The Public Participatory Process in Community Waste Management under the Supervision of Tha Kok Daeng Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Seka District, Bueng Kan Province

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the public participatory process in waste
management and levels of public participation in waste management under the supervision of Tha
Kok Daeng Subdistrict Administrative Organization, Seka District, Bueng Kan Province. The sample
included 334 household representatives in Tha Kok Daeng Subdistrict, whereby the data were
collected by using the questionnaire. The other group of sample included 5 administrators of Tha Kok
Daeng Subdistrict Administrative Organization and 5 members of the Waste Management Working
Committee, whereby the data were collected by the interview. The data analysis was made by using
the descriptive content analysis.
The findings of the study revealed that the public participation in community waste
management in Tha Kok Daeng Subdistrict was at a moderate level. The public participation was at a
high level in reusing materials/products, at a moderate level in recycling materials/products, and at a
moderate level in reducing use of materials/products.
Regarding the participatory process in community waste management of Tha Kok Daeng
Subdistrict Administrative Organization, the findings were as follows: Regarding giving information, the
information had been given by holding meetings with the village heads, providing information and
environmental problems to general public via the village broadcasting tower; Regarding listening to
opinions, the public hearings and training courses were available; Regarding strengthening roles,
people were appointed as the committee members in association with Subdistrict Administrative
Organization to be in charge of waste management in the village; Regarding the participatory process,
the waste bank was established and people were encouraged to become members, as well as
determined the operational guideline; and regarding people’s empowerment, the operations were
promoted in the form of the Subdistrict Committee and the Village Waste Bank Working Committee.
As for the past operations, it was found that responsible persons and general public had lacked
knowledge and understanding about waste management according to the concept of reduce, sort
out, and reuse in order to tackle the community waste problems. Therefore, the development of the
participatory process in the future should be carried out by building networks for knowledge
exchange, learning, and work integration, as well as holding training courses to ensure accurate
knowledge, and arranging activities to motivate general public to have more participation.