Plastic Rubbish Everywhere

[samtam]

The aftermath of an "uprooted slum" must surely have something to do with ownership. If you have no "interest" in a place, no responsibilities, no legal ties, maybe this is the way you behave towards your environment. I don't know, I've never experienced it, so I think it's perhaps a bit harsh to criticise that, however unsightly, and however morally wrong. In a third world country such as Thailand, where the very poor are treated with little respect and rights, it probably is easy to think that litter is an issue that is not going to affect a household's social behaviour.

[Mobi]

A few ad hoc observations:

Back in the 1950's - when I was a kid in England growing up in England, we weren't anywhere near as enviromentally aware as we are today. I distinctly remember a lot of rubbish dumped all over the place, and the bins were terrible cess pots - no black bags - just open bins that the poor bin men had to empty into dreadfully smelly trucks. And in the summer there were flies everywhere.

Then the government launched a campaign entitlked "Keep Britain Tidy" and there was extensive PR on the radio, the fledgling TV and in the cinemas and press for the best part of a generation. By the time the sixties arrived - along with all the plastic bags and other new age garbage etc, most people were aware of the need to dispose of rubbish properly. But it wasn't always that way - believe you me.

Up until the mid seventies, plastic bags did not exist in Thailand. Food was wrapped in leaves (bio disposable), 7/11 's did not exist and soft drinks were sold in bottles that were always re-cycled. No cans, no plastic: the main scourges of today's Thailand.

On New year's day I took my family (six adults from England) to a beach on a small island near Koh Sri Chang. The beach was beautiful, but was knee deep in rubbish. My niece and her husband spent 2 hours cleaning the beach. After about an hour, some Thais who lived there, grabbed some bins and joined in the work. The result was a lovely clean beach - but for how long?

I live near a Thai village, about 15 kms East of Pattaya. There are 2 local markets within walking distance. The amount of rubbish that is dumped along the roadside on the way to my house is unblievable. Yet amazingly, it is periodically cleaned - by free lance rubbish collectors who come along and pile everything into boxes strapped to ancient motorcycles - and take it away for re-cycling.

I firmly believe that if the government of the day started a campaign along the lines of "If you love your country - keep it clean" we would see very rapid results. They could run the campaign in the schools, on TV and radio and in the cinemas and press. It wouldn't cost much as they own so much media and the treachers could include invironmental awareness sessions in the schools. All it takes is a bit of effort and education, and point out the harm they are doing to their beloved land.

But I guess this 'Dad's Army' has other, more important priorities.

Edited January 11, 2007 by Mobi D'Ark

[simon43]

I'm sure if HM the King told everyone to clean the place up - and to keep it clean, then we would have a pristine country.

I can only hope!

Simon

[Filer]

A good post by Simon43.

This topic is right up on my list of Thai agrivations. Leading by example is I believe the only real option. I've organized a couple of clean ups and I've also gone around collecting broken glass on beaches. Many Thais are willing join in when they see a foreigner picking up trash.

Re broken glass on beach, before I came more permanently to Phuket, I once stayed at a well known upmarket boutique hotel on one of the beaches. I was amazed that the Thai hotel staff made no effort to keep the small stretch of beach right in front of the hotel clean. They "claimed" it as their own, arranged the hotel sun beds there, and so on, but never cleaned the beach - contrary to what some of the adjacent larger more mass hotels did. One day there was broken glass very visible on the beach, right where you entered it from the hotel steps. Nobody cleared it. Whose fault? I consider it the fault of that hotel's management (farang, incidentally), for not setting and maintaining standards. I think that it's very difficult to generalise about who's guilty for Phuket's various rubbish problems, but I do think that we farangs out to be trying to make a contribution (by example) whenever we can. I never went to that hotel again. It still has the problems - and the farang management.