Ban Chang Beach Clean Up.

[Richb2004v2]

I posted on TV a while ago about cleaning up the beaches of Ban Chang, but never actually did anything about it. Well today I finally made a start with Nam Rin beach. I peddle there fairly regularly as well as the other two beaches, Phala and Payun, and hate to see the plastic bags and junk strewn everywhere. The Thais obviously aren't too bothered as at Nam Rin they have picnics and the kids play in the sea surrounded by it . Anyway today I peddled there and collected a bin bag full of rubbish, and deposited it in one of the many empty bins there. Of course I didn't make a huge impact with one bag full but I figure if I do it a few times per week if should gradually improve. The idea is mainly to clean the beach and make it less of an eyesore, but I am hoping maybe the locals might see me and pitch in. If nothing else I will get a bit of extra exercise. If anyone else feels like helping out PM me. I have attached a few pictures of the beach as it is.

[longball53098]

You are one of those that is not afraid to act. I agree the beaches are really an eyesore and the local Thais don't seem to care.

Interesting post and something I have actually thought about.

I could certainly use the exercise.

I am the typical procrastinator and it takes me many hours of thinking before I act so I hope you keep it up and maybe I'll join you one day

[richard2841]

I was at the beach last week end its beautiful, is the rubbish from the beach or does it come in with the tide.

Is it worth getting notices in Thai – put all rubbish in the bins or will it be ignored. Myself and my wife cleared an area with bin bags just for us to rest in. We keep bin bags in the car for our visits to the various beaches.

[draggons]

I live right on the beach between Payun and Palah. One day it can be spotless the next tide it's covered with crap again. Looks like there's some construction going on down by the port and a lot of the debris seems to be used sand bags getting washed up, along with the other usuall crap.

[Richb2004v2]

I went again today, this time with two bags. I was shocked when I go there, as it was even worse. The tide was a little further out and revealed the massive amount of rubbish collected in a pool. It really seemed like I might be wasting my time. Still, I pressed on and managed to clear one whole area of large plastic bags etc. I think that many of the large bags are coming from construction somewhere, but there seems to be a lot of rice bags too. There was one pile of stuff that looked like an emptied bag of domestic waste, like food packets etc. Since yesterday there was even more dropped waste on the area before the beach. Things like plastic snack bags seemed to have been freshly discarded. There were a lot of people there this morning, especially a lot of teenagers. The folk having picnics just seem to leave much of their waste where they sit. There was a new whiskey bottle box on the road near a group picnicing and drinking whiskey. It's so frustrating. My eventual idea, if I manage to actually make good progress, is to make wooden signs to erect. It could be a very nice area if the Thais could be educated. It defies my understanding that there is a nice fairly new restaurant there and directly over the road are piles of rubbish. You would think that they would take an interest in the area. The ride to the beach is great exercise, and it only takes less than an hour and a half to get there do a bit and peddle home.

[kmart]

I went again today, this time with two bags. I was shocked when I go there, as it was even worse. The tide was a little further out and revealed the massive amount of rubbish collected in a pool. It really seemed like I might be wasting my time. Still, I pressed on and managed to clear one whole area of large plastic bags etc. I think that many of the large bags are coming from construction somewhere, but there seems to be a lot of rice bags too. There was one pile of stuff that looked like an emptied bag of domestic waste, like food packets etc. Since yesterday there was even more dropped waste on the area before the beach. Things like plastic snack bags seemed to have been freshly discarded. There were a lot of people there this morning, especially a lot of teenagers. The folk having picnics just seem to leave much of their waste where they sit. There was a new whiskey bottle box on the road near a group picnicing and drinking whiskey. It's so frustrating. My eventual idea, if I manage to actually make good progress, is to make wooden signs to erect. It could be a very nice area if the Thais could be educated. It defies my understanding that there is a nice fairly new restaurant there and directly over the road are piles of rubbish. You would think that they would take an interest in the area. The ride to the beach is great exercise, and it only takes less than an hour and a half to get there do a bit and peddle home.

I admire your determination, Richb. I have long since stopped bothering trying clean up after some slack-jawed ignorant t@#ts who just cannot be arsed to walk a few metres to deposit their crap into a bin. It would be nice if someone allocated responsibility to maybe the restaurants closest to the rubbish, to pick it up, but I'm not holding my breath.

A lot of family outings don't seem to be enjoyable unless they've left a pile of plastic behind them. Maybe we should get a few spoof flyers printed; "Welcome To Prayoon / Pala Festival of Litter" or something? it might cause someone into losing face and actually doing something about it.

