Refrigerator hulks and isolation, old TVs, metal scrap parts, and various sorts of plastic casking. All covered with acrid smoke and pungent stench from illegal burn-for-cash 'recycling' everywhere. 'To generate extra income, farmers in Tambon Khok Sa-at in Kalasin have been collecting and separating discarded electronic products, or e-waste, in between harvests since 1996,' states the Bangkok Post in an 2021 article mentioning Arnika's contributions to the local environmental strive. However, the battle flames on just like toxic bonfires. 'They do it at night while most people are sleeping, and everyone has to breathe in the smoke,' claim the residents of Khok Sa-ad (literally, “Cleanly Hill”), a sub-district of Khongchai district in Kalasin province. See the pictures taken there by the Ecological Alert and Recovery-Thailand (EARTH) experts in January 2022.
Read more:
Bankgok Post: Waste not, want not
The Isaan Report: Kalasin’s burning e-waste dump needs a legal fix
Khaosod English: Tons More Toxic Waste Found as Import Ban Raised
PHOTOS: Karnt Thassanaphak / EARTH
