Illegal garbage incineration

[3STTW]

Almost every evening we are overwhelmed by the stench of burning plastic. I just had my gutters cleaned and the bucket of rubbish was mostly half-incinerated food wrappers and bin bag material. We also have the cinders and other cr@p all over the yard.

 

I get that times are tight and people may be having trouble paying their utility bills but this has got to a point where it's a major PITA. Trouble is, it's really difficult to identify who is responsible and how we can get it stopped.

 

Any ideas?

[Puccini]

Report it to the district (amphoe, อำเภอ) office or the sub-district (tambon, ตำบล) office.

[lopburi3]

Perhaps a more proactive approach would work - getting village a common bin and funding removal (even if the minority has to pay the majority)?  Burning has been the traditional method, not only here but most of the world, so most do not understand they are doing something wrong and putting themselves and other in danger.  Believe some effort has been made in this area but as said times are really bad for many and those that have funds are a minority these days.  

[nobodysfriend]

Where we live , the garbage truck comes once a week to collect the rubbish ... but some still burn it ...

[Will B Good]

Bonfires of rubbish every single morning now the weather is cooler.

 

Choking, dense smoke sits over the whole village.......and there is one lone voice complaining about it.....which is pointless I admit.

[HauptmannUK]

Rural Thai's seem to enjoy burning rubbish, even when collection is available. I've managed to stop my wife from doing it. She would choose a location such that the smoke drifted away from her house - and for good measure top the fire off with some plastic to generate acrid poisonous fumes. 

[Will B Good]

5 minutes ago, HauptmannUK said:

Rural Thai's seem to enjoy burning rubbish, even when collection is available. I've managed to stop my wife from doing it. She would choose a location such that the smoke drifted away from her house - and for good measure top the fire off with some plastic to generate acrid poisonous fumes. 

They love it....drove past a family of five this am with grey, acrid smoke billowing out from a bonfire......all sat around it.

 

The thing is......... the smoke tends to rise quickly in the still air and settles over the neighbouring properties not their own......not that that would bother them.

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, 3STTW said:

Any ideas?

Follow the smoke?

[In Full Agreement]

2 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Perhaps a more proactive approach would work - getting village a common bin and funding removal (even if the minority has to pay the majority)?  Burning has been the traditional method, not only here but most of the world, so most do not understand they are doing something wrong and putting themselves and other in danger.  Believe some effort has been made in this area but as said times are really bad for many and those that have funds are a minority these days.  

 

 

Your suggestion is admirable but getting people to pay their fair share is an uphill battle at best.

 

Stinginess runs deep. 

 

[Denim]

1 hour ago, nobodysfriend said:

Where we live , the garbage truck comes once a week to collect the rubbish ... but some still burn it ...

Twice a week here, Monday and Thursdays but they don't take garden waste ( leaves and branches ).

 

Most of my garden waste is huge dry leaves from Teak tree. Gave up composting them and now burn them once a week as the sun goes down and people close up for the night as mosquitoes get lively. . Flares up for 60 seconds then all gone in about 3 minutes.

 

What is needed is a proper municipal dump where garbage and old furniture can be sorted and disposed of or recycled.

[lopburi3]

9 minutes ago, In Full Agreement said:

 

 

Your suggestion is admirable but getting people to pay their fair share is an uphill battle at best.

 

Stinginess runs deep. 

 

Actually was more of those that can pay do so.  Recall 40 years ago our village published list of those paying as inducement without listing those not paying.  It never works 100% but 80 is better than 50.

[In Full Agreement]

4 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Actually was more of those that can pay do so.  Recall 40 years ago our village published list of those paying as inducement without listing those not paying.  It never works 100% but 80 is better than 50.

Special village.     ????

[Andycoops]

3 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Perhaps a more proactive approach would work - getting village a common bin and funding removal (even if the minority has to pay the majority)?  Burning has been the traditional method, not only here but most of the world, so most do not understand they are doing something wrong and putting themselves and other in danger.  Believe some effort has been made in this area but as said times are really bad for many and those that have funds are a minority these days.  

We now have small bins in the village shared by 4/5 houses and pay a small monthly fee to have them emptied once or twice a week.

The major problem is the burning of other waste.

I burn my garden waste and use the ash as fertilizer on the market garden.

[Ste78]

try coming across the motorway 7 in Jomtien, it seems fog from the amount of smoke every night around 8/9pm.