[Richb2004v2]

I went again today, this time with two bags. I was shocked when I go there, as it was even worse. The tide was a little further out and revealed the massive amount of rubbish collected in a pool. It really seemed like I might be wasting my time. Still, I pressed on and managed to clear one whole area of large plastic bags etc. I think that many of the large bags are coming from construction somewhere, but there seems to be a lot of rice bags too. There was one pile of stuff that looked like an emptied bag of domestic waste, like food packets etc. Since yesterday there was even more dropped waste on the area before the beach. Things like plastic snack bags seemed to have been freshly discarded. There were a lot of people there this morning, especially a lot of teenagers. The folk having picnics just seem to leave much of their waste where they sit. There was a new whiskey bottle box on the road near a group picnicing and drinking whiskey. It's so frustrating. My eventual idea, if I manage to actually make good progress, is to make wooden signs to erect. It could be a very nice area if the Thais could be educated. It defies my understanding that there is a nice fairly new restaurant there and directly over the road are piles of rubbish. You would think that they would take an interest in the area. The ride to the beach is great exercise, and it only takes less than an hour and a half to get there do a bit and peddle home.

I admire your determination, Richb. I have long since stopped bothering trying clean up after some slack-jawed ignorant t@#ts who just cannot be arsed to walk a few metres to deposit their crap into a bin. It would be nice if someone allocated responsibility to maybe the restaurants closest to the rubbish, to pick it up, but I'm not holding my breath.

A lot of family outings don't seem to be enjoyable unless they've left a pile of plastic behind them. Maybe we should get a few spoof flyers printed; "Welcome To Prayoon / Pala Festival of Litter" or something? it might cause someone into losing face and actually doing something about it.

That's a very good idea about the spoof signs

I know what you mean about the restaurants. I used to go to them quite often and although the areas weren't very bad there was always some rubbish directly in front of their chairs. I could never understand why they didn't keep their areas clean. I don't think that visitors taken to these locations from back home would be too impressed.

It will be interesting/annoying to see what condition the area is in after this weekend.

[Richb2004v2]

I was going to make this into a Blog, but that option doesn't work on any of my PCs, so I will update here.

I have been doing the beach clean up for six days now and have had some success. On the third day I had the help of a local stall holder who has been with me every day since. Today two teenage boys helped and yesterday two teenage girls. We only fill two or three bags per day but have made good progress. One area is almost completely clear now. Once the tide goes out we will finish that area by clearing the bags in the temporary pool.

It is incredible the amount of rubbish collected and the assortment. Yesterday I collected four toothbrushes and today another two! They may not care about the environment but they seem to take good care of their teeth.

Several groups of Thais have shown interest and sympathy which is great, and one of the stall holders came out yesterday and cleaned his area, apparently for the first time. Sadly some still don't get the message. We cleaned around a group yesterday that were picnicking. I thought they were sure to get the idea as we were explaining to another teenage group about what we were doing. It seems not. The picnickers left a couple of empty beer bottles and food stuff behind for us.

Anyway, i am sure it is worth while and we will keep at it.

[manjara]

I was going to make this into a Blog, but that option doesn't work on any of my PCs, so I will update here.

I have been doing the beach clean up for six days now and have had some success. On the third day I had the help of a local stall holder who has been with me every day since. Today two teenage boys helped and yesterday two teenage girls. We only fill two or three bags per day but have made good progress. One area is almost completely clear now. Once the tide goes out we will finish that area by clearing the bags in the temporary pool.

It is incredible the amount of rubbish collected and the assortment. Yesterday I collected four toothbrushes and today another two! They may not care about the environment but they seem to take good care of their teeth.

Several groups of Thais have shown interest and sympathy which is great, and one of the stall holders came out yesterday and cleaned his area, apparently for the first time. Sadly some still don't get the message. We cleaned around a group yesterday that were picnicking. I thought they were sure to get the idea as we were explaining to another teenage group about what we were doing. It seems not. The picnickers left a couple of empty beer bottles and food stuff behind for us.

Anyway, i am sure it is worth while and we will keep at it.

I was at Nam Rin beach last weekend with my family and the place was relatively clean. Now I know who we have to thank for that!

The weather was awful, so we only went to the restaurant and had a short walk on the beach.

We are looking to buy a place somewhere down that way, not too far from St Andrews school Rayong and near the beach. If anyone has any tips for good places to look, I'd be much obliged.

If I end up anywhere near Nam Rin, I'll give you a hand with the clean-up.

In terms of educating the thais, I don't know what the best solution is. I always make my daughters pick up their own litter, but my wife has a conditioned response to pick-up/clean everything for them and I have to stop her and get my kids to do it themselves. You have to start with the kids and get them involved somehow.

Perhaps giving a prize for the most dirty group of Thais (or Farang) on the beach?

