Smoke on Thai beaches this high season and face jail or 100,000 baht fine

[Mattd]

28 minutes ago, jackdd said:

Smoking at restaurants is forbidden

Only air conditioned ones 

[chickenslegs]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Environment ministry expert Jatuporn Burutphat said that studies - particularly one in Phuket - showed that cigarette butts made up a major proportion of all trash on beaches and in the sea. Surveys revealed up to 138,000 butts on each 2.5 kilometer stretch of Thai coast.

 

That would be an average of over 55 cigarette butts per linear metre, which seems unlikely.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I agree that everyone should NOT be littering the country or the beaches.

 

But I kinda wonder, how many beach smoking Thais are going to be given 100,000 baht fines?  Or is it possible, that Thais are not particularly the target of this little initiative?

 

Of course, there's also this belly laugher for the morning...

 

Quote

Authorities will be on hand to enforce the law, he said.

Since when???

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

Excellent! Foreign smokers who reject this sensible regulation can stay in their own country to smoke cigarettes on their own beaches (if it is not rightly banned there also) polluting the sea with filthy ash and wastes, and foisting their passive smoke and odour on their own people.

 

 

 

 

[Charlie1]

Guns and plastics of all kinds are encouraged to walk around with though!

[jackdd]

10 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Only air conditioned ones 

What i found on google: http://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/legislation/country/thailand/summary

"Non-air conditioned facilities serving food and/or drinks are smoke free only in the areas where food and/or drinks are served."

In a restaurant / bar the food and drinks are usually served everywhere, so this would mean smoking there is forbidden.

[bacwan]

I wonder how much time one would have to serve for smoking on the beach.

 

Will the jails be full of tourists who simply don't have 100,000 Baht ?

[Mattd]

1 minute ago, jackdd said:

What i found on google: http://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/legislation/country/thailand/summary

"Non-air conditioned facilities serving food and/or drinks are smoke free only in the areas where food and/or drinks are served."

In a restaurant / bar the food and drinks are usually served everywhere, so this would mean smoking there is forbidden.

Interesting, though in reality 99% of bars / restaurants allow smoking, air con or not!

[Proud Father]

FAIL.   100,000 baht fine for public littering in Thailand or year in jail, epic fail.  Where do they conjure up these numbers from? 24,000 baht is googles number for a Thai average monthly income, think about it?   Amazing Thailand!  

 

lets put some perspective here, this company could possibly face two fines if found guilty each fine amounting to 200,000 baht, no jail time.   

AN ETHANOL factory in Suphan Buri will face several lawsuits for alleged violations of environmental and industrial laws as a result of its wastewater reservoirs being breached, severely polluting a large area spanning three districts in Suphan Buri province.

 

You fine motorcyclist for no helmets, license. being on a motorbike at a money grab checkpoint near you, treat the litterbugs the same way all around the city.  Its a lot easier to train the police on littering than the highway safety act.  I only have one question, where will the money go?  Those 138,000 cigarette butts per mile are not going to clean themselves up are they or all the butts that get washed into the waters from all the storm/ sewer drains around the city 50 meters away from the beaches.   

 

You are too fine without impunity the working class people, Let's see some larger thinking and go after the Tabacco companies to fine, clean up,  and remove the filters.  I dare you...

 

This is bringing fond memories of the Russian Lady who had one too many pieces of bread in her lunch box that day in the boat, now I understand where they got this idea from....Where does the money go....WAKE UP THAILAND!!!

[soistalker]

Smokers are the worst sort. But this is a farang tax. How the f*^k are you going to fine a Thai 100,000 baht for throwing a ciggie butt and 500 baht for stabbing a farang?! 

[Samui Bodoh]

I went 'Cold Turkey' three and a half weeks ago, and it has been three and a half weeks of HELL!

 

But, I have done it.

 

Make it 200,000 Baht!

 

Yours smugly...

 

 

[Kadilo]

Ridiculous OTT fine and threat of prison, almost as ridiculous as all the foreigners saying they take car of all their dog ends.


