Insurmountable trash washed up on Bang Saen beach reaching 10 tons per day

[PhilipCook]

Surprisingly the beach near the Dusit in Pattaya is filthy every day of the year and not a peep from anyone. From Ban Chang to Maptaput much worse and locals barely notice the volume of rubbish as they stroll past.

[thaimat]

It's not only this beach, most of the beaches on the East Coast have this problem.

The big beaches in Rayong (Had Maer Lampung, Suan Son, Laem Mae Pim), could be world class if they were cleaned more often but as it is now they tend to look like a garbage dump. After a long weekend once the BKK tourists go back home the beaches are shockingly bad.

The oil spill didn't help maters much but the garbage issue is the one that is really irritating as it could easily be remedied by cleanup crews.

The multi kilometer long Oil spill no longer an issue, as the Gov't spent a whopping 1 million baht to clean it up, and a PTT executive, speaking a day after the July 27 accident, told reporters that “everything was restored to normal.” A day later, when a thick black tide of crude filled a bay of this popular resort island, the same executive, Pornthep Butniphant, said the oil would decompose naturally and have “no effect on the environment.”. (NY Times) Apparently many here feel the same about rubbish.

[Porthmadog]

If they no its a problem, then they should counter with propper dreges and troll ships to collect the garbage,

good money to be made here for someone, long term outlook garbage is gold, end game Governemnt should

take action and the community to help

[Sydebolle]

The sea complains, the dumps inland do not. Travel up Chayapruek road from Jomtien and turn some 3 - 4 kms after Sukhumvit left towards Charknok Lake. While the east side is lovely with beautiful villas the west side features an open garbage dump. Not only an eyesore of catastrophic proportions but seeing how they dump the content of old oil drums etc. makes me wonder, which generation will clean up that mess again.
Thais have no relation whatsoever with environment and absolutely nobody cares. Makes me look silly returning used batteries to Big C (formerly Carrefour)'s customer service ,-)

[Emdog]

I lived in Bang Saen, seemed a nice town: clean, orderly, lovely beaches. Pity this is happening. I am back in Jomtien. I think we see garbage scows out on horizon going to dump the junk out to sea (anybody know if this is right?). Jeez, where can one start (or end, for that matter) about the near total lack of awareness or care for the environment? My mind is permanently boggled here.

Meanwhile, eco tourism award given to Chiang Mai students for encouraging "Bicycles bring us closer to the places we visit and we can clearly hear the sounds in each location we visit," (that is if you don't get run over then get to visit the medical hubs). Tourists don't want to combine a visit to the town dump with a visit to the beach, but here they get two for one deal: the beach is the dump. Thailand was blessed with huge long coastline of beaches, and have squandered it for reasons we can all list, had we the time, interest and a few reams of paper. I, like many posters, would like to yell "Wake up!". But all we would expect as a response (if any) is "chai yin" or "mai pen rai".

[Asiantravel]

Not surprising when most of the Thai are looking the sea as a trash bin, most of them do not have respect for nature anyway.

The locals really don't seem to respect their own country one little bit.

Even when you go up country to the villages you see flytipping a pretty big scale.

I used to think it was only around Pattaya or Bangkok as a fair amount of the people are not from the area & intend to move on so have no real feeling of responsibility or care for the area but I have learnt that this is the case over the whole country.

India is much the same.

It wasn't a problem when everything was wrapped in banana leaves etc as they were bio degradeable but plastic bags & polysterene are long lasting problems.

Fresh fish are fast being a health risk because of all the toxins they ingest in the seas

upon my first visit to Juhu Beach, north of Mumbai City years ago, I couldn't believe when I saw hundreds of people crouching on the beach in the early hours of the morning totally out in the open and then later it became apparent what they were doing.

