It was only open for one day! Mayor bemoans visitors who left Bang Saen beach covered in trash

[Choochai]

3 minutes ago, Dustdevil said:

They're sparkplugs compared to Gulf Arabs. Parking? Makes Thailand look like social-distancing parking. In supermarkets at the checkout counter, Saudis just leave the empty cart (trolley) behind them blocking the aisle, so the shopper in line behind them has to move it!

Wow, shocking story. I hope you survived moving that trolly!

[Mayhem11]

May be more litter bins will help.

[Gervais Bilodeau]

12 hours ago, Sharp said:

That's the rubbish that's been washed up over night 

Absolutely...

Last year Bali beaches photos were similar...but with a lot more trashes.

[bipper]

11 hours ago, andre47 said:

This trash was washed from the sea. It was not thrown to this beach. The ocean is full of trash. Sometimes the current wash it to the beach.

What goes out must come in again.

[P100]

Superior culture of Thai people... I am proud to be a farang...

[smudger1951]

I can only assume farangs threw all this garbage into the sea previously, and now it has washed up on Bang saen beach. LOL.

[jacko45k]

13 hours ago, SymS said:

I went to Bang Saen beach once in my life over 10 years ago. I can still clearly remember two things that stood out: trash and pickpockets.

What were you wearing on the beach that had pockets with anything in them?

[MrsT]

1. It is so obvious the thrash washed up to the shore.

 

2. like many places on any island in thailand one can be paying for their thrash to be picked up but the trash company will find all reasons not to pick up your thrash (while we are still paying) - how do you fix this?? 

 

remember, philippines is facing the same issue they closed Boracay for 6 months the rubbish were killing the marine lives. 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by MrsT

[rutteketuut]

The mayor is mistaking about his compatriots littering the beaches. It were the dirty farangs who did it.

[Hoppyone]

21 hours ago, YetAnother said:

going to be one busy guy

 

[hotchilli]

22 hours ago, bodga said:

It's very easy to understand, many Thais  are  simply bone idle, can't  park  unless it's  right outside a  shop, don't  care if  double  parked and will want to get into a fight if it's  mentioned, when all else  fails they'll resort  to telling you they are  poor.

LAZY nothing  more.

You've been paying attention I see.

[Leatherneck]

22 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

but but but how can this be!

 

all the farang tourists are gone. 

For once, we were not blamed for bad behavior. I'm still in shock.

[BTB1977]

All the farangs here on vacation will be running there to pick up thai trash. 555. Come to thailand and be a trash collector.  

[hotchilli]

22 hours ago, bluesofa said:

I saw a documentary about the enormous amount of plastic in the ocean. There was a clip showing some uninhabited islands full of plastic debris washed up on the beaches.

 

I like the acronym G.I.G.O.

"garbage in garbage out" applies nicely to the worlds oceans.

[Grumpy John]

Take away the ocean and that's what the road side looks like around here.   For all the BS we get about farang maybe it's time Thai people took a look at themselves. 

[Henryford]

Those "dirty" farangs

[mikebell]

Well that's scuppered any chance of Pattaya beaches ever being opened presuming the brothers are on speaking terms?

Remarkable coincidence both being voted in as mayors in adjoining towns!  Or are these positions handed down from on high?

[johng]

36 minutes ago, mikebell said:

Or are these positions handed down from on high?

I believe the previous mayor  Ittipon Konplume was elected  but after the 2014 coup  local elections where suspended so an appointed person replaced him.

[johng]

 

[sidgy]

For everybody commenting that because it is in a straight line at the high tide mark it cannot possibly be from beach patrons, and as such has come from the oceans, you do realise that any garbage left on the beach that day will inevitably be laid in such an arrangement after the very next high tide?

Whilst it is possible that it has come from the sea, if it hasnt been the case for the last few weeks but then suddenly appears after the first day of allowing people back on the beach, doesn't that give credibility to the Mayor's comments and if so shouldn;t he be given some credit for trying to highlight the problem.

 

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

Or are these positions handed down from on high?

Bought and paid for!

[tgw]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:12 AM, NCC1701A said:

but but but how can this be!

 

all the farang tourists are gone. 

it's actual proof that farang expats pollute 1000 times more than tourists! the only possible explanation.

[bkk7]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:12 AM, NCC1701A said:

but but but how can this be!

 

all the farang tourists are gone. 

someone didn't read the article:

Saensuk  mayor Narongchai Khunpluem went on Facebook to rant against his compatriots about messing up Bang Saen beach.

[bkk7]

2 hours ago, Henryford said:

Those "dirty" farangs

amazing how many people didn't read the article...

 

Quote

"Saensuk  mayor Narongchai Khunpluem went on Facebook to rant against his compatriots about messing up Bang Saen beach."

 He wasn't blaming Farangs.

[bkk7]

On 5/8/2020 at 11:08 AM, otherstuff1957 said:

This is a picture of one of the most remote, uninhabited islands in the world. Henderson Island is located in the SouthEast Pacific, thousands of miles from any large human settlement.

 

Now obviously this litter did not accumulate overnight, but it does show the dismal condition of our oceans.

so it's probably not on night, but i can tell you that i've worked on beach cleanups here in Thailand with Mahidol's team that does research on this, and it really only takes one day before enough trash washes up to necessitate a week's worth of cleaning up. my last trip was with a team of 100+ people, and we spent 4 hours collecting and another 4 hours separating and measuring trash cleaned up, and there was still a LOT more. this was at a small island off Pattaya (not Koh Laan) that is cleaned frequently because it's a research station for this purpose.

