Confirmation of the shutdown came at a meeting chaired by Phuket City Deputy Mayor Suphot La-ongphet on Monday (Nov 18).
The meeting was held to discuss with PJT Technology Co Ltd, which operates the incinerator, plans to cope with inbound trash at the Phuket Solid Waste Disposal Center in Saphan Hin while the incinerator is shut down.
The temporary closure, for a major cleanout of residual waste and an upgrade to several components at the facility, will span 30 days, from Dec 20 through to Jan 20 next year, the meeting confirmed.
During the meeting, representatives from PJT. Technology Co Ltd outlined plans for the shutdown, detailing measures to improve the incinerator machinery’s efficiency.
In response, from Dec 1 trash arriving at the waste disposal centre will be directed to new sites at the landfill recently opened to accommodate the expected large volume of inbound trash.
The inbound waste will continue to be directed to the new landfill sites until Jan 31 next year, the meeting confirmed.
Last week Phuket City Municipality, which oversees operations at the Phuket Solid Waste Disposal Center, opened Pit 4 and Pit 5 and the Saphan Hin landfill. (See stories here and here.)
Pit 3 was closed due to the foul odour emanating from the site affecting nearby residents.
While overseeing the closure of Pit 3 and the opening of Pits 4 and 5, Deputy Mayor Suphot repeated that the incinerator, when working, has the capacity to burn only 700 tonnes of trash a day.
In early November Mr Suphot estimated 1,100 tonnes of trash were being delivered to Saphan Hin each day. By last week he said that number had grown to 1,400 tonnes of trash a day.
The volume of trash arriving at Saphan Hin is expected to only increase as the tourism high season begins, Deputy Mayor Suphot said.
Late last month Phuket City Municipality inked a deal to pay more than B511 million for PJT Technology to keep operating the island’s only working public incinerator for the next 15 years.
A new incinerator is to be built at Saphan Hin with the capacity to burn no less than 500 tonnes of solid waste each day, while producing 9.9 megawatts of electrical power to be sold back to the local power grid.
However, that new incinerator is not expected to be complete for another two years, and by that time will increase the island’s incineration capacity to 1,200 tonnes a day ‒ already less than the volume of trash being delivered to Saphan Hin each day now.