Thailand becoming ‘garbage bin of world’

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, pokerface1 said:

The Thai people have a love affair with all thing  plastic. It's that simple!!

As is being demonstrated with the news article re the increase in sex toys 

[Zack61]

Every single piece of poisonous plastic ever produced is still with us in one form or another and is accumulating towards an inevitable tipping point which will see our planet damaged beyond repair. 

[Zack61]

2 minutes ago, Artisi said:

As is being demonstrated with the news article re the increase in sex toys 

Use glass where possible. Less poisonous and so much easier to clean. 

[Disillusioned farang]

Plastic waste imports ?!?  Do they really need more ? Lol 

i counted 7 plastic items my wife had just for a small meal and a drink ! 

If this is not addressed they will run out of road sides to dump it !!  

Why O why aren’t there fly tipping penalties enforced and publicised ? 

Its so sad that this country is being ruined ! 

Edited June 11, 2018 by Disillusioned farang

[johnny49r]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

However, the private sector is also encouraged to invest in waste disposal plants, based on the assumption that they are more able and ready to properly oversee waste disposal.

Private sector investment in waste disposal operates with only one agenda: profit. 

Profit trumps pollution and proper management. 

Waste management must be managed for the people by competent government.

Oh ooops - I forgot, we're in Thailand!

[yellowboat]

When nobody takes responsibility, bad things happen.  Was at an office building around Siam.  Had some trash to throw away.  Asked the receptionist.  The snobby foppish looking creature behind the desk told me to get the mall to throw it away.  I did.  Anyone else might have just left it for house keeping.  It is difficult sometimes to find places to dispose of trash properly. 

Edited June 11, 2018 by yellowboat

[dutchinlondon]

3 hours ago, MrMuddle said:

This beautiful country deserves better.

yes. Another population ? 

[1337markus]

BECOMING.................................?????

[mok199]

yet lazy lawless defiant shamless thainess continues...

[Charlie1]

Misleading title. It should be: "Thais destroy their own country"

[free123]

why they are bashing the waste to energy idea...??? plants like this are established a very long time across europe and it works very very well there....

[BobbyL]

Dread to think what this place might be like in 100-200 years. 

[The Teacher]

3 hours ago, YetAnother said:

doesn't sound anywhere near 'good governance'; in this area, the gov't would be better off doing nothing ? seems all they really had to do was consult the experts beforehand

Thailand has never accepted consultation from experts before , saving face is more important. When the government or controllers put in place proper waste management regulations maybe things can turn around. But this means accepting that outside experiences are better than the Thai,s . And thats a long shot in everyone eyes.

[The Teacher]

48 minutes ago, johnny49r said:

Private sector investment in waste disposal operates with only one agenda: profit. 

Profit trumps pollution and proper management. 

Waste management must be managed for the people by competent government.

Oh ooops - I forgot, we're in Thailand!

But very true 

[anon4637435435]

Becoming? Um..... Take a look around. Should un tours for garbage scavangers. Oh thats a thai job.

[Lucky mike]

DIY hub ?

[electric]

I think it would be useful for the recycling industry of any country, to explain to the citizens exactly what happens to our "recycled waste"

 

For decades, I've been dutifully separating what I believed to be recyclable stuff from normal rubbish, as I thought I was doing some good.

 

I confess that I'm now quite confused about the whole recycle industry.

 

A little while ago, an investigative journalist in Australia dropped a GPS tracker into a "recycle plastics only" bin in a big shopping mall. A week later, his film crew followed the tracker to an open landfill site. Jeezus .... how can you win ?

 

Also, it's hard to be a believer in recycling when I put all my little empty baked bean tins in the recycling bin, when next week the Govt sinks a couple of obsolete 5,000 tonne destroyers as fish reefs !

 

So .... perhaps our shopping habits may change a little if we honestly knew where our recyclable stuff was actually going.

 

Every so often we give the MIL a big big bag of empty plastic water bottles, which she takes to the local recycle guy. Do they get turned into new water bottles ?

 

I have no idea, but the guy has an absolute mountain of squashed plastic water bottles on his property. I thought this stuff was recyclable ?

[Lupatria]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The government’s current path will prevent a proper solution to waste management problems and unintentionally lead to

The "government’s" current path will prevent a proper solution to almost every management problems while apathy, and lack of expertise lead to problems in any field of administration. Money talks louder than responsibility. For a share of the pie, the customs let the garbage containers in, the administration turns a blind eye to proper inspection, 'influential figures' run the waste disposal companies, and the public does not care about mountains of waste in their neighborhood.

