Five foreigners spend their holidays cleaning up rubbish along Krabi Beach

[bananafish]

There's a trend currently doing the rounds where people take a photo of some lace that's covered in rubbish, then clean it all up and tae a photo of it cleaned, then post them online. They could have been doing that. 

 

As far as online trends go, it's definitely one of the better ones. 

[bananafish]

https://twitter.com/search?q=challengeforchange&src=typd

[jesimps]

Very commendable, but Thai tourists, who we all know are responsible for most of the littering, will think "Stupid falang clear rubbish, so ok to throw". I've been trying for twelve years now to get my Thai wife and stepdaughter to be tidy, but the more I try to teach by example, the less tidy they become. The only way the Thais will stop littering is if you hit them in the pocket, HARD!

[Kieran00001]

14 hours ago, sanemax said:

The Tsunami volunteer didnt have to get work permits , after all the clean up work had been done , it was then that the rules reverted back to the normal working visa rules

 

This is a report from the Red Cross following the tsunami.

 

"At least two pre-registered INGOs surveyed also encountered problems in increasing staff numbers in support of tsunami relief efforts. TICA and the Ministry of Labour had allocated quotas on the numbers of foreign staff for individual organisations and would not issue additional visas and work permits. The additional staff arrived anyway and had to operate with tourist visas until they were eventually able to obtain business visas and work permits."

https://www.ifrc.org/Global/Publications/IDRL/country studies/report-thailand.pdf

[high plane drifter]

Beaches in Thailand are not what they used to be,,,

 all the dropping from stray dogs,,,and people including farangs ,bring their dogs to the beach on the morning to take a dump and they don't pick after the dog,  I will not say nothing about other  garbages , you can see it for yourself, and the water is polluted with sewage water

 

[wvavin]

Are they that hardworking at home? 

[Aussieroaming]

52 minutes ago, HumusKing said:

Hi missoura,

I have never written on this forum before but felt compelled to write something here. I have been living in Phuket for 10 years. I love my life in Thailand. I completely and utterly love my Thai wife. We both are disturbed by the rubbish we find on the streets and beaches of Thailand. We pickup rubbish when ever we can and do our best to educate the importance of rubbish collection. It wasn't that long ago, maybe 20 years, when we had advertising in Australia (my birth place) teaching people not to throw rubbish out if moving cars. Australians would leave rubbish everyday. Today it's frowned upon, similar to smoking. Thai people need to be educated with public campaigns that will adjust their thinking. It will happen. Just give it time my friend. Keep up your great work. Every bit makes a difference. Great work. Forget the sarcastic comments on this forum. Let's push forward and always look at the glass being half full. I know I will. 

Rubbish is everyones problem, I applaud your view.

[lvr181]

"Volunteers"??  Work permits??  They paid to do the work! Maybe they should have applied for work permits and the Govt. could have paid them? ????

 

Good on them for helping to clean up the mess. ????

 

Slightly O.T. - The Philippines closed Boracay Island last year and cleaned up their 'dump', what has the Thai Government (or local authorities) learned from that, re Koh Samui? NOTHING?

[bkkgriz]

They will be pretty disappointed when they go back to the beach and see all of the old trash has been replaced by a new crop of garbage from fishing boats and various other sources. The waters around Thailand are nothing but a huge garbage dump.

[JohnnyBKK]

It's illegal to clean up the beach without a work permit, maybe the gov would have hired a thai to clean up, but now the beach is clean and the thai has no job. This is how they think and it wouldn't be the first time that a foreigner is arrested for volunteer work. I wouldn't risk it.

[Time Traveller]

Losers.

[wombat]

[cardinalblue]

Humking

 

yes, it’s fine to applaud the temporary do gooders but it doesn’t solve the problem. Sustained change is about reaching the decision makers....

 

in a culture that is all about status quo, tradition and resistance to change, you might wish to re-think your statement about “give it time”.

 

it’s about completely changing the current mindset abruptly and harshly....

 

change little by little and it evolves to a desired outcome doesn’t work in a culture so stuck in its ways, without vision and refuses to question it own practices....

 

 

[unamazedloso]

i used to pick up rubbish, fix holes in the road, fit peoples water pipes, dig drainage and basicallly help out with everything. I nolonger do so because local officials tried to have me deported. Police, gov officials and local people all got together to get rid of my family and why? Because they feel we think we are better because we would do these things. Let that be a lesson to all. Do nothing for thais until things change. I say light more fires, faster speed zones, military drug dealing governments, etc. I'll sit around and enjoy the show.

[Lupatria]

They promised to come back next week and bring more friends to blow the smog away:

[jarda]

I do the same at Bor Dan beach near Khok Kloi. We drive there from Karon a few times a week to have this beach virtually for ourselves. Such a lovely place fo swimming and snorkeling. 

