Development of guidelines for the handling and treatment of oil contaminated water in industries and trades to promote environmentally friendly production and increase market opportunities in Thailand

Übersicht

Thailand has experienced big changes in recent times: undergoing an economic boom for most of the 1990’s, the country experienced fast expansion and diversification of its industry, creating economic growth. Economic growth, however, has taken its toll on the environment, where water pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems. The most common water pollutant is oil, though the contribution of industries in this respect. Today, there is increasing awareness that Thai’s economic development must be sustainable in the long-term. Under these circumstances, Thailand seems in a position to adopt measures to ensure environmentally sound production without hindering economic growth. The necessary measures to attain this objective should then shift attention towards small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which, because of their large numbers, represent the backbone of Thailand’s industrial growth (Hisatomi, 2002) and also major source of pollution in the country. The lure of export markets and of increasing production has caused many SME entrepreneurs to change their attitude towards the environment. Export-oriented enterprises are more likely to focus on meeting demanding international environmental standards so as to gain access to international markets and customers (Thorpe, 2003). A major obstacle is the costs involved in respect to training, new equipment, infrastructure improvement and the modification of current equipment and processes. However, the current trend shows an increasing interest of companies in cleaner production. This 18-month project aims at increasing market opportunities through promoting environmentally friendly production in Thailand through proper handling/treatment of oil-contaminated water. Practice-oriented, guidelines, applicable to a wide range of industries, a training course and a distance-learning module (DLM) will be developed in collaboration between scientists and those working in industry in Thailand and Europe.