Now the product of that joint human " ritual ", you would not want to encounter later in the day as you stroll along the beach

[VINCENT2012]

I love that kind of news because if you know thailand well, it is like the country is anyway. .....like a person with nice clothes ...well some...but bad smell and dirty inside ...very exotic.DON'T YOU THINK...there is people who like it that way.!! streets and markets full of "funny" odeurs, garbages everywhere, electric or any kind of cables in the sky everywhere,really dirty and sick dogs or cats every where , old trucks and cars or what ever running, making polution like a hell, an hawfull and creasy architecture every where.

In my modest opinion, the only thing that are thais today are the temples, palace from the king and the old thai mansion from rich people, the rest is like every where in the world when they want to make money quickly. india or china etc etc..

The seas, the beaches or rivers are contaminated,they receive all the dirty waters from ALL BOATS hotels, resort or vilages or towns, i have seen it with my own eyes plenty of times in many places and people make 20 000 km or more thinking in the beautifull beaches, white sand that they have seen from travel books ...and they get that kind of surprise at the end ........recently a boat full of petrol broke in the andaman see, in the other side the chinese see totally grey also receiving tons of garbage everyday with the current ...and now this too..i forgot also the last "unpredictable" floods.

well well well... it is hot today in thailand!

so thats how thai government is trying to increase tourism or try to convince us to spend our money overthere...on holiday? If i was a thai citizen, i would ask myself what they do with the bilions of dolars they make with tourism.In ten years in thailand the only changes i have seen ...where on the visa rules for us.

Now perhaps they should clean a little bit, like i have seen in hua hin, using the all schools full of student, 200/300 i did not count but they where many, to clean the beach instead of giving them classes and prepare them for a very competitive world.

good day and good luck to everybody

[SjaakNL2013]

In the past my family and I where a regular visitors from Bang Sean. 3 of 4 holidays of a week a year and sometimes a family party. This was all done in the Tide Resort. But 3 year ago the smell from dead fish, oil rotting food containers did drive us away. That was the last time and now we go to Cha Am.

Send letter with complains and advices, in Thai and English to the management and to the city hall but I think they still study the case because no answer till today.

[Halion]

Nothing new although I would agree that the monsoon season does amplify the amount of garbage that is washed up. I lived in Sri Racha and even back in 2009 this was a major problem with little done about it. Bang Seans Beach is and has been for years a total disgrace. I do not understand the mentality that likes to write up these situations when they know full well that nothing will be done to redress the problem. Thailand waterways and beaches are considered as sewers and only notable if it is likely to cause a negative impact on tourism.

[chooka]

It's easy really. Put your rubbish in the bin! Oh that's right I forgot , there isn't any!

Then you simply empty your bins into the canals and it is all washed out to sea. out of sight and out of mind.

[dominique355]

Don't get alarmed T.A.T will release a statement shortly that this will have no effect on tourism in fact tourists will be flocking to see this natural phenomenon.

and if this doesn't help, Plodprasop will go for a swim in the polluted ocean and declare the water to be safe and clean.

[BlackJack]

its the stuff you cant see thats the real worry

test any area's water and you will be surprised to find that all the flood waters carry into the bay the following:

dog cat people shyt

car truck bus motor bike shyt

garbage

etc.

so after the rain go take a swim

NOT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqwS0Ew77WE

[pizzachang]

This area needs to be declared Trash Free Zone immediately!

That works well because people all over the world obey signs...

[Kayahammer]

"located in a point that particularly receives a lot of the ocean's incoming waves."

Funniest thing I've ever read!

[DD13]

Un-Thaidy-land

[toenail]

Thais should be proud-maybe this could be in the Guiness Book of Records- 10 tons of trash per day, really? I always have to pinch myself to make myself realize that Thailand is still a developing county so I need to catagorize it with other under developed countries I have visited or lived in such as Democratic Republic of Congo... Haiti...or India. Remembering this, then I can understand why the citizens of thailand are ignorant and only live for the day. I can remember how in the USA -way back they had to do a heavy-duty advertising campaign about "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" and had special programs in the public schools to teach children (now in their 50's and 60's) to not drop wrappers and bottles on the ground, plus fines were ENFORCED --get it Thailand----ENFORCED by the police. Within ten years it was embarassing (for most people) to be seen dropping garbage on the ground or wrappers/bottles out the car window. Thais need to be educated and police need to enforce the laws they have now about dropping garbage anywhere. Note: I feel sorry for the Thais that do care and keep seeing the majority not caring about the environment.

