Thai, foreign tourists urged to help reduce marine waste

supawadee wangsri

 

 

BANGKOK, 8 June 2018 (NNT) - Thai and foreign tourists were encouraged to help reduce marine waste and refrain from using products which might be harmful to the environment. 

 

Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Khowsurat said on the occasion of World Ocean Day that the solution to the problem of marine waste requires cooperation from all sectors including operators in tourism industry. 

 

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports will encourage both Thai and foreign tourists to become more responsible and will cooperate with the relevant agencies to use eco-friendly products at hotels, he said. 

 

He added that it is also necessary to encourage consumers to refrain from using products such as plastic and Styrofoam which might cause environmental problems.

 

 

-- nnt 2018-06-09

It's not marine waste... Marine waste is fish poo, which is fine.. !!

This is general household waste that ends up in the sea via drainage and rivers ?

I suggest it is also necessary to encourage venders to refrain from using products such as plastic and Styrofoam which might cause environmental problems.

Two above posts spot on, do the authorities choose the wrong words or is it the reporting .Or maybe they just dont get it.

5 minutes ago, Black arab said:

Two above posts spot on, do the authorities choose the wrong words or is it the reporting .Or maybe they just dont get it.

Don´t worry. They don´t get!

looks like Jomtien beach yesterday, will check today, been like it for 3 days, i see the guys trimming the trees, but i suppose the beach mess is not a priority. (as per usual)

5 minutes ago, Dave67 said:

I suggest it is also necessary to encourage venders to refrain from using products such as plastic and Styrofoam which might cause environmental problems.

While wholeheartedly agreeing with the idea of encouraging vendors to refrain from the use of these items, I think the reality is somewhat different.

Didn't we see an article here only a few days ago, when a food vendor interviewed in Bangkok said they had no intention of changing, and would keep using plastic bags, etc.

 

Until governments pass legislation penalising using these harmful products, the public will continue to use them due to either laziness, lack of interest in caring for the environment, cheaper to keep using plastic, etc.

 

I might as well state the obvious too: In Thailand it will be not only passing new laws restricting the use of plastic, but enforcing those same laws too.

<sigh> I wonder if I'm wasting my breath...

 

2 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

While wholeheartedly agreeing with the idea of encouraging vendors to refrain from the use of these items, I think the reality is somewhat different.

Didn't we see an article here only a few days ago, when a food vendor interviewed in Bangkok said they had no intention of changing, and would keep using plastic bags, etc.

 

Until governments pass legislation penalising using these harmful products, the public will continue to use them due to either laziness, lack of interest in caring for the environment, cheaper to keep using plastic, etc.

 

I might as well state the obvious too: In Thailand it will be not only passing new laws restricting the use of plastic, but enforcing those same laws too.

<sigh> I wonder if I'm wasting my breath...

 

Agree with that, futile to try to control the vendors packaging. TAT or TAST or whatever they are called now, are putting the responsibility of cleaning up of the beaches onto Tourists due to their own ineptness.

It might help if they addressed the full scale of the problem, which isn't just rubbish at the beaches. Every river, stream and Khlong nationwide is full of garbage. It needs a nationwide campaign of awareness to even start to slow the problem.

1 minute ago, Dave67 said:

Agree with that, futile to try to control the vendors packaging. TAT or TAST or whatever they are called now, are putting the responsibility of cleaning up of the beaches onto Tourists due to their own ineptness.

 

That's true Dave, it's a politician trying to put a spin on the issue.

 

"Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Khowsurat said...The Ministry of Tourism and Sports will....cooperate with the relevant agencies to use eco-friendly products at hotels."

 

I'll be interested to hear what concrete suggestions are made so that hotels are encouraged to change.

 

"He added that it is also necessary to encourage consumers to refrain from using products such as plastic and Styrofoam which might cause environmental problems."

 

Encouraging consumers to refrain from using plastic could be like pushing string uphill, if none of the retailers are willing to change their packaging.

I don't know if it's the way the article has been translated, but to say, "plastic and Styrofoam which might cause environmental problems," is to me almost as ludicrous as saying, 'lack of breathing might cause death'.

 

Okay, which tourist threw their hotel mattress in the khlong?

 

 

And, it's never good to take the chair out of the bar.

 

Edited June 9, 20188 yr by Darcula

Those  bluddy foreign tourists!!.

I just knew they were the main cause of this plastic  rubbish and crap everywhere, there was me "stupidly" blaming the Thais that I see throwing crap out of their car windows and off the back of their bikes round here out in the country. Those same Thais who sit on Sam Roi Yot beaches on a sunny Sunday under the trees  and leave   a million polystyrene containers and iced drink  cups there after theyve left and after theyve fed those bluddy feral dogs which then nicely crap all over the beach.......... bluddy foreigners, get rid of em!!

Edited June 9, 20188 yr by kannot

While I'm on my high horse about plastic and its effect on the environment, once again I'll post the link showing a practical way to stop producing plastic bags:

There could be a big opportunity to increase the sale of cassava here if the project in Indonesia is anything to go by, using cassava to produce biodegradable bags, looking just like a plastic bag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXklBP53VT4

(youtube won't allow embedding the video here)

 

6 minutes ago, Darcula said:

Okay, which foreign tourist threw their hotel mattress in the khlong?

