Waste stifles Bangkok; authorities push for change

[snoop1130]

 

One of the world’s most attractive tourist sites, Bangkok, Thailand, is suffering from litter and waste.

 

According to the Department of Environment and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) figures, the capital produces more than 8,000 tonnes of municipal waste every day, shocking figures about the city.

 

Workers in the waste collection department said that waste and garbage in the city are increasing at an alarming rate and said that to fix this ussie, there must be cooperation and concerted effort.

 

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They stressed the need to use recycled material and to use cloth and paper bags instead of plastic bags that are harmful to the environment, urging people to continue using the same materials.

 

Khun Sathit, the head of the waste collection department, said that the authorities will launch a campaign to encourage the use of recycled waste.

 

-- © Copyright A24 News Agency 2022-03-21

 

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[ThailandRyan]

Shocking is that there are few trash receptacles and folks just throw stuff on the ground.

[vandeventer]

10 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Shocking is that there are few trash receptacles and folks just throw stuff on the ground.

We are still better than China I think? As they dump most of their raw sewage in the waters all around us. So it really doesn't pay to be a seafood lover here, and brag about it.

[djayz]

Being said this for 15-20 years already. 

[hotchilli]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Khun Sathit, the head of the waste collection department, said that the authorities will launch a campaign to encourage the use of recycled waste

Ahhh, a campaign...

useless idiots all of them.

[RichardColeman]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

One of the world’s most attractive tourist sites, Bangkok, Thailand, is suffering from litter and waste.

Guess that's how we know all these stories on here about Bangkok being the number 1 asian city to visit is pure fantasy or at best polls of people who have never seen how dirty it can truly  be

[VocalNeal]

People come to Bangkok/Thailand for a party and because it is exotic. They expect it to be a bit raw.

[Whale]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

One of the world’s most attractive tourist sites, Bangkok, Thailand

Well, having lived in it for nearly 3 decades I would never have described its as "One of the world’s most attractive tourist sites". Its a dump TBH and I say that even though it's my home. 

[Enzian]

8 minutes ago, Whale said:

Its a dump TBH

But it's a FASCINATING dump. But seriously one of my fantasies is the government solves whatever unemployment there is by paying people to clean up the environment. You have to wonder if the elite even has their eyes open when they go out of their posh neighborhoods.

[richard_smith237]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

One of the world’s most attractive tourist sites, Bangkok, Thailand, is suffering from litter and waste.

Bangkok is far from an attractive city....  It is an ugly city from many perspectives, but it has areas of ‘attraction’ juxtaposed to slum... 

 

The litter issue has been over egged - I’ve lived in Bangkok for over 20 years and while litter is blowing around everywhere, litter is not ‘blocking streets’ etc...  the issue is people just drop stuff. 

 

This happens all over Thailand, everywhere we go see waste plastic and the ‘go to Thai’ #1 bit of littler, M150 bottle thrown on the side of the road. 

 

Go to any ‘developing nation’ and its obvious people do not have pride in the country in which they live.

 

Get dropped in any country (in any part) and within a few mins you can tell whether you are in a developing or developed nation by the amount of trash around. This could be in an inner city or the countryside.

 

51 minutes ago, Enzian said:

the government solves whatever unemployment there is by paying people to clean up the environment.

This is an excellent idea. 

 

The government already gets the ‘good prisoners out’ for drain cleaning (we see them occasionally on the streets of Bangkok in ‘groups’)....  

 

The government could employ people to pick up litter and clean the streets... But, as with virtually ALL the issues blighting Thailand which would see improvement for Thai’s, such as improved education, improved road safety, reduced litter...    the issue is that those in positions of decision making power are not held accountable and are thus never forced to even pretend to care. 

 

 

 

 

[Will B Good]

15 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Shocking is that there are few trash receptacles and folks just throw stuff on the ground.

Agree 100%....after providing trash receptacles (bins?) a major public education program will then be needed to explain to people what they are, what they achieve and how to use them.

[Burma Bill]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

that waste and garbage in the city are increasing at an alarming rate

Bangkok was ranked the first of the best cities in DestinAsian Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Awards 2022.

