as ONE 2 = TOwards a goal of 0 = ZERO waste

Prepared by

Dr. Panate Manomaivibool

Mae Fah Luang University

Commissioned by

Ngao Tambon Municipality

Mayor, Municipal Clerk and auditing team

Executive Summary

Everyone generated solid waste every day but traditionally it was left to a municipality’s responsibility to manage it. To handle 10 tons of daily waste was a challenge for Ngao Tambon Municipality (NTM). In the past, waste that was disposed of at 18 local dumpsites creating environmental problems and public nuisances. The situation got worse when waste was burnt to clear the space. But, the municipality had a budget constraint to invest in waste collection and waste disposal that would have to come at the expense of other development projects. 1-2-0 is an inclusive public participation model for sustainable solid waste management. It was based on the observation that from its composition: 60% organic, 14% recyclable, 1% hazardous, and 25% other, waste should not be wasted. And, the municipality should not further waste public money trying to collect all for disposal. It was far better to design a model that could encourage all stakeholders to separate and utilize these resources. The Ngao model consisted of 3 steps to promote source separation. The first step was to have households composting organic waste in their own backyard by introducing simple yet effective equipment. The second step was to support local groups to create jobs and incomes from recycling. The third step was to establish a social norm of source separation in all villages through monitoring. After these three steps, most of waste would be reduced or used in productive activities. When everyone is taking up the responsibility to manage every waste, the municipality could then focus on the management of high-impact items such as hazardous waste and have a complete system despite its limited resources. The initiative has enabled NTM to reduce the amount of solid waste to final disposal by 85% and produced various health and environmental benefits. The initiative has won many awards and recognized as an example of sustainable solid waste management in both local and national levels.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 1

1.1 Background ...... 1

1.2 Problems ...... 2

2. The Initiative ...... 4

2.1 Concepts ...... 4

2.2 Objectives ...... 4

2.3 The Ngao Model ...... 5

3. Implementation ...... 8

3.1 Organization ...... 8

3.2 Roles and Responsibility ...... 10

3.3 Resources ...... 12

4. Results ...... 14

4.1 Effectiveness ...... 14

4.2 Benefits ...... 16

4.3 Awards and Recognitions ...... 17

4.4 Outreach ...... 20

5. Epilogue ...... 23

5.1 Sustainability ...... 23

5.2 Lessons Learned ...... 24

1. Introduction

1.1 Background Ngao Tambon Municipality (NTM) is a local government in the suburban areas of Thoeng District, Chiang Rai Province in the North of Thailand. It was promoted from a sub-district administrative organization (SAO) into a class-3 municipality1 in 2009. It has the land area of 88.4 km2 and population of 9,597 of which 51% are female. The sub-district consisted of 20 villages and 3,755 households.

Moo 7

Moo 1 Moo 19

Moo 11 Moo 8

Moo 1 Moo 13 Moo 18

Moo 4

Moo 2 Moo 14 Moo 12 Moo 3

Moo 15 Moo 20 Moo 9

Moo 17 Moo 6 Moo 5

Moo 16 Moo 10

Mr. Sawart Chaidarun is the present mayor of Ngao. The municipality has in total 46 officers and employees headed by Mr. Tortrakul Wanasorn, the municipal clerk. There are 5 divisions in the municipality: the office of municipal clerk, the division of finance, the division of public works, the division of public health and environment, and the internal control unit. NTM has the annual budget of 50

1 There are three classes of municipalities in Thailand: a nakorn municipality (pop.>50,000 and density 3,000 inh/km2), a muang municipality (pop.>10,000 and density 3,000 inh/km2 or the center of a province that is not a nakorn municipality), and a tambon municipality (pop.>7,000 and density 1,500 inh/km2). 1 million THB (1.6 million USD) of which four fifth are salaries and transfer money by functions from the national government. The effective budget that the municipality can allocate to investment, services and other development projects is around 10 million THB per year. 1.2 Problems Solid waste was an important environmental health problem in Ngao Sub- district. Changes in lifestyle and urbanization had led to a rising in the amount of solid waste. According to the Chiang Rai Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment2, on average everyone in Chiang Rai generated 0.93 kg of solid waste per day in 2013. This was a significant increase from the waste generation rate of 0.62 kg per person per day in 20043.