[holy cow cm]

My friend was just on Koh Tao a month ago. Said the garbage fill is os huge and has such a big green ooze running from it that he was scared it was it was so toxic that if you touched it the person would have a serious problem. He also said the plastic is so piled up so high beyond belief. So now hearing about Koh Samui, seeing Koh Larn, Koh Tao. it is apparent there is just a time and point to where it is the river of oozing toxicity of no return that will hit the waters.  

[lvr181]

33 minutes ago, drgoon said:

They should follow Norway's example. 

 

But...  of course they won't. 

Of course they won't - it is farang country! They cannot/will not even learn from their more advanced Asian neighbours.

 

A' beautiful' country being ruined by continuing lack of leadership! 

[bluesofa]

18 minutes ago, electric said:

A little while ago, an investigative journalist in Australia dropped a GPS tracker into a "recycle plastics only" bin in a big shopping mall. A week later, his film crew followed the tracker to an open landfill site. Jeezus .... how can you win ?

 

I saw that too. It was called War On Waste, shown on ABC last year. I'm a Brit, but a friend told me about it, so made a point of watching it.

I remember the clip with the tracker. I bet it's not just Oz where it happens either, sadly.

 

[malibukid]

start charging for plastic bags at Tops market for starters.  encourage people to use cloth bags.

[Artisi]

54 minutes ago, Charlie1 said:

Misleading title. It should be: "Thais destroy their own country"

are you sure, thought all the problems are being imported by all the nasty farangs that come here to be relieved of their cash one-way-or-another.

[Artisi]

29 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

My friend was just on Koh Tao a month ago. Said the garbage fill is os huge and has such a big green ooze running from it that he was scared it was it was so toxic that if you touched it the person would have a serious problem. He also said the plastic is so piled up so high beyond belief. So now hearing about Koh Samui, seeing Koh Larn, Koh Tao. it is apparent there is just a time and point to where it is the river of oozing toxicity of no return that will hit the waters.  

you have to be cautious of more than green ooze on Koh Tao ….

[DM07]

Not directly tied to the "plastic"- issue, but to show the environmental thinking...or rather : lack thereof!

 

I have been travelling Thailand since the mid- 90's, when the idea of "eco" slowly kicked in.

In every hotel, you could (and still can) find this neat little notice: put your towel on a shelf and it will not be exchanged/ let it on the floor and we will exchange it!

In all these years up until today, almost NO hotel EVER followed this policy!

I once had a conversation with a hotel GM about it and he said, they really order the maids to follow this, but they just don't do it, because they have this believe that "you, the guest" deserve the best and that means a fresh towel every day!

 

About plastic: I have x- examples about the idiocy of the cashiers in several convenience stores or supermarkets.

The best one may be: TOPS had the "I promise to go green"- promotion, a few years ago.

So I bought a cloth- bag for THB 100 and brought to shopping...just to watch in disbelieve, as the check-out clerks stuffed all my purchased items into plastic bags and stuffed those into my cloth bag!

 

As long as there are are no laws, which will be enforced (?) and as long as there is no education with it (?), things will not change!

[holy cow cm]

3 minutes ago, Artisi said:

you have to be cautious of more than green ooze on Koh Tao ….

Are you saying not only the dump site has green ooze protruding from it? Yikes

[sambum]

5 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Who supervises the local administrative organizations? And do the local administrative organizations have the technical know-how to properly oversee private companies operating in their territory?

 

No one (properly) and no they don't.

 

Here in Koh Samui, the incinerator broke down 5-6 years ago and still has not been fixed. So, waste is collected (badly, but it is collected) and then put into landfills which grow and grow and grow. The last environmental measure that I heard of on Koh Samui was a plan to cover the landfill sites with a tarp so that people didn't see them.

 

This is a country-wide problem and needs a country-wide solution of investment, education and infrastructure.

 

But, I ain't holding my breath.

 

Hmm... that isn't right; sometimes I have to hold my breath...

 

 

Beat me to it - wonder what happened to the money that was supposedly provided to fix the incinerator? Hmmm!

[kentrot]

This video on June 7th Thaivisa.com  posting states the problem clearly. But the solution appears to be slow in coming. 

 

https://news.thaivisa.com/article/21534/video-bbc-report-on-thailands-plastic-problem

[SpicyMeatball]

Thailand disgusts me. People are so ignorant, careless, irresponsible, lazy & indignant. 

[madmitch]

30 minutes ago, DM07 said:

Not directly tied to the "plastic"- issue, but to show the environmental thinking...or rather : lack thereof!

 

I have been travelling Thailand since the mid- 90's, when the idea of "eco" slowly kicked in.

In every hotel, you could (and still can) find this neat little notice: put your towel on a shelf and it will not be exchanged/ let it on the floor and we will exchange it!

I

Don't believe that this policy has anything to do with environmental issues, it's nothing but a cost saving exercise by the hotels!