[thaibeachlovers]

Back in the 90s when Chaweng was actually a nice beach ( before it became all concrete and ruined ) I went for a long walk every day while there on holiday and picked up rubbish as I went. Dumped it in a pit I dug in the sand and on my last day set it alight and enjoyed the fire.

Somewhat spoiled for me when a Thai guy working in a scuba shop claimed that the 4 litre oil container I collected had been dumped by farangs!

Would have made no difference at all in the long run as no one else ever picked up rubbish, but I did my good deed for the day.

[murraynz]

15 hours ago, Skallywag said:

Good for them -  nice to finally read some positive news from The Thaiger

its a pity that the local thai people arent shamed by these wonderful foreigners.

thai people should be sooo proud of their beautiful beaches....

why not make an effort to clean up...its not hard...

i pick up rubbish every day, in the area around my condo.

i now notice some thai people doing the same--unfortunately, its still a loosing battle...

 

[soalbundy]

The news article could have a positive effect as well, shaming the authorourities into doing something regarding rubbish collecting (however short lived that would be)

[HampiK]

16 hours ago, johng said:

Work permits ? !!!

 

1 hour ago, JohnnyBKK said:

It's illegal to clean up the beach without a work permit, maybe the gov would have hired a thai to clean up, but now the beach is clean and the thai has no job. This is how they think and it wouldn't be the first time that a foreigner is arrested for volunteer work. I wouldn't risk it.

Hmmmm, as I not think thais will do this for free or that the government would pay money for it... so you  not take away a job from a thai! ????

[Charlie1]

And 30 million other foreigners who visit Thailand every year spend their holidays, watching Thai people making a total mess of their country.

[JMSIII]

Good for them!  Showing respect verses not being loud belligerent drunks.  I think it's great.

[Ulic]

16 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Kudos to them. If everyone here who bitches about the garbage spent 3 hours a week in a group cleaning a couple of blocks it would be more worthwhile than complaining. Id do it. 

I respectfully disagree. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for life. Unless you intend to follow behind Thais cleaning up after them. Tourists and vloggers should take pictures vlog/blog about the garbage and litter everywhere. When tourists start bypassing Thailand for other cleaner options possibly Vietnam, Myanmar, or stay in Europe, Greece, Portugal, Spain. Only then win Thailand change. One thing is certain, Thais will learn nothing from tourists picking up garbage and litter, other than its OK to litter, tourists will pick it up eventually. 

[raccos21]

For Volunteers visa application 

[hotchilli]

Only when the rubbish out-weighs the tourists will something be done....

Thailand is fast losing it's paradise brand label!

I have lived here a long time, an English friend of mine who has come to visit his son & their family in Thailand every year for the last 8 years has said never again, they meet-up in Pattaya and have a beach resort holiday together, the son traveling down from the north, this year he said the rubbish, the smell, the water quality, over-charging etc etc was the worst he has ever seen!

Next year he said they would work-out a holiday destination outside of Thailand.

[UPDEHSOI]

15 hours ago, johng said:

Work permits ? !!!

Mai pen rai!  No need for work permit. They are NOT taking a job away from a Thai. Have you EVER seen a Thai clean up a beach ( or anything else? )

[UPDEHSOI]

15 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Kudos to them. If everyone here who bitches about the garbage spent 3 hours a week in a group cleaning a couple of blocks it would be more worthwhile than complaining. Id do it. 

Yep, and if the dog had not stopped to poop it would've caught the rabbit.

[UPDEHSOI]

15 hours ago, the guest said:

Waste of time unless the locals do it instead.

And you KNOW that ain't gonna happen.

[UPDEHSOI]

11 hours ago, swissie said:

Farang Expats, willing to do this on a daily basis should be granted annual automatic Visa-Extensions, regardless of financial background.
- A win-win situation: Clean Beaches again without costing the Thai Governement a single Satang and Farangs on a low budget may still be able to remain in Thailand.

After 3 years of regular "duty on the Beach" Farang will be issued Thai-Citizenship, provided that he can sing the Thai National Anthem flawlessly.
Everybody Happy!

PS: While working out this brilliant concept in my mind, I was sitting at "Lulu's Bar & Grill", consuming liberal amounts of Beer.
Under these circumstances, I have been known to developpe strange, dilusional concepts when it comes to Thailand and it's Farang residents. Forgiveness please!

I was just about to ask...can I have somma whatever you're smoking?

[UPDEHSOI]

1 hour ago, bkkgriz said:

They will be pretty disappointed when they go back to the beach and see all of the old trash has been replaced by a new crop of garbage from fishing boats and various other sources. The waters around Thailand are nothing but a huge garbage dump.

They might even see some of the garbage they picked up yesterday.