Carbon Footprint Assessment of Solid Waste Management in Cultural Tourism Sites: Case Study PhraMahathatWoramahaviharn Temple

Abstract

Tourism industry is the main industry to generate revenue for Thailand, but often causes environmental problems, especially the problem of waste management. Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan temple, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, registered as a world heritage site, is also facing this problem. Solid waste management is one of the criteria for consideration of World Heritage Site. Greenhouse gases from solid waste management are emitted from waste generation source to waste disposal site. The purpose of this study is to explore the current situation of solid waste management and assess the carbon footprint of solid waste management according to the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) model. The model considers the occurrence of solid waste as well as disposal. data collection, and was carried out from December 2018 to January 2020 in the core zone and the buffer zone, according to the world heritage registration guidelines for Phra Mahathat Woramahaviharn temple. The results showed that the average volume of solid waste in the core zone and buffer zone during traditional festivals were 155.56±115.36 and 147.34±46.42 kg per day, respectively. In non-traditional festival, the volume of solid waste was of 775.07±39.80 and 46.01±9.89 kg per day, respectively. The main components were food waste, plastics, paper and glass. Solid waste management was carried out by hiring private companies to collect and transport the waste to open dumping site. The core area had a carbon footprint of solid waste management of 834.11 and 401.66 kgCO₂-eq/day in traditional festivals and non-traditional festival, respectively. The buffer zone area had a carbon footprint of solid waste management of 900.23 and 285.84 kgCO₂-eq in traditional festival and non-traditional festival, respectively. Open dumping had the largest share (98%) in the carbon footprint due to greenhouse gases emission from the dumping site.