[Richb2004v2]

I’m back home now after four weeks away. I visited the beach today to see how things were. Sadly the area I have been cleaning was covered in all manner of litter. It was high tide so I couldn’t really see all the areas that we had cleaned, but the area further up the beach was terrible. I think a lot of it was from the recent Loy Kratong (misspelling). I think that my Thai cleaning partner is loosing heart, as am I. He was complaining that the Thais only make jokes when they see us, and comment that it is good, but that they do nothing but continue to drop litter.

[longball53098]

Its really hard to change the bad habits developed over generations. It will take a long time to change the mind set of the Thai people in general. On a side note I drove through that area on my bike the day after Loi Kratong and was actually quite surprised that the street area and close beach areas were quite clean. So what you see has accumulated since then.

A bit of history of the US and the anti-litter campagin back in the 50's and 60's. As a young boy in the early 50's I can remember litter on the highways and byways and it was not uncommon to throw whatever out the car window or as the Thais just drop it where you are. Then the US started a litter education program and it took years but now in the 2000's we are very litter smart and aware. It needs to start in all the Thai schools at an early age and the kids will brow beat the parents into submission. We won't see any dramatic change now in our life but it could happen given time. First thing they need to do is outlaw all the plastic bags of any kind.

[kmart]

Its really hard to change the bad habits developed over generations. It will take a long time to change the mind set of the Thai people in general. On a side note I drove through that area on my bike the day after Loi Kratong and was actually quite surprised that the street area and close beach areas were quite clean. So what you see has accumulated since then.

A bit of history of the US and the anti-litter campagin back in the 50's and 60's. As a young boy in the early 50's I can remember litter on the highways and byways and it was not uncommon to throw whatever out the car window or as the Thais just drop it where you are. Then the US started a litter education program and it took years but now in the 2000's we are very litter smart and aware. It needs to start in all the Thai schools at an early age and the kids will brow beat the parents into submission. We won't see any dramatic change now in our life but it could happen given time. First thing they need to do is outlaw all the plastic bags of any kind.

It's not for us to criticize the poor little darlings, you know? Besides, the system here is geared up to keeping the masses as ignorant as possible; a bit of litter here and there is a small price to pay. Be careful what you wish for...

[Deelectro]

Hey Good for you! who knows, you might just get the ball rolling, it would be so nice down there if it was cleaner because these beaches are close to town and have so much potential. I normally avoid them, if I have time for a beach day I'll be off to HNL at Sattahip, but it would be nice to be able to scoot down to Nam Rim or Pala for an afternoon. I think a lot of the debris comes in from the ocean.

Has anyone ever tested the water quality there? I'm an avid swimmer, but with Maptaput so close, I wonder, but it looks pretty clean.

[Richb2004v2]

Hey Good for you! who knows, you might just get the ball rolling, it would be so nice down there if it was cleaner because these beaches are close to town and have so much potential. I normally avoid them, if I have time for a beach day I'll be off to HNL at Sattahip, but it would be nice to be able to scoot down to Nam Rim or Pala for an afternoon. I think a lot of the debris comes in from the ocean.

Has anyone ever tested the water quality there? I'm an avid swimmer, but with Maptaput so close, I wonder, but it looks pretty clean.

Is HNL a much better beach then, and where is it? It is a shame that Nam Rin is so close but so dirty. I havn't been to Phala or Payun for a while. I must go and check them out some time.

[longball53098]

I think Phala on the far end near the Utapao border is better as it doesn't get the traffic like the others.

[Deelectro]

HNL up by Sattahip is quite nice, the water is picture poster blue, and the beach is mostly clean. Strong currents at times so be careful if you are not a strong swimmer. it is getting very crowded on the weekends these days, and more and more expats with their small swim suits and big bellies, Unfortunately it has become a little too organized with the Public address system announcements, and closing time of 6PM. so it is best to leave by 5:25 to avoid hearing the "clear out" messages, it used to be nice to sit and watch the sunset, darn shame. So it is encouraging to see that Pala Payoon and nam rim are so much cleaner than I remember. Nice and close, and the water is not too bad. I'll be going there more often. Good work on the clean up

[Richb2004v2]

I have actually more or less given up on the beach clean. I posted about it a month or so ago in the general forum. Here is is repeated.

I have finally hung up my cleaning gloves. sad.gif

After a few months at this task it has beaten me.

Today I peddled to the beach again, but this time I just took a look at todays new layer of garbage and turned round and peddled back home. I have, I think, figured the situation out, and realized it is beyond me intervention. I originally thought it was a case of educating the Thais to use the available bins. Its more than this. I now understand that the Thais will never put their garbage in the bin. I have watched them. Even when the empty bin is only six feet away they will not put it in the bin as a matter of principle. They believe that it is not their job. It is the job of a cleaner. They may put it all in a plastic carrier bag and leave it six feet from the bin, but there is no way they will actually put it in the bin. I have never seen a Thai put their rubbish in the bin. So no matter what I say to them or demonstrate they believe that it is not their job. This is my theory anyway.

