Greening supply chain management of the drinking water sector in Thailand | |
| Author | Wipawee Kerdsawang |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-16-23 |
| Subject(s) | Green products. Drinking water. Drinking water----Thailand Bottled water----Thailand Bottled water industry--Thailand |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. EV-16-23 |
| Abstract | Over 95 percent of Thailand’s population have access to improved drinking water in their daily life. With the rising concern of global climate change, drinking water service has responsibility to reduce the potential environmental impacts. Since consumption of bottled water in Thailand has been increased significantly, environmental impacts from production activities are increased. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate environmental impacts of bottled water production compare with tap water and alternative drinking water production. Carbon Footprint and Water Footprint were used as a parameter to indicate environmental impact from greenhouse gas emission and water use in each process as well as Life Cycle Assessment method which can evaluated others environmental impacts from production process. Tap water study was conducted in two water treatment plants of Metropolitan Waterworks Authority. Data in 2013 and 2014 was collected for evaluation. Bottled water produced from tap water and spring water was studied from secondary data. Additionally, alternative drinking water from water fountain machine and water drinking machine were considered. The results presented that bottled water production had a highest carbon footprint and water footprint. Carbon footprints were 505 kg CO₂ e/m³ in bottled water produced from tap water and 743 kg CO₂ e/m³ in bottled water produced from spring water. While, water footprint were 6.3 m³/ m³ in bottled water produced from spring water and 9.5 m³/m³ in bottled water produced from tap water. The dominant part of carbon footprint and water footprint was electricity consumption in bottle and cap fabrication which generated 77% of total carbon footprint and over 90% of total water footprint. Therefore, environmental impacts generated from bottled water production can be reduced from applying green activities into production process like reducing of plastic material use and using cleaner fuel for transportation. |
| Year | 2016 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Visvanathan, C.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Shipin, Oleg V. ;Gheewala, Shabbir; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Thai Government;Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2016 |