Get to know Thailand’s Scrap and waste recycling market

First, Scrap or Waste in Thailand can be divided into 4 categories.

No.1    Municipal solid waste (daily consumable waste),
started to BAN for importing the municipal solid waste since Jan 2020.

No.2    Plastic waste,
It can be imported to recycle or re-producing into plastic pellets in order to supply to manufacturer again, this is under controlled of Department of Industrial.

No.3    Electronics waste,
It has been categorizing into 430 items of Electronics waste of which controlled by the HS-CODE (tariff) for each.

No.4    Paper waste,
Generated from the production process of packaging factories or publishers (pre-consumed papers) and general used papers.

Second, there are 5 groups of Stakeholders
in Thailand’s scrap
and waste recycling market.

    1. Saleng group* (Tri-cycle collectors or individual collectors)

    2. Collectors group

    3. Recycling yard or Packer group

    4. Paper and Pulp mill group

    5. Governments (ex. DBD, DFT, Customs, Department of Industrial and etc.)

Note:
1. Saleng group is under the control of Thai Recycle Trader Trade Association since May 2020.
2. We, DST is classified as No.2 group.

Thai Recycle Trader Trade Association

Supply Chain of waste papers consist in Thailand

Flow of Supply Chain of waste papers in Thailand

Demands of waste papers

Year 2017: Imported 1.5 million MT of waste papers

Year 2018: Imported 1.4 million MT of waste papers and overall consumption


Overall consumption of waste papers in 2018

Year 2019: Imported 1.8 million MT of waste papers and overall consumption


Overall consumption of waste papers in 2019

Record of the imported waste paper and average price

Thailand scrap papers import

Record of the imported waste paper during 2017-2019 (Jan. – Nov.)

Note: Volume in Million MT per year, Price is in Million Thai Baht. (based on DFT’s data)

If you would like to learn more about Thailand’s scrap and waste papers situation, please feel free to drop us a message at sales@daiwashiryotrading.com