The other problem is even more difficult to rectify. The women that work as cleaners of the beach are exasperating the problem. They do collect some of the plastic bags left by the Thais and put them in the bin, or by the bin. The other litter that is not in bags or too far from the bin is simply swept directly from the concrete grassed area onto the beach. This is why each day there is a huge amount of litter at the bottom of each set of steps and a layer of plastic bags, crisp bags, plastic cups and everything else. I was thinking of trying to talk to the cleaners but I think this would be useless and not achieve anything. I doubt I can change the way they have been working from day one.

So, I have decided that its not worth it anymore. I go away for four weeks tomorrow. I might go back to Nam Rin when I return to see what state it is in. Its a shame as it could be a nice beach, but I will be switch to using Phala beach which is better but a little further from home.

I actually returned yesterday. I will go to the beach in a few days to see how it is. If, as I expect, it is in a terrible state then i will indeed call it a day and instead begin to use one of the other beaches. I am sad about this but I have to be realistic and admit defeat.

[longball53098]

Sorry to hear that you got beaten down but I am not really surprised.

I too believe that it's a combination of things that makes Thai so irresponsible about this. One is this "not my job" idea. If they carry the trash to the bin then they deprive the cleaner the work of cleaning it up and if the cleaner has nothing to pick up then they have no job and no money. It's an inbred cultural thing. As for the cleaner doing the work they have no education and real training just the probable instruction to clean the area along the street. Nothing is said about where to put the trash. So Thais being Thais she sweeps it to the beach as that's easier than carrying it to the bin.

If you ever saw the old Steve McQueen movie "The Sand Pebbles" this state of mind was clearly shown in the early part of the movie when they discussed how Steve's character was taking away the Chinese man's "rice bowl" and he was losing face.

[neverdie]

Richb,

I admire your efforts. I also know what it is like to be the butt of thai jokes because I have been known to pick up litter as well. I was actually abused by two thai guys when I stopped to pick up and put some litter in the bin. Its not just the beaches, its everywhere, the roadside, the bushland, just about no where is safe from the littering. There is a house near mine & everyday the lady from there crosses the street, not 10 metres from the front of her house and empties her trashcan into the bushland there, she then just turns around and waddles back to her home either oblivious to or ignorant to the damage she is doing...ie: plastic & crap blowing everywhere.

As for putting cleaners out of work by not putting your rubbish in the bin that is a great load of rubbish in itself. Even if everyone was putting their personal rubbish in the bin at a given location, there would still be plenty of messes for the cleaner to tidy up. My Thai girlfriend never use to understand what I was saying about the littering here until she travelled to Australia & we did a fair bit of travelling there too & the main thing that has stuck with her is how clean it was....most certainly much cleaner than here.

I also found it interesting that one particular campaign by the thai goverment to stop littering was simply a number of ads with stated, "Littering is bad for tourism" <deleted>..... surely they can do better than that?

It's a pity really, Thailand is such a wonderful country & has so much natural beauty, but the entire place is being treated like a massive TRASH CAN!

[longball53098]

It took at least 2 generations or more of education and training to get people in the US to do what your asking the Thais to do! I date myself but I know for a fact that when I was a young whipper snapper it was as common then as it is today in LOS to throw you're sh^t where ever you felt like.

If they started a anti-litter campaign that had any teeth in it maybe in about 40 years you may see improvement.

And the sweepers and cleaners will still have a job even if people drop stuff in the bins.

My point earlier was to try to explain the Thai mentality not about losing jobs and a face thing. Its all status and face. It may be as simple as they think its beneath them to put the junk in a can as its someone else's job.

[Richb2004v2]

It took at least 2 generations or more of education and training to get people in the US to do what your asking the Thais to do! I date myself but I know for a fact that when I was a young whipper snapper it was as common then as it is today in LOS to throw you're sh^t where ever you felt like.

If they started a anti-litter campaign that had any teeth in it maybe in about 40 years you may see improvement.

And the sweepers and cleaners will still have a job even if people drop stuff in the bins.

My point earlier was to try to explain the Thai mentality not about losing jobs and a face thing. Its all status and face. It may be as simple as they think its beneath them to put the junk in a can as its someone else's job.

I'm not sure it took that long in the UK. I remember the adds on TV in the 70's. I'd say that by the late 80's things were turned around. I could be wrong though, maybe the adds stated earlier.

I do think its partly a face thing too. They just don't believe that its their job to do it.