[Rimmer]

A number of posts have been removed:

8) Not to post extremely negative views of Thailand or derogatory comments directed towards all Thais.

[foxboy]

I'm amazed at just how often I see Thais throwing their waste into the gutter. The fact that it gets washed away into the drain must mean 'end of problem' to them

[virtualtraveller]

Kuta has the same problem. It's seasonal.

[Chrisswe]

Then time to investigate from where it's coming , and take legal action !!!

[Khun Riki]

There must be something in the water...

[Dakling]

Then time to investigate from where it's coming , and take legal action !!!

Easier to investigate where it's not coming from.

[stoli]

Not surprising when most of the Thai are looking the sea as a trash bin, most of them do not have respect for nature anyway.

If you travel to the villages, you will find a far different story. They are spotless. In Pattaya I see foreigners throwing trash on the ground faster than I can ask them to pick it up. Don't blame the Thai's for the litter. Go check out the villages and you will see the other side of the story.

[mok199]

this is sad and is the thai's who are responsible..they treat this country like sh*t,the foam the plastic the waste....the complete disregard for nature and beauty....

[kurnell]

I went to Bang Saen about 18 months ago. Never again. Even my kids that are too young to know better (but obviously know more than the adult Thais) knew something was wrong. The Thais just stand there and wallow in the filth. They must be very proud. Drop their shit and go back up country.

[Businessman]

Not surprising when most of the Thai are looking the sea as a trash bin, most of them do not have respect for nature anyway.

If you travel to the villages, you will find a far different story. They are spotless. In Pattaya I see foreigners throwing trash on the ground faster than I can ask them to pick it up. Don't blame the Thai's for the litter. Go check out the villages and you will see the other side of the story.

Sorry I got to call you on this one. I recall 15 years ago visiting a family in a rural community. I spent the first day picking up trash from their front yard. I told them that they should repect nature amd keep their property clean. I thought I had shamed them into keeping clean their 10 sqm area. Any guess what I spent my time doing on my second day? You guessed it... picking up trash from the front yard. Maybe they were selling tickets to the neighbours to watch the crazy foreigner collect trash.

When I built a house in a rice paddy. Every week I visited the site and every week I had to instruct the foreman to stop his crew from throwing all kinds of construction garbage/chemicals into the rice fields.

Generally the average local is not aware of the impact of their actions against the environment. And those who do (aka educated) see it as someone else's job to pick up after them. I call this the "maid mentality". I was told at one work place by the Sr staff that it is perfectly ok to throw trash in the street. And by doing this I would be helping the street cleaners to keep their jobs.

Major education campaigns to raise environmental awareness is the only solution.

[HerbalEd]

You reap what you sow

Unfortunately we often also reap what other people sow. Like Japan's radioactivity material that contaminating the shores of the American West Coast.

[Basil B]

The problem is a dried up stream/River/creek is not good for anything other than disposing of rubbish.

Needless to say when the rains come you have a self clearing rubbish tip.

[ripper15]

Hundreds of miles of unpolluted white sand beaches can be yet found in the Philippines. Thinking it's time to move. Same corruption and costs and lovely women though. hummmm

[Sailingbum1]

Insurmountable trash washed up on Bang Saen beach reaching 10 tons per day

"up to 10 tons of trash being washed up on its shores daily."

"Up to 10 tons of waste and garbage are washed up on the shores of Bang Saen beach each year"

"to 16 million tons for the whole year of 2012, or approximately 43,000 tons per day"

I'm going to guess that that last one is for the whole Gulf and maybe the western seaboard as well.

Still, 10 tons per day and 10 tons per year in Bang Saen - big difference. Gotta wonder just how much doesn't even make it to the shores............

Yeh they seemed to skip over some very pertinentspecifics for it to make any sense