Toxic waste mountains threaten Southeast Asia's booming megacities

A blaze at a vast rubbish dump made up of six million tonnes of putrefying trash and toxic effluent has kindled fears that poor planning and lax law enforcement are tipping Thailand towards a waste crisis.

Locals had long pressed for the closure of the foul-smelling Praeksa landfill site, wedged between a cluster of industrial estates on the fringes of Bangkok.

But a ferocious eight-day fire that cloaked the capital's eastern suburbs in poisonous smoke earlier this year thrust Praeksa to the heart of a national debate over rubbish.

Bangkok - a sprawling city of 12 million and counting - produces around 10,000 tonnes of waste a day, a substantial portion of the 27 million tonnes generated each year across the kingdom.

The ruling junta has put waste disposal high on its to-do list, but Thailand is not alone.

From Jakarta's Bantar Gebang dump to Manila's "smoky mountain", open landfills blight Southeast Asia's booming megacities, as urban planners labour to keep pace with rapid urbanisation and industrial growth.

Experts warn those dumps are an environmental and health time bomb.