In the past, solid waste was disposed in local dumpsites. The 18 dumpsites in Ngao Sub-district became major sources of pollution. Garbage was also littered along the streets and some found their way into streams and other water bodies. In addition to global impacts like climate change, there were local impacts like a risk of toxic contamination because every waste was mixed together including hazardous items without proper sorting. Insanitation also represented a threat to public health as a pile of waste could be a breeding ground of diseases and vectors.

Environmental problems at the local dumpsites in the past

2 Chiang Rai Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment. 2014. Waste Management Master Plan, Chiang Rai Province. Chiang Rai: the Chiang Rai Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment (in Thai). 3 Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. 2004. Final Report: Project on the Survey and Composition Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste in Thailand. Pollution Control Department, Bangkok (in Thai). 2

An investment in hard infrastructures for municipal solid waste management (MSWM) would put a heavy burden on NTM. It would need 5 garbage trucks if the 10 tons of solid waste that was generated in the areas must be collected for disposal according to the Public Health Act, B.E. 2535 (1992). The initial investment would cost 28 million THB and the operating costs could be as high as 3.5 million THB per year4. It would not be possible to recover the cost through a monthly waste collection fee which was fixed at maximum at 40 THB per household by the Public Health Act. Besides the high price tag, the siting of a common waste disposal facility was a major issue and likely to encounter fierce opposition from nearby communities.

4 Manomaivibool, P. and Dokmaingam, P. 2017. Final Report: The Review of Solid Waste Management Cost and the Life Cycle Assessment of Solid Waste Management Systems: Principles and Customization for Local Governments in Thailand. Bangkok: Thailand Research Fund (in Thai). 3

2. The Initiative 1-2-0 is a new and inclusive model for MSWM. NTM initiated the program in the fiscal year (FY) 2014. Since then, it has encouraged people’s participation and ensures that everyone makes proper contributions to make the management of every type of waste more sustainable. 2.1 Concepts The initiative is guided by the so-called waste management hierarchy. Waste reduction is given the first priority. Then, methods to turn waste into useful products and materials like reuse, upcycling, recycling and composting are preferred. The remaining waste is then disposed of safely to limit the impacts to the public health and environment.

2.2 Objectives The initiative has 4 main objectives: 1. Reduce the amount of waste for final disposal and close down dumpsites. Dumpsites are important sources of pollution. The diversion of waste will improve the environmental health in the sub-district. 2. Ensure that all villages in the sub-district equally contribute to solving the problem. Everyone generates waste; so, it is fair that all villages must

manage their own waste. No party, not even the municipality, will be asked to shoulder all the responsibility. 3. Encourage households to participate in making decisions, taking actions and sharing benefits. The details of how waste should be managed within each village will be decided by its members. They will also participate in the implementation and evaluation. This will create a sense of ownership. 4. Allocate budget to maximize the positive impacts and co-benefits. Instead of wasting public money on collecting mixed waste for dumping, the limited resources of Ngao Tambon Municipality should be freed and allocated to activities that are more productive and enhance people’s wellbeing. 2.3 The Ngao Model The analysis of waste composition showed that most of what had been thrown away could be reduced, reused or recycled. 60% of the waste were organic matters that could be turned into fertilizers, soil conditions, liquid composts, and biogas. 14% were recyclables that could be sold to the recycling industries. Another 25% might not have an immediate market but the materials such as milk cartons could be upcycled into products and handicrafts. What was really a problematic fraction was the hazardous waste which accounted for 1% by weight and had to be reduced or safely handled.

