Fined For Littering

[jdinasia]

Littering should be fined with 10,000 baht!

It shows a lot of disrespect to the country we are in.

Thailand is one of the most proper and clean countries in the world.

Thais don't litter, so let us take an example of them!

Have you BEEN to thailand yet? If so have you looked around?

[AlexLah]

Do as the Japanese.

If you go out and you are a smoker carry with you a portable ashtray.

Could be something like a very small jewelery box.

BKK is already dirty enough.

Sorry forgot to add something.

If you do not have portable ashtray just put your finished ciggie back in your ciggie box/pack.

[mark lamai]

ummm .. but

bangkoks rubbish disposal system is simple.

everyone put the rubbish in the gutter

every morning the sweepers and trucks collect it.

thats why there are no public rubbish bins.

throwing your butt/rubbish in the gutter is the correct thing to do

'when in rome etc..

just don't let a copper see you..

[Sing_Sling]

I don't see a problem with fines for littering . . . try it here in Singapore . . . 2000baht? Try a minimum of SGD$500 and a few days in an orange jumpsuit cleaning the streets.

Police state? Hardly.

I was in KL last week . . . walked to the shops from the hotel and stepped in chewing gum. Can't say I miss the crap all over the streets.

The difference is that Singapore have the bins to put it in.

How do you really enforce a law if you do not provide an alternative?

I do see your point, it is easier having a bin very 10 metres, but why throw the rubbish on the street in the first place?

[KireB]

Excuses for my cynical post!

[AlexLah]

It is very simple na.

Do not throw anyting on the street.

Any waste you have just take home an throw it in your garbage bin if there is no public bin available.

Is that so difficult to understand?

You have a brain please use it.

Alex

[TAWP]

If you just would come and tell that to our neighbours!

Seems like everyone in this area think that any small plot of land not occupied with a house or wall is designated land-fill.

[Tony Clifton]

Littering should be fined with 10,000 baht!

It shows a lot of disrespect to the country we are in.

Thailand is one of the most proper and clean countries in the world.

Thais don't litter, so let us take an example of them!

I didn't know this forum had a braille feature.

[IMA_FARANG]

An English couple I met today in Bangkok have just been fined 1000 Baht for dropping a cigarette on Sukhumvit Road which I find quite amazing seeing as they have taken away all the rubbish bins, but on the other hand what easy pickings, just follow a Farang with a can of Coke.

I don't live there, but I seem to recall that there are signs posted about littering.

Ever forget to flush a public toilet in Singapore?

It was either a 25 or 50 Singapore dollar fine as I recall.

Signs are posted.

[basjke]

Yes it is ofcourse legal to fine someone for littering.

I always make sure i drop my cigarette butts down the drain, someone told me i should not do this as it's classed as polluting a waterway and the fine is even more excesive, not sure about that though as if thats the case you could be fined for flushing a dump down the toilet.

excactly what happened to me a few years ago outside siam square.My cigaret finished and no trash bins around what i have to do?put the burning cigaret in my pocket?So I decided to drop it inside such a drain cover.Next second a uniformed guy who escorted me to to the opposite side of sukhumvith and they asked me 1000 baht for dropping my cigaret on the street.I replied that I didn't drop anything on the street but properly dissposed it in the sewage.Oh they said pollution of the waterways thats 2000.Finaly got away with 200 baht fine with a receipt.

I agree that littering is bad and that there must be a law for it but at least they should put trash bins around,and even now it gets worse by taking away those few trash bins that were there.If you go to singapore for example you will have to walk not more then 100 meters to find a trash bin.

[Pepe']

Littering is nasty hands down.

Which is worse though littering or not punishing Thais and targeting farangs.

What message does it send to Thais or farangs.

It's an academic question I guess...

[tutsiwarrior]

Arlo Guthrie nearly got put in jail for litterin'...de cops put him onna bench wid father rapers...

and...why should cops be concerned about cigarette butts when BKK is one ob de most filthy cities inna world? just an excuse to fleece falangs...cop: hey, no litterin'...falang wid Mr 9mm: hey, mind yer own business...a film concept for Mr Quentin Tarantino...

[Livinginexile]

These guys are not the police!!

Their uniform is allmost exactly the same but you can tell them apart because they have no gun.

They work with the stall sellers, as soon as one of them sees you drop litter they call the "litter police" and they get a kickback.

Thai people are never fined!!!

[jezchesters]

I remember this law coming in in 2000, I think. The cops have been targetting foreigners since it came in. I'm pretty sure it's a Bangkok bye-law so it only applies in Bangkok. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. The police follow foreigners, particularly those who are smoking, and wait for the inevitable opportunity to bust them. They used to have little leaflets in 3 languages, Thai, Japanese and English stating the 2000 Baht fine. Never heard of any Thais getting busted but seen plenty of locals littering.

The law actually came in early 1997 - they set up little cop stations every few hundred yards down Suk Road advertising the fact in both Thai and English... I believe the fine was 1,500B at the time but I used to laugh at the amount of farang who didn't think that it applied to them and became indignant when the fine was duely imposed - eejits! You wouldn't do it at home - why do it here?

