Litter in Thailand

[Billy Bloggs]

I dont like litter of any kind, but it seems to be getting worse in my city in Buri Ram. I think its about time they slapped a 1 baht levy on all containers, especially the those small milk or juice boxes and clear plastic lidded smoothie containers, I know the litterers wont give a stuff but more people will collect litter from the roadsides.

Plus 1 baht on face masks the newist dumped item, it will cost you nothing extra as you hand the old ones in for new ones.

Im not holding my breath on this as even in my old country it took 2o years or more to get these schemes to be put in place.

[KannikaP]

When the litter has been discarded, most Thai people do not even notice it, or if they do, they think it is OK for it to be there.

I take some of the local kids around the village every Sunday, and give them 1 Bht for every piece of litter they pick up. They love it! (They possibly go around chucking loads of litter on a Saturday, just to get more dosh!)

[jmcet]

4 hours ago, KannikaP said:

When the litter has been discarded, most Thai people do not even notice it, or if they do, they think it is OK for it to be there.

I take some of the local kids around the village every Sunday, and give them 1 Bht for every piece of litter they pick up. They love it! (They possibly go around chucking loads of litter on a Saturday, just to get more dosh!)

I kind of do the same however the pay out is in icecream

[Surelynot]

One of my many pet hates......not just the litter.....but not being able to understand what goes through peoples minds when they litter!!!  

 

Watched a Thai family (doesn't have to be Thai, it just was) setting off from their resort room.......opened the car windows....out went plastic bags, bottles, food, crisp packets etc.......and off they drove....they were even parked next to a bin!!!

Edited April 20, 2021 by Surelynot

[davemos]

Hi These guys are organising volunteers for rubbish /beach cleanup etc  .https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.facebook.com/trashherothailand/&ved=2ahUKEwibg92Fr4zwAhWNc30KHTP5BWUQFjAAegQIBxAC&usg=AOvVaw1BVe9mLPwWfn5yMSMRptPH

[hidbehindthesofa]

Unfortunately this is just another part of the mentality of the majority of Thais.

 

They will quite happily just drop discarded items (packets, bottles, cans, etc.) on their own land without a thought as to what will happen to them.

 

Shrug shoulders, walk off, 'mai pen lai'

[Stevemercer]

Yes, I find it strange that so many people think nothing of littering their own land. Just throw rubbish out the window and leave bottles lying around when they finish. Of course they are not going to care about littering public land or someone else's land. It reminds me of Australia back in the 1970s.

 

Australia went through big anti-lettering campaigns, starting in the schools, and got serious about enforcement and fines.

 

I ask people if they would leave their rubbish behind if they were on Royal property? Of course not is the answer. I would like to see the Monarch involved in an education campaign - leaving rubbish on pubic land is the same as littering Royal property, and an insult to Thailand. Maybe that message would get through.

[Kinok Powell]

Pretty new to Thailand i was on a train to HH.About an hour out of Bkk my gf and i and the 2 ladies sat across from us pulled the grub out and began eating and exchanging food.

After eating there was a full Big C bag of rubbish.Plastic bags,tin cans polystyrene containers etc.

I started to look out of the window at the beautiful pristine countryside when one of the ladies opened the window and chucked the lot out,even though there was a rubbish bin 10 metres behind her.Nobody(except me) batted an eyelid.

[DUNROAMIN]

Thai culture. throw your trash anywhere as long as its not your own property. my amphor is a disgrace with rubbish. Thais have very little respect for the environment. Hard to change athai way of thinking. as their religon and government are mainly to blame.

[Saraburi121]

Live out in rural Thailand and I think, as some has mentioned in previous posts, setting the example yourself is the best solution. Drove me nuts when I first moved to the village.  Taught the kids in the village by constant reinforcement not to litter, never rewarded them for doing it. Had them go out and pick up garbage if I saw them throwing their trash down in the farm.  Fast forward to 3 years later after many days picking up other folks trash and keeping our place clean.  Folks in the village for the most part don't throw stuff out and have cleaned up their places.  Think they are embarrased a farung is out picking up trash. Never said a word or cross word said to the adults.  Brother in law who lives up the hill from me still puts all his plastics in the drainage and washes down on me.  I gather them up and put them in his driveway, he puts them back in the pile to wash downhill next rain.  The social pressure on him to clean up will hopefully work one day, if not he will always have a pile of trash in his driveway after a good rain. 

[rickudon]

In my village 10 years ago the roadside always had plenty of litter. At least one piece big enough to see from the car every metre. But, things have changed. Nearly everybody uses the rubbish collection service, and a few times a year the poojaiban organises a litter pick. Rubbish is now down about 75%. Biggest problem is soi dogs raiding bins, should be a 1 baht bounty on soi dogs ....

 

Still too much plastic used, but getting better. People care more, it shows in the gardens. 10 years ago only about 4 front gardens in the village had flowers, now about 12 ...... only 110 to go!

[timendres]

The only thing that is going to change this is when people "lose face" when they litter.

[Farang99]

If you travel south and cross the border with Malaysia you will see a sudden absence of litter - unless the Covid pandemic has convinced Malaysians  to ignore laws. How does the ethos change at national frontiers?

[Hanuman2547]

17 hours ago, Stevemercer said:

It reminds me of Australia back in the 1970s.

 

Australia went through big anti-lettering campaigns, starting in the schools, and got serious about enforcement and fines.

 

I ask people if they would leave their rubbish behind if they were on Royal property? Of course not is the answer. I would like to see the Monarch involved in an education campaign - leaving rubbish on pubic land is the same as littering Royal property, and an insult to Thailand. Maybe that message would get through.

The US had the same problem.  In the 60's there were ad campaigns on TV about not littering.  It worked in that there is a lot less litter than there ever was before.  It took about 10 years to be really effective.

 

I too have thought that the only way for Thais to cut down on littering the countryside is for the Royal family to come out and propose an idea not to litter.  I think this is the only way that the problem will ever be solved.  The litter problem has not gotten better in the 40 years that I have been  involved with the Kingdom.

[Billy Bloggs]

Just an update on this, there are a few who regularly clear recyclables from the road sides, but its the other stuff that sits there, we do a 4 klm walk each morning last 3 days 12 then 6 and a 20 baht note on the walk way over the river and 5 today, tomorrow we wil go out the other way.