 

you stop at the ticket booth and almost cannot breath, I don't know how ppl can live with this

 

it's not new, always happening from 2 years from when I'm in Thailand

 

some neighbors also do it, just wait the dark and you will find the smell all around

 

it looks like Langkawi, nice island but smell from burn everyday

[hotandsticky]

8 minutes ago, Ste78 said:

try coming across the motorway 7 in Jomtien, it seems fog from the amount of smoke every night around 8/9pm.

 

you stop at the ticket booth and almost cannot breath, I don't know how ppl can live with this

 

it's not new, always happening from 2 years from when I'm in Thailand

 

some neighbors also do it, just wait the dark and you will find the smell all around

 

it looks like Langkawi, nice island but smell from burn everyday

 

 

Get Easy Pass, your life will improve immediately.

[3STTW]

So I guess I'm not the only one!

 

Identifying the culprit(s) isn't so easy as we live in a suburban area, the fires burn after sunset so "following the smoke" isn't practical. On the other hand, there are some new shop-lots nearby with some workers housing behind, so there's a high probability it's coming from there.

 

Contacting the Tambon seems the best idea, I'm all for supplying a bin but that would require somebody to take responsibility for putting it out on collection day - and I know what Thais when it comes to responsibilities. Also, word will spread that farangs are supplying bins for free and so on...

[LikeItHot]

They can do anything they want and you can't do anything about it. Them's the rules.

[rickudon]

When i moved to my village 12 years ago, there was a lot of rubbish burning (including M-in-L who burnt leaves about twice a week). Now the only burning IN the village is garden waste, nearly every house has a bin. Litter has also declined a lot, except for the damn soi dogs 'recycling' it back on the ground.

 

Still a fair bit of field burning, but this rarely reaches the village. I did buy an air purifier about 5 years ago, but only need to use one or two days a year now.

[Gandtee]

7 hours ago, Ste78 said:

try coming across the motorway 7 in Jomtien, it seems fog from the amount of smoke every night around 8/9pm.

 

you stop at the ticket booth and almost cannot breath, I don't know how ppl can live with this

 

it's not new, always happening from 2 years from when I'm in Thailand

 

some neighbors also do it, just wait the dark and you will find the smell all around

 

it looks like Langkawi, nice island but smell from burn everyday

Some do it to keep the mosquitoes at bay. I had a buffalo and in the evenings my helper used to light coconut shells and the buffalo would stand over it.

[Keep Right]

So what else is new, you live in a third world county where corruption is the norm.

[4MyEgo]

Just got back from an overseas trip where the air was crystal clear, loved the 7.00am morning walks, up to 10-15km's a day.

 

Now back to the village with thick smoke in the morning and late afternoon, certainly makes a difference, which includes not having garbage bins and everyone burning what and how they like.

 

We have 3 bins, 1 for mainly rubbish which is usually paper, 2nd one is for recyclables and the 3rd is for plastics to which I take with me and put in a bin in town which is about 20 minutes away.

 

The number 1 usually gets buried on one of my wife's land, recyclables the father-in-law sorts out and keeps the coins he makes out of it.

 

Food stuff goes into the garden compost.

 

Sad that we are the only ones that do it and if I find a single piece of plastic in the wrong bin, the red flag goes up, kids running everywhere.....LOL

[KhunLA]

We do burn out 'packaging', as imagine that's what the municipality does with it anyway, or worse, dumps it in the sea.   Buy very little processed foods, so very little gets burned.   Heavier packaging, from online purchases, along with plastic & metals, goes to recycling, which again, hopefully, most is burned and not dumped in the sea.  Pays for beer, or I'd burn that also.

 

Anything and everything else, get composted.

 

Reckon having trash to energy plants would be way to practical.

You can make a smokeless burn barrel:

 

[4MyEgo]

58 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

We do burn out 'packaging', as imagine that's what the municipality does with it anyway, or worse, dumps it in the sea.   Buy very little processed foods, so very little gets burned.   Heavier packaging, from online purchases, along with plastic & metals, goes to recycling, which again, hopefully, most is burned and not dumped in the sea.  Pays for beer, or I'd burn that also.

 

Anything and everything else, get composted.

 

Reckon having trash to energy plants would be way to practical.

You can make a smokeless burn barrel:

 

Appreciated this video so much that I am going to get the builder/lackey to build me one and one for the father-in-law, who knows, word might spread around the village that it's better than the way they do things.