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[overherebc]

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

Of course as people mentioned before all littering should be addressed at all places, not just cigarettes at the beach (and of course the government / shops etc. should be responsible to put enough trash cans), but that's at least a start. And besides of the littering aspect i also don't want to smell the smoke of the cigarettes, so i welcome this step

In Japan recently and smoking is banned almost everywhere. However they do have smoking 'stations' around and all I had to do was walk 100 yards to find one. Not too difficult really.

Special bins for the cigarette butts etc that were emptied/cleared regularly.

It's not that difficult to do.

[Mickmouse1]

How about going into the water n smoke there??

[carmine]

Just unbelievable!  You just couldn't make this stupidity up.

[JonnyF]

It's not a bad idea in the eating areas where they have all the tables and umbrellas. It's pretty annoying when your food arrives and the guy in the chair behind you lights up, letting his smoke and ash blow wherever the sea breeze takes it. It's the equivalent of sitting next to someone who stinks of B.O on a flight.

 

Away from the eating areas I think it's pretty silly. Just another law they can use to extort money when they are short of cash at the end of the month.

 

 

 

[nasa123]

And here you can se Jet-ski mafian on Kata Beach in Phuket some parking illegal every day, And the Police in Karon Police Station give a sh..t Whay ?? Money talk here.

 

 

[observer90210]

Perhaps this could give an urge to stop the vapour e-cigarette hunt, as these devices don't carry butts !!

[AGareth2]

1 hour ago, 300sd said:

Tourists are singled out again. Upholding the littering laws is all they had to do.

the problem is that there are not enough bins

[soistalker]

9 minutes ago, overherebc said:

In Japan recently and smoking is banned almost everywhere. However they do have smoking 'stations' around and all I had to do was walk 100 yards to find one. Not too difficult really.

Special bins for the cigarette butts etc that were emptied/cleared regularly.

It's not that difficult to do.

But the Japanese are different than other Asians. They follow the rules. 

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Non smoker here!!

 

I'm glad I can still throw away my plastic bags and bottles from 7 without any penalty.

 

Suckers!

[Boon Mee]

Do people still smoke cigarettes? 

[Pesche]

Oh yes,

Indeed cigarette butts are pollutant...

"Secret Beach" on Ko Lanta yesterday!

[grabue]

Perfect idea

[balo]

100 000 baht fine ? Sorry something is completely wrong here.  You can get away with murder for under 50k .  

 

A Thai smoking on the beach will never be able to afford 100k , so imo this will end up as a scam operation , just like the jet ski scam .  Pay 100k or we send you to jail.

This must be a part of the "Go home Farang" campaign 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kieran00001]

2 hours ago, petedk said:

Replace the words  "cigarette butt" with "plastic bags/bottles" and maybe Thailand could do something about environmental pollution.

 

I don't smoke, but I can imagine that an ordinary cigarette would disappear quite quickly as tobacco and paper are organic. Filters on the other hand may be more difficult to get rid of.

 

Also, I have noticed that most places that have deck chairs provide ash trays for the customers.

 

I have a feeling that this is just another way to sting the farangs.

 

Edit: Sorry, I didn't see the bit about Cadmium and lead the first time I read the article.

 

Just one filter has the ability to kill half the fish in one liter of water.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088407/

[AGareth2]

Sit by the sea and relax, fined 100k and threatened with Gaol

Vietnam here we come

[soistalker]

Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia...why do they make littering like a sporting event? 

[Kieran00001]

6 minutes ago, Pesche said:

Oh yes,

Indeed cigarette butts are pollutant...

"Secret Beach" on Ko Lanta yesterday!

 

That's quite naive, pollution is not the large bits of plastic that you find unattractive, they are largely harmless apart from to the odd large animal that may eat them, it is the smaller bits and the leachate  that does the most damage, the leachate from cigarette butts doing massive damage to marine wildlife.

[Kieran00001]

2 minutes ago, AGareth2 said:

Sit by the sea and relax, fined 100k and threatened with Gaol

Vietnam here we come

 

Yeah, because you have the God given right to pollute, right?