Why is the Thai Countryside full of discarded rubbish?

[Andycoops]

Because most places don't have a rubbish collection service, although that is changing as my village has started one, so people dump stuff anywhere.

[Thingamabob]

18 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Walk in a fancy mall, get a coffee to go in a paper/plastic cup.

When finished try to find a garbage can.

Drive along a highway and see the rubbish flying off from the car ahead.

...

Many other observations possible.

In the Central malls that I visit, it's a detective job to find a garbage can.

 

Some years ago the BMA placed garbage bins in several busy locations. They were all stolen within 24 hours.

[jvs]

18 hours ago, JeffersLos said:

To give poor and homeless people an opportunity to make a few baht and be able to afford some food. 

 

It's very considerate of everyday folk to purposely and nobly leave their trash everywhere and anywhere in order to help the poor and less fortunate.

There is a lot of truth in that,yes not many things of any value are dumped.

There are always people over here making a small living out of recycling any thing of value.

Sarcasm intended i think but also very accurate.

 

[JRG23]

I went with family to some beaches out from Rayong/Chantaburi last weekend. Rubbish everywere on the beach. Food, bottles, plastic, everything. And not a foreigner insight (apart from me).

Shameful. No one takes responsibility.

[Lucky Bones]

I was horrified 12 years ago when my wife threw her plastic bag of empty coke and ice out the window of the car.

I was totally horrified when her 30 year old daughter did the same with 2 kids in the car some years later.

I think it starts at education, but sadly there is no education.🙃🙃

[stix40]

3 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

Because they can't discard their waste within the city they do it in the countryside. 😂

Looks awful 

Terrible shame! 

[newbee2022]

1 minute ago, stix40 said:

Looks awful 

Terrible shame! 

Yes, you're right. Many throw at after dark out of their car's window or from their motorcycle. 

The education to protect environment should start with their parents and has to continue in Kindergarten and all sorts of school up to university.

[stix40]

5 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

you  dont see it because its  hidden in the 6  foot  tall grass edges of the roadsides that they never  cut.

When they do cut the hedges 

Near us they have just done!

Jesus Christ the amounts 

Of plastic exposed 

My god ! 

 

 

 

 

[stix40]

2 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Yes, you're right. Many throw at after dark out of their car's window or from their motorcycle. 

The education to protect environment should start with their parents and has to continue in Kindergarten and all sorts of school up to university.

Absolutely agree

UK has a problem as well 

As many countries do

But parental education 

And school education on this subject is seriously missing 

[stix40]

8 minutes ago, stix40 said:

Looks awful 

Terrible shame! 

Rural farms 

Farmer cows 

Crops animals 

Farm yard 

What a fecking tip 

Plastic everywhere 

Not a patch on a UK farm 

Euro etc 

 

[newbee2022]

6 minutes ago, stix40 said:

Absolutely agree

UK has a problem as well 

As many countries do

But parental education 

And school education on this subject is seriously missing 

Sometimes I show the kids the bin for their icecream paper. However, the bin is too far away, around 100m. And the kids watching me blankly. Then you know you lost the "battle".

[Kinnock]

India is much, much worse for litter .... I saw rivers where you couldn't see any water because it was a flow of pure litter. 

 

I also think some regions in Thailand are worse than others.  In Chonburi, people seem to throw rubbish everywhere, but the local governments seem to attempt to collect it, and there's waste bins everywhere,  normally surrounded by rubbish - as people are too lazy to make that last 1 meter of effort to actually put their rubbish in the bin.  But I visited Chaiyaphum recently, and couldn't find a litter bin anywhere (and ended up carrying my plastic coffee cup all day) .... but didn't see much littering.

 

While in Bangkok people seem to throw all their rubbish in the rivers and down the storm drains .... so it finds its way to the beaches.

 

 

[newbee2022]

25 minutes ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

Been there..i volunteered in fishing village in vietnam....beautiful ocean and beach BUT the locals would come to beach at  sunset and leave trash about....i worked at  a hostel and there was a 5 start resort next door......so we would go out and collect trash to set an example..locals laughed at us,,,we even bought big blue cans to use for trash...next day they were stolen.....

,😂😄😂 sounds funny but it's not

[Kalasin Jo]

5 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Some have mentioned fly-tipping, which is not the same as littering. The former appears to be a far bigger problem in my native UK, from what I've read, but littering there is not.

 

In Thailand, there often appears to be no pride in their surroundings, especially the area around their house. When I moved into the house I have now, I filled two very large sacks with litter from the verge outside. Every week when the rubbish is put out for collection, I always need to add a few latest pieces. Why are they like this? Because, like little children, they need to be told how to behave, and no-one does it.

The land that surrounds and belong to our house is regularly littered by the Thai family. I make regular rounds to clear up the beer bottles, plastic bags, cigarette ends and other detritus that they leave where it falls. I've taken to providing bins but still rarely used.. same in the house...their idea of clearing up and cleaning is a quick sweep with a broom. Done Na krup? Inside they have at least learned to use the bins.  But empty them when full to overflowing. Nah. I sometimes deliberately let the kitchen one overflow to see if anyone will deal with it, nah just try and stuff even more in and then get " why you not empty the bin?" To which they get the obvious response " why don't you?" Food put in the fridge by them just stays there until  I throw it out.....of course that happens everywhere not just thailand. Chucking empties out of the window of cars and pick ups is an out of sight out of mind thing. At this social class here they either don't care or it's someone else's job to clear up, not theirs. I suspect it's the same all over the world. A recent photo of a sea of rubbish after some important footy match in Europe says it all

[TroubleandGrumpy]

21 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Walk in a fancy mall, get a coffee to go in a paper/plastic cup.

When finished try to find a garbage can.

