Toxic Flood Debris Overwhelms Hat Yai: Cleanup and Waste-to-Energy Plan

The stench arrived before the garbage trucks did. In every direction, Hat Yai’s roads are lined with sodden sofas, busted refrigerators and crates of spoiled durian. What began as a flood has morphed into a public‐health race against time—and locals say the clock is ticking louder than the engines of the 100-plus trucks now crawling through the streets.

Situation Snapshot

• 1 M t of mixed debris still waiting for removal

• Hydrogen sulphide levels high enough to trigger headaches in some areas

• Ko Taeo waste-to-energy plant slated to fire up next week, capacity 500 t/day

• Authorities promise a “Big Cleaning” within 14 days; residents remain skeptical

• No household sorting required—officials will separate waste at temporary depots

Streets Turned into Unofficial Dump Sites

Markets that once dazzled tourists with southern Thai flavors now reek of rotting meat, fermented fruit and damp plywood. Kim Yong, Phaeng Thong and a dozen smaller bazaars have pushed their unsalvageable stock onto pavements, creating shoulder-high walls of refuse. Buses detour around blankets of plastic shards, swollen mattresses and water-logged electronics. Local shopkeeper Somchai Ruangsilp tells us his store lost half its inventory; the rest now sits in a pile “larger than my shop ever was.”

Moving a Mountain, One Truck at a Time

Hat Yai Municipality has drafted in fleets from the Provincial Administrative Organisation, Royal Irrigation Department and Disaster Prevention Ministry, boosting daily haulage to roughly 11,000 t. Even at that pace, municipal engineers concede they have cleared barely 20 % of what residents dumped curbside. Drone images show a 10-rai trash mesa at Saphan Dam intersection, the city’s main staging ground. From there, excavators top-load rubbish into six-wheel lorries for the 30 km run to Ko Taeo. Officials estimate a full clean-up will require round-the-clock shifts for at least two months, far longer than the one-week goal first announced.

When Bad Smells Become a Health Risk

Public‐health teams wearing N95 masks, goggles and Tyvek suits patrol hotspots where hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and methane build up fastest. Prolonged exposure, they warn, can inflame eyes and lungs, while piles of moist waste breed leptospirosis, skin infections and dengue-bearing mosquitoes. Crews spray microbial solutions every few hours, an effort that tones down odours but cannot eliminate them. Street vendors report sales plunging as customers steer clear of what one doctor calls an “open‐air Petri dish.”

Where the Trash Will End Up—and Why It Matters

By next Tuesday, the 500 t/day waste-to-energy furnace at Ko Taeo should ignite its first load, converting part of the backlog into electricity for 4,000 households. Non-combustible debris will be diverted into RDF pellets for SCG’s cement kilns or, as a last resort, sanitary landfills. Environmental groups applaud the shift away from open dumping but caution that proper segregation—hazardous vs. organic vs. recyclable—remains patchy. For now, officials have suspended the normal “three-bin” rule to speed collection, promising to sort mechanically at the plant.

Lessons for the Rest of Thailand

Meteorologists link this year’s deluge to the most intense northeast monsoon surge in a decade—an omen for other flood-prone cities like Nakhon Si Thammarat, Ubon Ratchathani and Chiang Mai’s lowlands. Disaster planners say Hat Yai’s experience underscores three takeaways: build higher-capacity drainage, pre-contract mobile incinerators and stockpile bio-digestive enzymes before storms hit. Bangkok’s City Hall has already ordered an audit of its own waste routes in response.

What Residents Can Do Right Now

Seal porous items—like cotton, foam and chipboard—in double plastic to limit gas release.

Keep drinking water containers covered; airborne bacteria and mould spores are rampant.

Avoid parking near temporary dumps; acidic leachate can corrode brake lines.

If dizziness or nausea occurs, ring the 1669 emergency line—symptoms may signal toxic-gas exposure.

The Road Ahead

Officials insist Hat Yai will “smell like itself” by mid-month. Yet veterans of the 2010 and 2017 floods remember similar pledges that stretched on for weeks. Until trucks outnumber trash heaps, the city’s recovery will be measured less in centimetres of receding water and more in tonnes of refuse finally disappearing from view.