You FOOL thats  a  "water bed" gawd it needs  spelling out for some folk, Thai waterbed..u no unnerstand?

Just now, bluesofa said:

While I'm on my high horse about plastic and its effect on the environment, once again I'll post the link showing a practical way to stop producing plastic bags:

There could be a big opportunity to increase the sale of cassava here if the project in Indonesia is anything to go by, using cassava to produce biodegradable bags, looking just like a plastic bag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXklBP53VT4

(youtube won't allow embedding the video here)

 

if they used paper or cardboard the termites would eat thru the lot in a few  weeks and recycle it, dont know  why they dont use it

8 minutes ago, Darcula said:

Okay, which tourist threw their hotel mattress in the khlong?

 

Nah, that's a lilo and someone's just fallen off it.

 

8 minutes ago, Darcula said:

And, it's never good to take the chair out of the bar.

 

Maybe you can take the chair out of the bar, but you can't take the bar out of the chair...

 

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

BANGKOK, 8 June 2018 (NNT) - Thai and foreign tourists were encouraged to help reduce marine waste and refrain from using products which might be harmful to the environment.

Stop producing those products, (plastic bags, food containers) and then pesky foreigners and Thais can't use them.

16 minutes ago, kannot said:

Those  bluddy foreign tourists!!.

I just knew they were the main cause of this plastic  rubbish and crap everywhere, there was me "stupidly" blaming the Thais that I see throwing crap out of their car windows and off the back of their bikes round here out in the country. Those same Thais who sit on Sam Roi Yot beaches on a sunny Sunday under the trees  and leave   a million polystyrene containers and iced drink  cups there after theyve left and after theyve fed those bluddy feral dogs which then nicely crap all over the beach.......... bluddy foreigners, get rid of em!!

Might be more productive to keep the foreigners and get rid of the feral local population and the dogs as well ….

Karon Beach yesterday. A mass of driftwood, plastic and glass bottles, flip flops, Styrofoam and general waste. Looking at some of the bottles, a lot of the trash had been washed up from Malaysia.

The no swimming sign was rather superfluous!

Sent from my BLL-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

those in charge need to put more garbage bins on the streets,

and then see to it they are emptied before they overflow.

 

only after this condition can an attitude change regarding

litter take place.

the norm has to change, right now the norm is plastic garbage

all over the place, it is not questioned, its the way it is,

cause theres no where to throw it beside on the street,

the few garbage bins are few and far in between,

and they are full since long ago

45 minutes ago, kannot said:

if they used paper or cardboard the termites would eat thru the lot in a few  weeks and recycle it, dont know  why they dont use it

Plastic is cheaper.....

2 hours ago, Dave67 said:

I suggest it is also necessary to encourage venders to refrain from using products such as plastic and Styrofoam which might cause environmental problems.

They will never improve. Lack of basic education and respect. At least BKK seems to get a bit of control on these street vendors. Pattaya is a complete mess. Zero hygiene, zero respect for environment, 2018 and conditions like 100 years ago... MS>

They ALWAYS find a way to save face by including foreigners, in this case, tourists in the blame game. 

 

After the international attention by New York Times, the local media had to find a foreign scapegoat. 

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Khowsurat said.....blah, blah, blah.

Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Khowsurat couldn't give a stuff about the rubbish per se. As Tourism Minister all he is concerned about is the possible loss of tourists (statistics) because of the rubbish. Typical Thai ministerial doublespeak.

At least the message is going out. The Oceans are up the creek. Philippines closing Boracai and Maya bay recently shut at least shows Tourism in so called paradise is dependant on the quality of the beaches and water.

 

It is not enough, but at least the mantra is going around. Green is becoming the new fad, hammering it down to local level and not just blaming tourism is the next step.

2 hours ago, poanoi said:

those in charge need to put more garbage bins on the streets,

and then see to it they are emptied before they overflow.

 

only after this condition can an attitude change regarding

litter take place.

the norm has to change, right now the norm is plastic garbage

all over the place, it is not questioned, its the way it is,

cause theres no where to throw it beside on the street,

the few garbage bins are few and far in between,

and they are full since long ago

u no unnerstand they not look bootiful so we hide them whenever we  can, or  better still put  none

2 hours ago, Vacuum said:

Plastic is cheaper.....

so is fresh air

Take a walk along the jetty at bang bao in south Koh Chang,it was converted from an old fishing boat pier and is now full of resturants and souvenir shops,take a look over the side,the water is a swirling mass of styrofoam,plastic bottles and bags.It is not the tourist's throwing this over,it's the shop vendors,as we know with Kon THAI IF YOU CAN'T SEE THE RUBBISH IT DOES NOT EXIST,sometimes it does not exist even if you can see it.

  What is needed here is education of all students at school that it is bad,more garbage bins, sign's about littering and fines for those caught doing it,and frequent hard hitting ad's on television about it.

  I called my Mrs out the other day when she threw a plastic wrapper in some long grass, "no one can see it" she said,i asked her if she loved her country "of course" she replied so i asked her why she was throwing trash on the ground and explained the fact that no one could see it did not mean it was not there and if millions of people did the same ,which they do that is why there is a rubbish problem,she just shrugged,i may as well have been talking to the cat.

2 hours ago, kannot said:

so is fresh air

Khapom.