Other 25%

Hazardous 1% Organic 60% Recycle 14%

The waste composition in Ngao Sub-district in 2013

The Ngao model consisted of 3 steps to promote source separation. The first step was to have households composting organic waste in their own backyard by introducing simple yet effective equipment. Because most people in the sub- district lived in a detached house with a sizable land area, this was very feasible. Not only did the physical setting fit with the model, but the rural context was also rich in social capitals. Therefore, the second step supports local groups to create jobs and incomes from recycling. After a social norm of source separation was institutionalized, the third step installed a monitoring system to strengthen the behavioral changes. After these three steps, most of waste would be reduced or used in productive activities. The municipality could then focus on the management of high-impact items such as hazardous waste and have a complete system despite its limited resources.

The Ngao model is thus innovative in the way it arranges and mobilizes resources from stakeholders for the management of different types of waste. While several of its components were adaptations from other contexts, the way they were put together into the 3-step model was rather innovative. The model provided an overall framework to ensure activities at different levels that match with different types of waste. Ngao had studied other best practices of community-based waste

6 management in Chiang Rai: village rules and the management of hazardous waste in Chiang Kian Subdistrict, the flag system from Baan Pong Sri Nakorn in Rong Chang Subdistrict, and sa-wians for home composting from Chiang Rai Provincial Administrative Organization. These activities were not copied and pasted from other contexts but were gradually introduced through a careful planning. Pilot projects were used to test the feasibility of the ideas and modify them to fit with the local context. Sa-wian – a home composting system made of bamboo – was first introduced through a contest on the 2015 Mother Day. After it was proved that the equipment was easy to make and use by households, a village rule on home composting was developed. Similarly the flag system was piloted at Baan Don Yaeng before being introduced to other villages. At the end of the day, the villages were the ones that chose the concrete actions to implement the 3-step model. The next chapter explains the social process that was behind the implementation.

3. Implementation The initiative has made a significant change in MSWM. Previously many people perceived that the municipality had to provide waste removal services but did not realize that this would have come at the expense of delays in other developments. Now, the implementation that was based on public participation enabled people to see how the co-production of public services benefiting them. 3.1 Organization NTM set up a sub-district committee to oversee the implementation of 1-2- 0 Waste Initiative. The committee incorporated the existing sub-district council on public health as its core and had all 20 heads of the villages joining. In addition, external members were recruited from related district and provincial offices and a university. The committees worked on a consensual rule and made decisions on overall objectives. It also provided a common framework for the implementation but the details were left to be deliberated at a village level.

Meetings of the Sub-district Committee

Meetings of Village Committees

At a village level, a committee was established to decide on the concrete actions that would be implemented in line with the 3-step model. For example, the diagram below describes the actions in Baan Don Yaeng which tied waste managenet with its attempts to fight global warming. Members of the village committee also participated with the taskforce from the sub-district committee in evaluating actions in other villages, which in turn, encouraged policy learning.While most villages used the flag system to monitor the progress, one village adopted a unit-based pricing as a control mechanism. Waste from each household was weighed and the household was charged accordingly for the collection and disposal costs. The effectiveness of this mechanism helped its transfers to other villages.

3.2 Roles and Responsibility MSWM in Ngao must be inclusive and participatory in order to meet the 4 objectives. It is no longer the sole responsibility of Ngao Tambon Municipality. Stakeholders engaged in various processes. Here are roles and responsibilities of key actors. 1) Municipal management and officers. The executives outlined the policy and devised the overall framework of the initiative. In addition to the direct roles in the initiative, they linked other activities to waste management, e.g. reviewing and encouraging elders to bring in recyclables when they came and got their monthly allowance. The willingness to integrate participatory waste management into other work domains helped pushed forward the intervention. 2) Village heads and village committee. Their unwavering support and commitment were the driver of the implementation. Several even made significant contribution to the design and modifications of the intervention as in the case of the introduction of unit-based pricing.