 

you're very very right that it shows the dismal conditions of our oceans, and the Mayor's rant was something important because it draws attention to this blight. the Mayor, contrary to what a lot of idiots with low reading comprehension assumed, was shaming Thais for doing this to the beach. but in the end, we're all responsible. we need to reduce our plastic use. fortunately there are far fewer plastic bags after the ban. but, it's also a regional problem and a boat problem and a waste management problem:

1) without proper waste management, our plastic and other trash in Bangkok or upcountry can end up on a beach 500km away

2) we can ban plastic bags and improve our waste management as above, but if boats and other countries in the region don't do the same thing, we'll still end up with their trash on our beaches. of course Thailand is far more inclined to take care of this problem than Malaysia, as our beaches are an important part of the economy. but, it's not just about the beaches we see, it's about the coral and marine ecosystems that marine life depend on that is damaged by all of the garbage in the water. fish populations drop, as does their quality. other animals important to the food chain, eat bags and die, and they needlessly suffer.

 

so i'm glad the Mayor called attention to this. any attention is important if we can keep it in the spotlight. eventually all of the governments will need to respond.

[cracker1]

And how many empty rubbish bins were in the vicinity ?

[Kerryd]

I just came back from a trip to Rayong. We followed the road along the beach from where highway 1001 hits the beach and turns South all the way to Ao Khai. About 43 kms.

The first stretch along the Mae Ram Pheung beach is kind of like riding along Jomtien Beach. However, they were taking the opportunity to redo a lot of the walkway that runs along the beach. A lot of it. Looks like repairing old sections and making new ones.

On another stretch of beach, heavy equipment had dug up the sand near the walkway for some reason. It looked like they were filling things back in.

The last section was basically as it was before. No work being done.

And not a speck of garbage to be seen along any of those beaches. ????
I was specifically looking to see the high tide marks and looking at the sections of beach that looked a little harder to get to (and therefore less likely to be cleaned regularly).

We stopped for lunch along a long section of beach. I could see about 550 meters of beach (according to Google maps), the tide was out (low tide) and I couldn't see any garbage anywhere.

Now if you actually think about it. If there was "that much" trash floating in the Gulf of Thailand, then what was seen in Bang Saen should be seen along every beach in the Gulf. The ocean doesn't "wake up" one day and decide to dump it's trash in one place. 

And yes, I know what a "current" is and no, that does not explain anything because if the "current" in the Gulf was responsible, then there'd be garbage like that washing up on that beach every, single, day. What was shown in the article was probably the accumulation of a couple weeks worth of trash washing ashore that no one mentioned before because they weren't allowed on the beach any ways.

However, as I mentioned previously - a lot of the locals that were commenting on the Mayor's Facebook page blamed the trash either on boats offshore dumping their trash in the water, or on LOCALS who (according to some of the posts) drive out to the end of a pier near that beach and throw their trash in the water.
You know. Kind of like how a lot of people in Pattaya drive along side an undeveloped section of road somewhere and throw their trash in the bushes (or just drop it right beside the road).
And seriously, who has seen a vendor at any beach walk down to the water and dump their garbage in it (at any tide mark). I seriously doubt they'd do it in the first place and I'd bet they'd get ratted out by other Thais almost instantly if they did. For the amount of trash shown in the pictures, there'd have to have been dozens and dozens of vendors throwing garbage bags of trash into the water to make up the amount shown in the pics.

And in full view of everyone else on the beach. Yeah, because that's how they always do it, right ? 

Oh, and apparently the beaches aren't closed in Rayong. Lots of vendors along the beaches (and even a few tourists on the beaches and in the water).
And wearing masks seems to be a "meh, whatever" kind of thing. Even the attendants at the gas station we stopped at on the way back weren't wearing masks. Nor were the staff at the restaurant we ate at and of the customers (Thai and foreign) it was about 50/50.

[connda]

On 5/8/2020 at 8:15 PM, hsovereign said:

Sea or not sea doesn't make any difference, it's trash that people mostly Thai people have thrown there. Simple.

No no no.  Everyone knows its those bad Chinese tourists who throw trash all over the beaches.  This is common knowledge....what?  When?  Whaddaya mean they all went home?  Really?

No no no.  Everyone knows it those evil Farangs who throw trash all over the beaches.  They're stuck here in Thailand, sneak onto the beaches everyday, and leave this mess.  Their embassies need to be notified and they need to be deported!!!  What now! When?  Whaddaya mean we can't deport them?  No flights?  Well who the heck can we blame all this on then?????

[mikebell]

21 hours ago, johng said:

I believe the previous mayor  Ittipon Konplume was elected  but after the 2014 coup  local elections where suspended so an appointed person replaced him.

Yet Prayuth would have us believe we live in a democracy whilst dissolving an opposition party and seeking a jail term for its charismatic leader!

[OnTheRun]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:29 AM, ThailandRyan said:

You may need to get your glasses checked as the rubbish's was not raked into that fine curve but was deposited there by the tide as it washed in the trash and as the tide receded it then left a nice deposit for the folks to clean up...

Agreed however it comes from somewhere. That amount of trash cannot be from fishing vessels and boats alone, he has a point re people depositing rubish in canals and rivers as that will be where it mostly comes from. This isn't limited to Thailand, a few years back I was going to/from work via boat from Kota Kinabalu, the level of plastic waste in the sea when we got within a few miles of the coast was depressing. If you visit anywhere in India it is then taken to a completely different level.