Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategies (APEIS) Research on Innovative and Strategic Policy Options (RISPO) Good Practices Inventory Promoting Better Environmental Performance of a Tannery Cluster through Shared Wastewater Treatment Facilities Summary of the Practice Keywords: Shared facilities, cluster, wastewater, tannery Strategy: Improving environmental performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) Environmental areas: Waste management, climate change Critical instruments: Awareness/capacity building, Economic instruments, Organisational arrangement, Regulatory instruments, Technologies Country: Thailand Location: Samutprakarn Participants: Department of Industrial Works (DIW), Thai Tanning Industry Association (TTIA), tanneries Duration: 1950s–present Funding: Self-funding Background: Industrial structure The tanning industry in Thailand was first established over 60 years ago and is regarded as one of the country’s oldest industries. In a nutshell, the tanning industry is the only industry in Thailand to be located in a single industrial estate. According to the Department of Industrial Works (DIW), there are 146 tanneries in Thailand, over 90 percent of which are SMEs, and it employs over 150,000 workers. The majority of tanning factories in Thailand are concentrated in the Samutprakarn tanning industrial area, as a result of the government’s policy to relocate industrial factories from the Klongteoy area in Bangkok, which was becoming too crowded. A few major tanneries in the Klongteoy area decided to relocate their factories to the new sites at km-30 and km-34 of Sukhumvit Road in Samutprakarn, which have since become major industrial tanning areas. The relocation of the pioneer group in the 1950s initiated the tannery cluster in Thailand. The Ministry of Industry (MOI) issued an announcement, on 29 April 1993, officially establishing the cluster as the industrial tanning area. The tanning industry plays an important role in adding value to hides and supplying leather to the footwear and leather products industry. At present, the production capacity of the industry is approximately 42.5 kilotonnes, or 18 million square metres of leather per year. Production processes The tanning process is generally comprised of three main stages: beamhouse, tanning, and finishing. The tanning process is chemical and water intensive; thus, it produces a large quantity of wastewater. Due to high water and chemical consumption, wastewater is the major environmental problem. 1 Table 1. Characteristics of wastewater generated from the tanning process. Processes 1. Beamhouse process Wastewater characteristics BOD, COD, salt, pesticides, flesh, hair, suspended solids, sulfate, ammonia, base, chloride 2. Tanning process 2.1 chrome tanning BOD, COD, salt, acid, chromium, suspended solids 2.2 vegetable tanning BOD, COD, salt, acid, tannin, oils, suspended solids 3. Finishing process BOD, COD, salt, chromium, oils, colors Source: Table 4.8, Development of Economic Tools in Industrial Environmental Management, TEI. Objectives: Relocate tanneries and develop shared water treatment facilities, with the aim of improving the environmental performance of the tanneries in terms of wastewater management and pollution control. Description of the activity: Due to wastewater discharge containing high levels of organic and inorganic substances, two central wastewater treatment plants, occupying 8.5 hectares of land, were built for the mutual benefit of the tannery factories in the area. One of the treatment plants is located at km-30 along Sukhumvit Road, while the other one is situated at km-34. These plants serve 130 tanneries in the area, with a total daily discharge of 20,000 cubic metres (m3). Both of the treatment plants are operated by the Thai Tanning Industry Association (TTIA), in which the TTIA members share the initial investment and annual operating costs. The investment cost was about U.S.$20 million, while monthly electricity bills amount to more than $50,000. Wastewater treatment of tannery effluents consists of a number of treatment processes, as presented in the flowchart below. Sedimentation pool Main sewage Chrome Sludge Figure 1. TTIA logo. Five sedimentation ponds Three aeration ponds (aerobic digestion) Three filtration ponds Sludge Drying bed Effluent 2 Critical Instruments Overview Operation of the wastewater treatment in the tannery cluster includes a number of critical instruments: awareness/capacity building, organisational arrangements, regulatory instruments, economic instruments, and technologies. Awareness/capacity-building Developing environmental awareness among the tanneries The tanneries have developed capacity building in terms of pollution management. Moreover, they also increased environmental awareness through the implementation of this programme. Economic instruments Shared operating costs The main element that drives a company to adopt a cleaner production process is to eliminate costs associated with inefficiencies within the existing process. In this case, top management identified these costs through energy audits and benchmarking. Accordingly, it can be seen that these are effective tools for an organisation to use in order to assess actual performance, which may finally lead to performance improvement as a result of identifying inefficiencies and room for improvement in business activities. Organisational arrangements Establishing the Thai Tanning Industrial Association The Thai Tanning Industrial Association (TTIA) was established as a result of the tannery cluster development after the relocation. The main reason contributing to the success of the TTIA establishment was the close relationship among the tanneries; thus, they have developed mutual trust, which helped in stimulating collaboration among them. The association plays an important role in running the wastewater treatment plants, including management and operation monitoring. The association committee is elected from among the members, and the election takes place every four years. This provides an opportunity for the members to participate equally in the association and avoid a monopoly of decision-making power. Regulatory instruments Governmental policy on industrial relocation The government’s policy to relocate industrial factories was the main reason that brought about the tannery cluster development in Samutprakarn. This is a clear illustration of how regulatory instruments affect cluster development. Government regulation can trigger development, but success also depends on other factors such as incentives, supporting measures, and relationships between industrial players. Technologies Installation of central treatment plants Wastewater treatment plants that use an aerobic digestion process effectively treat the wastewater discharged from the tanning process, which meets the effluent standards set by the government. The treatment process has been continuously improved, so as to be suitable for the increasing wastewater load in order to comply with the legislative framework. 3 Impacts • The wastewater treatment plants assist in reducing pollution loading from the tanneries in the area. According to a study by the Department of Industrial Works, the properties of wastewater discharges have significantly improved, as follows. Table 2. Properties of tannery wastewater discharge. Parameter concentration (min.-max.) Condition pH BOD Suspended solids Chromium (mg/L) (mg/L) (mg/L) Pre-treated 7.5–10.5 1,100–3,800 378–2,400 2,000–4,000 Post-treated 6.7–8.1 16.4–69 37–120 0.1–0.58 Source: Table 4.9, Development of Economic Tools in Industrial Environmental Management, TEI. Lessons Learned • The operation of the TTIA is a good illustration of effective management of shared waste treatment facilities, which can be applied to other industrial clusters. • Cluster development is not a once-off implementation; on the other hand, it needs a fundamental establishment of industrial players. This can be led by strengthening regulatory instruments and encouraging strong interrelationships between the industrial players. • Shared facilities can help in increasing overall economic efficiency through sharing of costs, personnel, and other associated resources. • Shared facilities required systematic management in order to provide equity and accessibility to all users. Potential for Application Applying shared waste treatment facilities at the cluster level requires large investment and resources. Moreover, successful operation also requires strong commitment from all users; therefore, the management of the facilities must provide equity to all members, in order to share benefits and costs equally so as to create mutual interest and trust among the members. Without this factor, this practice would be difficult to achieve. Contact Ms.Vilai Kosontrakool Manager Thai Tanning Industry Association 226 Moo 1 Sukhumvit Road (KM30) Taiban Muang Samutprakarn Thailand 10280 4 Tel (662) 703-9009-10 Fax (662) 703-8431 Web site: www.thaitanning.org E-mail: vilai@thaitanning.org Case reviewer: Tittaya Waranusantikule, Research Associate, Thailand Environment Institute (TEI), tittaya@tei.or.th Information date: 10 October 2003 5