Awareness rising campaigns in various villages

Weighing waste for disposal Recycle for eggs

3) Households. Household engagement was instrument in the design of the initiative. The sa-wian contest served as the proof of concept to the feasibility of the first step of the model. The households also played their part in the full implementation of the model. Source separation of organic waste and recyclables was the foundation of all other activities. 4) Local groups. They are the ones who created the activities to utilize and create values form waste materials, e.g. turning them into beautiful handicrafts, useful products, or even safe food. These activities enlivened and bring variety to the initiative. 5) School students. They were effective norm setters. The students worked with village committee and health volunteers in monitoring households. They were perceived as impartial and their evaluation to give either green, yellow or red flag to a household went uncontested. Their engagement also motivated their circles and the parents to participate. 6) Theong District Office, Chiang Rai PAO, and Mae Fah Luang University played an important role in drawing and disseminating lessons from the Ngao model to the district, provincial and national levels.

The public participation model does not only reduce the amount of waste, but also turns the separated waste into useful resources for productive recycling activities. As actions speak louder than words – the tangible benefits raise people’s awareness on the importance of their inputs into public administration.

The Initiative and SDGs (1) The initiative improves the delivery of public services according to Target 17.17 by mobilizing resources from public-private-people partnership. MSWM is no longer a sole responsibility of the municipality but is co- produced by households, local groups, communities and other stakeholders. The other process improvement is the evidence-based monitoring system which continuously measuring the effectiveness of the intervention to advance the accountability goal of Target 17.19.

3.3 Resources The initiative mobilized resources from stakeholders through public participation. According to the 4M framework, the followings were the key resources of the public participation.

Man. There were 4 core teams. The policy team consisted the mayor, the council, and the 20 village heads who were in the subdistrict committee. Then, there were 2 teams for the implementation in each village. The action team was led by the village head and other local groups in the village committee. The monitoring team consisted of school students and health volunteers. The fourth was the evaluation team from the municipality, hospitals, schools and Mae Fah Luang University.

Woman groups played an important roles in promoting recycling and public cleanliness

Money. NTM provides the budget for all trainings and study visits to its staff and villagers. It also subsidized equipment for composting and recycling activities and financed the management of hazardous waste. Additional fund for the villages came from recycling revenues. Materials. Besides the materials sponsored by the municipality, communities mobilizes their own resources such as bamboo for sa-wians, donated recyclables for handicraft groups, agricultural residues for compost making. Management. The initiative was managed by committees at sub-district and village levels. The goals and indicators were set for the whole sub-district. This provided backing to the management at the village level that focused on implementation. A mobile application was developed in 2017 to support reporting and communication between the two levels.

Mobile application for Ngao Zero Waste

4. Results The evaluation showed that the initiative was effective in producing desirable outcomes. There were also various benefits that resulted from the improvement of MSWM and the initiative has won many awards and recognition.

The Initiative and SDGs (2) The improvements in MSWM are in line with SDGs 11 and 12. Target 11.6 aims at reducing per capita environmental impact in cities. The initiative has diverted more than 80% of solid waste from final disposal. This does not only reduce impacts related to waste disposal, e.g. global

warming and contamination of underground water, but also increases the recycling rate according to Target 12.5. In addition, it enables the municipality to focus the limited resources on the management of hazardous waste. The provisions of special bins and collection services for hazardous waste ensure the safe disposal of chemicals according to Target 12.4. Last but not least, the improvements in public cleanliness indirectly contributes to Targets 6.3.1 and 14.1.1 by stopping plastic waste to find its ways to our water bodies and ocean, respectively.

4.1 Effectiveness The most important indicator of 1-2-0 initiative was waste reduction. During the 3 years, the amount of waste sent to final disposal in the sub-district reduced by 85%. This enabled the municipality to close down 14 dumpsites or 70% of the total sites before the initiative. The process-oriented monitoring also confirmed the effectiveness of the initiative. The monitoring was based on checklists of village waste handling rules and household sanitation. The checklists consisted of key behavioral points such as the existence of home composting equipment, recycling station, etc. Each household needed to meet 80% of waste separation and 90% of sanitation standards in order to pass. 93% of households had passed and were actively participated in the program