Drive along a highway and see the rubbish flying off from the car ahead.

...

Many other observations possible.

In the Central malls that I visit, it's a detective job to find a garbage can.

 

There is usually one near to top/bottom of all escalators. 

Detective T&G (retired) 

[scubascuba3]

6 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

you  dont see it because its  hidden in the 6  foot  tall grass edges of the roadsides that they never  cut.

Good, shouldn't cut them, but presumably you'd see a path where rubbish is dumped

[richard_smith237]

22 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

The Thai solution will be more litter police and more 2,000 fines for dropping a paperclip on Sukhumvit. 

 

I don't disagree with fining people for littering... its the hypocritical duplicity of specifically targeting foreigners in this area that is quite offensive - but this is a different issue altogether.

 

[Purdey]

I have been informed that, while the major cities have waste collection agencies, the rural areas often do not have anyone collecting waste so farmers collect it and bury it or burn it.

My organization once offered to donate waste bins to Watthana district so that Sukhumvit would have one every 50 meters within their district. 

They politely declined, explaining that it would create a worse problem as Thais would throw waste in the general direction of the bins, not in them, thus exacerbating the problem. 

I was also informed that they could not collect waste several times a day as it would cause traffic jams.

[NorthernRyland]

On 5/10/2024 at 1:19 PM, stix40 said:

Any idea why ?

The countryside here is turning into one big tip !

Plastic and discarded rubbish everywhere 

Are people here not interested in their precious country? 

Answers on a postcard 

it's terrible where I live. You can go one meter without seeing plastic on the side of the road. People in the backs of pickups eat and throw all the trash over the side. Pathetic behavior and it's depressing to look at. 

[NorthernRyland]

3 hours ago, Lucky Bones said:

I was totally horrified when her 30 year old daughter did the same with 2 kids in the car some years later.

I think it starts at education, but sadly there is no education.🙃🙃

you can't "educate" a person who has no regard for others or their environment. Maybe brainwashing would work but certainly no education.

[Pdavies99]

Because most Thais sweep their rubbish to the side of their property and throw waste bags on top, that's it. Little or no pride in the country as a whole.

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 5/10/2024 at 1:19 PM, stix40 said:

Any idea why ?

The countryside here is turning into one big tip !

Plastic and discarded rubbish everywhere 

Are people here not interested in their precious country? 

Answers on a postcard 

They haven't been educated. 

 

Before plastic came along all packaging was organic. Thai's would eat their food etc. then throw the banana leaf (or whatever the packaging material) into the bushes where it would compost. 

 

These days every thing is packaged in plastic. 

 

[NorthernRyland]

3 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

They haven't been educated. 

I disagree, they know it's wrong but they do it because it's easy and they don't care if they live around trash like we do. If trash pickup was a new concept they never thought of before then sure they can be educated about this new idea but that's obviously not the case. As said over and over again they simply take no pride in their surroundings.

[RobU]

We live in Nong Khai Province and regularly go to the popular market on the banks of the Mekong River. 

Rubbish collection and tidying up afterwards is good but there are no rubbish bins in the market. The bankside is littered with garbage where people have just casually thrown it over the railings. It is never cleared away only the market site is cleaned. We have good regular weekly garbage collections but I take a walk round our village and there is plastic garbage at the side of the street and in locations where people gather. It's the job of the headman to ensure there is no litter but ours is a lazy man who spends his time making speeches and 'being the headman ' but actually doing nothing.  Again no rubbish bins in the village which could be emptied by the weekly garbage collection

[stix40]

14 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

They haven't been educated. 

 

Before plastic came along all packaging was organic. Thai's would eat their food etc. then throw the banana leaf (or whatever the packaging material) into the bushes where it would compost. 

 

These days every thing is packaged in plastic. 

 

Thai 

Should go back to that 

Organic packaging 

Retro excellent 👌 

 

[stix40]

20 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

maybe thailand isnt for you.....please do tell us of this Utopia that you originally came from where the streets are paved with gold...

I love Thailand 

But there disrespect of the countryside is incredible 

They are a farming nation 

Don't give them excuses

It doesn't take a lot to not just dump your packaging everywhere 

I didn't come from utopia you 

clown 🤡 

Sort your countryside out 

Fool 

[actonion]

On 5/10/2024 at 3:27 PM, ChicagoExpat said:

Even the nicest restaurant, resort, or hotel will have piles of garbage laying around in plain sight -- old furniture, sinks, etc.

 

Thai people themselves have such good hygiene, weird that they tolerate so much rubbish where they live and work.

Good hygiene ? With the Rats and Cockroaches cleaning up after them, _+++

[SAFETY FIRST]

29 minutes ago, stix40 said:

Sort your countryside out

It's not just the countryside. 

 

I live in Pattaya, when I visit 7eleven I regularly see the Thai's discarding litter on the footpath outside the store. Items like the plastic that covers the straw on their drinks, or the cigarette packets, plastic and foil paper within cigarette box are thrown on the ground. 

 

[stix40]

6 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

It's not just the countryside. 

 

I live in Pattaya, when I visit 7eleven I regularly see the Thai's discarding litter on the footpath outside the store. Items like the plastic that covers the straw on their drinks, or the cigarette packets, plastic and foil paper within cigarette box are thrown on the ground. 

 

Well it's the young that will suffer

It's their future it's their country 

This generation of parents going back maybe 10 year 

Teach no respect 

It's going the way the west has gone 

Great shame ! 

 

[stix40]

That's it 

Proper disposal methods needed badly 

Government should make it a priority 

Short sighted Mac Mac ! 

Young Thai stand up and be counted 

Look after your countryside 

And it will look after you 

All take and no give back 

Cannot go on for ever ! 

Show other countries what you can achieve.