 

Only thing is will people be prepared to pay for the outlay as they won't depart for a monthly amount for the garbage truck, so we have no bins, dispose of at your own peril, I think the garbage truck pickups were 110 baht per month so you see what we are up against ????

 

[Surasak]

23 hours ago, In Full Agreement said:

 

 

Your suggestion is admirable but getting people to pay their fair share is an uphill battle at best.

 

Stinginess runs deep. 

 

And there was I thinking it to be thrift!

[KhunLA]

8 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

I think the garbage truck pickups were 110 baht per month so you see what we are up against ????

 

Ours in last village, Udon Thani was 20 a month, and sporadic pick ups.  We never used, and burned, same as here, as pack dogs from wat across the street would spread the trash all over.  Nothing tried kept them out of it.

[GarryP]

15 hours ago, rickudon said:

When i moved to my village 12 years ago, there was a lot of rubbish burning (including M-in-L who burnt leaves about twice a week). Now the only burning IN the village is garden waste, nearly every house has a bin. Litter has also declined a lot, except for the damn soi dogs 'recycling' it back on the ground.

 

Still a fair bit of field burning, but this rarely reaches the village. I did buy an air purifier about 5 years ago, but only need to use one or two days a year now.

What is the air quality like up there in Udon? Will be moving quite close at the end of the year. Just hoping it is better than Bangkok.  

[herfiehandbag]

Where I live there are no collections. The amphur used to have a landfill, but now they keep it locked. I went to see the Poo Yai Ban to enquire, he said burn it.

 

Recycling - I found a recycler who agreed to come every couple of weeks. I told him I didn't want any money - just for him to come by and take the recycling. I went out and bought 4 big plastic baskets, one for glass, one for plastic, one for tins and one for aluminium cans. He came once, took the baskets away with him! Never seen him again.

 

People burn rubbish because there is really no other choice.

[rickudon]

7 hours ago, GarryP said:

What is the air quality like up there in Udon? Will be moving quite close at the end of the year. Just hoping it is better than Bangkok.  

Official statistics say not wonderful, but only a few monitoring stations all on major routes. You can get those stats here -

 

https://www.iqair.com/th-en/thailand/changwat-udon-thani/udon-thani

 

However, rainy season quality is usually good. Problem with the monitors is that a lot of the pollution is from diesel exhaust or infrastructure building projects around the main routes. Get 300 metres outside the ring road, where i live, and air quality is a lot better, I cannot usually 'taste' the air pollution, unlike Bangkok which always seems to reek of diesel. Visibility usually over a kilometre (hard to see further, as quite flat). You can see a haze if you drive down the ring road at busy times. Get away from the major roads and air is a lot better. Field burning has also declined a fair bit in 10 years near the city. Dust is the main problem rather than smoke. Pick your location carefully!

[GarryP]

3 minutes ago, rickudon said:

Official statistics say not wonderful, but only a few monitoring stations all on major routes. You can get those stats here -

 

https://www.iqair.com/th-en/thailand/changwat-udon-thani/udon-thani

 

However, rainy season quality is usually good. Problem with the monitors is that a lot of the pollution is from diesel exhaust or infrastructure building projects around the main routes. Get 300 metres outside the ring road, where i live, and air quality is a lot better, I cannot usually 'taste' the air pollution, unlike Bangkok which always seems to reek of diesel. Visibility usually over a kilometre (hard to see further, as quite flat). You can see a haze if you drive down the ring road at busy times. Get away from the major roads and air is a lot better. Field burning has also declined a fair bit in 10 years near the city. Dust is the main problem rather than smoke. Pick your location carefully!

Thanks. My house will be on a two lane road (2253) in a small provincial town in Kalasin so traffic is quite low. Sugar cane burning has also declined in this area too. 

[radiochaser]

On 10/31/2022 at 9:57 PM, KhunLA said:

We do burn out 'packaging', as imagine that's what the municipality does with it anyway, or worse, dumps it in the sea.   Buy very little processed foods, so very little gets burned.   Heavier packaging, from online purchases, along with plastic & metals, goes to recycling, which again, hopefully, most is burned and not dumped in the sea.  Pays for beer, or I'd burn that also.

 

Anything and everything else, get composted.

 

Reckon having trash to energy plants would be way to practical.

You can make a smokeless burn barrel:

 

Aaaaahhhhh yes! This brings back memories of burning classified military documents once a week in South East Asia.