Development of Legislation on the Management of Agrochemical Packaging Waste

Abstract

This research article aims to study legal problems concerning the management of agrochemical packaging waste in Thailand and to identify solutions for developing laws on agrochemical packaging waste management in a systematic and sustainable manner. The study employed qualitative research methods by collecting data through documentary research and in-depth interviews, and analyzing the data using content analysis techniques. The findings revealed that laws related to agrochemical packaging waste management, such as the Public Cleanliness and Orderliness Act B.E. 2535, the Public Health Act B.E. 2535, and the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act B.E. 2535, have structural problems that create a gap between “industrial waste” and “municipal waste”. As a result, used agrochemical packaging becomes toxic or hazardous municipal solid waste, which is subject to neither penalties nor control mechanisms as stringent as those applicable to industrial waste, and the legal structure emphasizes end-of-pipe responses by assigning management responsibilities to local authorities and the public, without any provision enforcing the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), under which producers are required to take responsibility for collecting their own products. In addition, the laws have problems with ambiguous definitions that do not clearly and specifically cover agrochemical packaging waste, the absence of provisions prohibiting consumers from discarding controlled agrochemical packaging waste and requiring them to deliver it through legally designated channels, and the absence of provisions requiring producers to take back agrochemical packaging waste and properly and safely destroy or dispose of the returned agrochemical packaging waste in accordance with prescribed standards. There are also problems concerning the powers and duties of local administrative organizations (LAOs) in managing agrochemical packaging waste, as well as the absence of provisions requiring LAOs to establish agrochemical packaging waste collection centers. Therefore, systematic solutions for management from upstream to downstream should include promoting the enactment of the Draft Sustainable Packaging Management Act B.E. …. (EPR law) or a specific law on agrochemical packaging waste management, establishing an agrochemical packaging fund financed by producers, implementing a deposit-refund system, establishing easily accessible collection points at agrochemical retailers and local administrative organizations, as well as enforcing and promoting the Triple Rinsing standard and linking it with GAP standards for farmers, and establishing a dedicated transportation system and destroying agrochemical packaging waste through high-temperature treatment.