Data from the initiative in Ngao Sub-district were part of a larger evaluation of a zero waste strategy. The research by Mae Fah Luang University was funded by Thailand Research Fund (TRF). It consisted of 9 cases of local governments that promoted source separation and zero waste initiative in the North of Thailand. The evaluation compared the costs of MSWM in a business-as-usual (collect-and- dispose) scenario and a zero waste (sort-and-recycle-before-collect-and-dispose) scenario and the changing environmental impacts based on life cycle assessment (LCA). The research showed that, even among the local governments that were recognized as best practices in zero waste, the waste reduction of 85% in the case of NTW exceeded the average 82% calculated from the 9 cases (diagram below)5. The initiative led to 88% saving in financial costs of MSWM and lowered all environmental impacts from waste collection and disposal.

4500000 4000000 3500000 3000000 2500000 2000000 1500000 1000000 500000 0 Source Separation Waste Collection Waste Disposal Business as usual Zero Waste

The estimated costs for BAU and ZW scenarios in Ngao Sub-district. The investment in source separation in ZW led to 88% cost reductions for waste collection and disposal 5

5 Manomaivibool, P. and Dokmaingam, P. 2017. Final Report: The Review of Solid Waste Management Cost and the Life Cycle Assessment of Solid Waste Management Systems: Principles and Customization for Local Governments in Thailand. Bangkok: Thailand Research Fund (in Thai). 15

4.2 Benefits Households in Ngao Subdistrict are the ones mostly benefiting from the initiative. The closedown of 14 dumpsites and improved cleanliness have considerably enhanced the environmental health and livability of the communities. The incidence of diarrhea dropped from 1,839 to 325 per 100,000 population and dengue fever had disappeared between 2014 and 2016. The promotion of safe food through the utilization of organic compost from waste further improved people’s health. The blood tests showed that the proportion of people with a very high risk of chemical contamination dropped from 85% to 29% in the same period.

Health promotion in Ngao by using secondary materials from composting Besides saving to the municipality, several groups benefit economically from the intervention. First, an increase in source separation efforts creates jobs in recycling businesses. The number of junk shops in Ngao has increased to 12 during the past five years. Elders also sort and donate low-value recyclables materials such as plastic bags, laundry packaging when they collect their monthly elder allowance. Local groups the members of which are mainly housewives make 16 additional income by turning these secondary materials into handicrafts. Last but not least, school students use the knowledge from household monitoring to develop a garbage bank and 3Rs learning center.

Products and handicraft from recyclable materials 4.3 Awards and Recognitions The initiative has won many awards in Thailand. In 2016, NTM nominated 4 villages to the national Zero Waste Competition. The competition was organized by the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. DEQP used 29 indicators to assess the 6 pillars of zero waste communities: local government’s support, stakeholder participation, 3Rs activities, results and sustainability, sufficiency economy, and other environmental co-benefits. All 4 villages from Ngao passed into the final round of 89 communities in the Zero Waste Competition in 20166. Baan Don Yaeng went on to won the 5th place for the medium size communities.

6 DEQP’s Zero Waste Competition up until 2016 did not have a quota system. Every local government could nominate any number of villages and submit the village reports directly to DEQP. The department then selected villages into the final round based on the documentation. The number of the villages into the final round was equal to the age of the late King Rama IX – 17

DEQP’s evaluators visiting zero waste villages in Ngao Sub-district (2016)

In 2017, Baan Don Yaeng participated in the Thai Environment Institute (TEI)’s Stop Global Warming Program. The event was sponsored by Toyota and focused on the reduction of greenhouse gases (kg-CO2 equivalent) from village’s actions. In this 12th year of the program, Baan Don Yaeng finished as a runner-up and representatives from Ngao had an opportunity to present the intuitive in Japan in May 2017.

89 in the final year. After 2016, DEQP has changed the system. The selection is now through the regional offices of MONRE. Each office nominates three villages. Therefore, it is not possible for any province to have more than three contenders in the final round. In practice regional offices seem to prefer having villages from different provinces from its zone. There was only one village from Chiang Rai participated in 2020 18

A runner-up in the 12 Stop Global Warming Program (2017)

At a local government level, Ngao submitted this initiative to the Office of the Permanent Secretary, the Office of the Prime Minister for the Local Administrative Organization with Good Governance Award. The criteria considered the improvements in processes, outputs and outcomes of public services delivered by local governments. The initiative won the award in 2017.