 

TAT take note - Bangkok the hub of garbage????

[VocalNeal]

2 hours ago, Enzian said:

But it's a FASCINATING dump. But seriously one of my fantasies is the government solves whatever unemployment there is by paying people to clean up the environment. You have to wonder if the elite even has their eyes open when they go out of their posh neighborhoods.

HiSo people hire nannies to look after their children and then house them is a grubby room at the bottom of the garden with primitive facilities! 

[mahtin]

7 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

HiSo people hire nannies to look after their children and then house them is a grubby room at the bottom of the garden with primitive facilities! 

How come you are privy to this?

[JonnyF]

Banning plastic bags at 711 and Tesco was a good start.

 

Unfortunately, they subsequently brought them back (but now charge 1 Baht for them, so the same environmental damage but more profit for CP which was probably the plan all along).

 

CP should really donate every Baht they make from selling these plastic bags to environmental projects. Having said that, even if they did that - the director of these projects would just spend the money on a Benz so nothing would improve anyway.

[Aussieroaming]

Thais need to start apportioning value to their old buildings and need to start beautifying them. New isn't always best or most desirable. As for waste and waste removal the waste truck clears all rubbish from our neighbourhood nightly. They did have some trash collection areas installed and fabricated with wire, sort of like oversized bins a few years ago but these have since disappeared again. Most rubbish is unbagged and re-sorted by hand (based on residual value and not recycling) before being thrown onto the truck.

[Stargeezr]

Bangkok Thailand is not a tourist site, it is a city that has lots of tourist sights within the city boundaries, and near by.

Just another poorly worded story heading. and it is not the only city in the world with garbage issues.

 

[BumGun]

On 3/22/2022 at 9:41 AM, vandeventer said:

We are still better than China I think? As they dump most of their raw sewage in the waters all around us.

Like the UK ?  https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60040162

 

 

Quote

 

Untreated sewage is being dumped illegally in rivers across the country on a regular basis, analysis shown to the BBC suggests.

It found seven water companies in England and Wales discharged untreated sewage into rivers and the sea more than 3,000 times between 2017 and 202

 

 

 

I am interested in Laos when it reopens, not so much rubbish I hear ?  Rwanda has a compulsory pick up rubbish day once a month for all citizens.  Perhaps Cambodia, Thailand etal could learn from this ?

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/07/18/628364015/how-rwanda-tidied-up-its-streets-and-the-rest-of-the-country-too

 

Quote

 

This is "Umuganda," a community cleanup held on the last Saturday of every month. It's one reason that Rwanda is renowned in Africa for its cleanliness.

It's not a volunteer project. Police monitor the streets and can stop Rwandans who aren't participating and make them clean up on the spot. Rwandans who don't participate in the cleanup can be fined 5,000 francs, nearly $6, not a small sum when average income is about $150 a month.

 

 

[Will B Good]

Just now, BumGun said:

Rwanda has a compulsory pick up rubbish day once a month for all citizens.  Perhaps Cambodia, Thailand etal could learn from this ?

Had something similar, though voluntary, in our village in Germany.

 

Once a month they would target a particular area......excellent idea......always beer afterwards.

[jacko45k]

On 3/22/2022 at 6:41 AM, vandeventer said:

We are still better than China I think? As they dump most of their raw sewage in the waters all around us. So it really doesn't pay to be a seafood lover here, and brag about it.

I thought a lot of it went on the vegetable allotment!

[KhunLA]

14 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Had something similar, though voluntary, in our village in Germany.

 

Once a month they would target a particular area......excellent idea......always beer afterwards.

Now if only the EU would dispose of there trash at home:

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Waste_shipment_statistics#:~:text=The Member States accounting for,Germany (0.9 million tonnes).&text=In 2019%2C the EU exported,recorded in 2017 and 2018.

"The Member States accounting for most waste exported in 2019 were France (2.1 million tonnes), Italy (1.1 million tonnes) and Germany (0.9 million tonnes). In 2019, the EU exported 18 kg of hazardous waste per inhabitant, slightly up from the 17 kg per capita recorded in 2017 and 2018"