[jezchesters]

These guys are not the police!!

Their uniform is allmost exactly the same but you can tell them apart because they have no gun.

They work with the stall sellers, as soon as one of them sees you drop litter they call the "litter police" and they get a kickback.

Thai people are never fined!!!

Read the above post...

It has been the law and enforced (sporadically) for the last ten years...

Just because you don't agree with something, doesn't mean that it can't be enforced...

[JRinger]

Learn to read and write the language of the country that you live in and then you would not be illiterate people here.

It might be less painful paying a fine if the practice wasn't focused on farang and was being promoted in other parts of the country instead of a small, convenient strip on Sukhumvit. Take a look at the rest of the country, plastic bags and garbage everywhere.

[jezchesters]

Learn to read and write the language of the country that you live in and then you would not be illiterate people here.

It might be less painful paying a fine if the practice wasn't focused on farang and was being promoted in other parts of the country instead of a small, convenient strip on Sukhumvit. Take a look at the rest of the country, plastic bags and garbage everywhere.

Sorry mate - a by-law is a by-law, whether it is applied selectively or universally. A simple point - you are aware that if you litter you leave yourself open to being fined - so don't do it!

There isn't a country in the world where ignorance of the law is an acceptable defence, so why do you think it is here?

*Edited coz I can't be arsed to explain the difference between laws, by-laws, law-makers and law-enforcers* (or in-laws)

[LoveDaBlues]

Littering should be fined with 10,000 baht!

It shows a lot of disrespect to the country we are in.

Thailand is one of the most proper and clean countries in the world.

Thais don't litter, so let us take an example of them!

This is either a troll post or the poster doesn't actually live in LOS. Thais don't litter........

[LoveDaBlues]

You can drop off a dead body in Udon and not be fined for littering. I hate the tourist areas.

[billd766]

IMHO littering is actually a family thing.

If a child sees its parents throwing trash everywhere then it will assume that it the normal thing and as the child grows up it will do the same.

My first son in the UK was taught to put rubbish in the bin from an early age and he still carries a trash bag in the car for his rubbish and changes it regularly.

My second son who is Thai mostly either puts his trash in the bin at home or gives it to me to dispose of.

Teach the children and they will teach the adults, after all the children will have to live in the future what we throw away in the present.

To all the posters who are complaining that there are no trash bins on Sukhumvit, why not go into a shop and ask nicely if you can put your trash in their bin or even take a trash bag along with you.

Having lived and worked in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and several other countries I can assure you that Thailand and Bangkok are among the cleaner countries in Asia.

[penguin]

Yes it is ofcourse legal to fine someone for littering.

I always make sure i drop my cigarette butts down the drain, someone told me i should not do this as it's classed as polluting a waterway and the fine is even more excesive, not sure about that though as if thats the case you could be fined for flushing a dump down the toilet.

What waterway?

If you drop a cigarette butt in a drain then it's eventually going to end up in a river or the sea. The waste from a toilet is more likely to be filtered at some point.

To save starting another topic, can anyone suggest a Thai language website where you can read about taking care of the environment e.g. explaining why dropping plastic bags and cigarette butts in the street is not a good thing?

[kmart]

Littering should be fined with 10,000 baht!

It shows a lot of disrespect to the country we are in.

Thailand is one of the most proper and clean countries in the world.

Thais don't litter, so let us take an example of them!

This is either a troll post or the poster doesn't actually live in LOS. Thais don't litter........

KireB obviously has a deliciously keen sense of irony. Either that or denial.....

[yothai]

About a year ago I had some friends over from UK and one of them dropped a cigarette butt outside Banjasiri Park, between Emporium and Soi 22. Uniformed guy on a mountain bike caught up with him and took him back to a kiosk at the park where he was asked to pay 2,000 baht for his 'crime', I went and spoke with the 'officers' and got it down to 200 baht. I posted the incident on TV and judging by the resposes, it seems that this has been happening for some time.

same happen to a friend,he was in same area,was asked for 2000baht,only gave about 300 baht,

[Livinginexile]

These guys are not the police!!

Their uniform is allmost exactly the same but you can tell them apart because they have no gun.

They work with the stall sellers, as soon as one of them sees you drop litter they call the "litter police" and they get a kickback.

Thai people are never fined!!!

Read the above post...

It has been the law and enforced (sporadically) for the last ten years...

Just because you don't agree with something, doesn't mean that it can't be enforced...

Read my post again...all I am saying is THEY ARE NOT POLICE. They have the same uniform for deceptive purposes only.

I know this law has been around for a long time but it is another "law" that only seems to be enforced on farangs.

[Eastender]

I remember picking up my (Thai) wifes litter as she dropped it in her rural village. When she came to the UK she remarked how clean it was. I had to say the obvious, 'it's because we don't drop our xxxxxxx xxxxxx on our own streets, or words to that effect.

But like most of us I grew up after a lot of national campaigning about litter in the UK, and it takes a whole nation to change. As somebody said earlier, if the King backed it things would change quickly.

And Singapore? I remember talking to a resident there about their laws. 'All it takes is one piece of chewing gum on the escalators and somebody will die'......... Bless.