Local Administrative Organization with Good Governance Award (2017)

4.4 Outreach The initiative has been a role model for other local governments and communities in Thoeng District. NTM has been working with Thoeng District Office and became a learning center for sustainable MSWM. After study visits, Ngew and Tub Tao sub-districts has sent its officers to consult with NTM for the introduction of home composting in their areas. The latter was also working with World Vision International to transfer other activities from Ngao to improve the quality of life of minority groups in its highland. Baan Don Yaeng from Ngao was one of the 18 environmental model village of Chiang Rai Provincial Administrative Organization. In 2018, Chiang Khong District has implemented the 3-Step Model in all of its villages. After the initiative won awards and recognitions at national levels, there have been more than 170 study visits to see MSWM in Ngao. In May 2017, representatives from Ngao and Baan Don Yaeng made a presentation in Japan as part of Thai Environment Institute (TEI)’s Stop Global Warming Program. MSWM in Ngao was also selected as a showcase in Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ training on sufficiency economy where 17 officers from 16 developing countries participated in December 2017.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ training on sufficiency economy

A group from University of Colorado, USA

5. Epilogue

5.1 Sustainability The initiative, 1-2-0 Public Participation Model for Waste Management, has enhanced all three pillars of sustainability. It successfully changes people’s behaviors in line with the so-called waste management hierarchy. Waste is transformed into resources. Organic waste is composted and utilized in the production of local, safe food. Recyclables are separated and sold or made into handicrafts through upcycling groups. Participation in the management of waste at source is therefore helping households and communities to cut down expenses and generate additional revenues. It also allows the municipality to better allocate the limited budget. Unlike many local governments that have to spend a lot of money in moving around collecting garbage, NTM can focus on the management of hazardous waste that poses serious threat of toxic contamination. Spare resources can also be used in other productive activities and developmental projects. Last but not least, the empowerment is an important social asset for sustainability. The structure of working groups at sub-district and village levels will enable stakeholders to work together and collectively solve social problems, not limited to waste issues. The process-oriented of the initiative has encouraged continuous improvements. Successive achievements and awards provided abundant proof to this. Based on the success of the initiative, the mayor of NTM has announced the Healthy Community Development with 6 main agenda: 1) environmental health, 2) health equity, 3) participatory health care, 4) healthy society, 5) health technology, and 6) healthy economy. The agenda are translated into projects in the Ngao Sub- district 3-Year Development Plan (2018-2020). At a community level, people and local groups give continuous supports because of the tangible benefits such as safe food production and additional income from recycling. In addition, the pride of being a role model and the recognitions motivate community leaders and people of Ngao to continue working together.

Health equity Participatory health care

Health technology

5.2 Lessons Learned 1) Lesson drawing and piloting. While it is a waste of time to reinventing the wheel, a mindless policy transfer is likely to end up in a failure. The examples of sa- wians and the flag system showed that the pilots were instrumental in proving the feasibility and convincing other villages and households to follow the examples. 2) Embeddedness. The initiative was embedded in a national policy which forced all leaders to agree on the need to change waste management practices in order to close dumpsites. The agreement at the subdistrict level provided the village heads with the backing against any opposition to change within his/her own village. However, the policies at higher levels should outline goals and leave implementation details to be decided through participatory processes at the ground level. 3) Rewarding. People wanted to do good things as long as the actions were not too difficult, as can be seen in the stepwise approach. The behavioral changes could be reinforced through non-monetary rewards which should be reviewed periodically. As most households now get the green flag, it is under a discussion to add a new tier of recognition to promote the 6 aspects of mayor’s new and integrative policy. 24

This report is commissioned by Ngao Tambon Municipality. For more information, please contact [email protected]