Why do locals burn trash?

[VillageIdiot]

The country people around Chiang Mai will tell you that the smoke from smoldering fires keeps the mosquitoes away.

Now it is also starting to keep the farangs away.

Expect it to increase.

[Tonawatchee]

It's convenient.

[Aussieroaming]

Which part is perplexing and which part is disgusting.

[ericthai]

They drag the trash into the bushes (their property?) and then burn it. The trash is still there, exept charred and blackened. What did they dispose of exactly?

Also, aren't there sanitation services (green trucks) driving around to collect trash?

I think this is a separate issue from cremation/tilling/replanting.

Always have and always will....has been practical for them for centuries including getting the fields ready for tilling and replanting....also cremation is an honored way to treat the departed.....

Now we've got more complex chemicals thrown into the mix with bags and packaging.....but the disposal method remains the same...

Time tested and takes care of the immediate need....

In most small villages there is no trash pick up. Our house in Surin we have to burn trash as we have no trash pick up.We do have one guy that comes around and buys Glass, plastic, tin cans etc, food products go to the dogs, everything else is burned. I typically have to burn trash once a week. Hope one of these days they extend trash pick up out to our area, right now they only have trash pickup downtown and on the outskirts of the town.

[Kondiao]

Reading the responses here I am surprised that two points are not mentioned: the first is that farmers tend to want to clear the husks, stalks, remains of their grain crops after havesting the edible parts. Be it rice or wheat, corn or hay, the simple thing to do, rather than gather up the left over stuff, to compost of use for building material or pig feed or something - just set it afire when it is dry enough. So the fields get some fertilizer from the ash and the weed seeds are killed too. This has been praticed in every country since farming begin - even in the countries that the farangs here came from. Trash disposal aside, there are acres and acres of fodder or stubble left over in the fields that have to be removed before the next crop is planted.

In modern times, in modern countries this practice has died out as people have become aware of the growing problem of pollution, increased population, with more land under cultivation, and because of the increased use of chemical fertilizers instead of the natural ash. I am sure everyone knows this - but no one referenced it. All Thai-bashing aside, this is a backward country - the farmers are poor and poorly-educated and are naturally conservative - I mean they are reluctant to change the old ways that things have always been done. And the government has been inept at educating the farmers, teaching them new ways that are more suitable for all.

The second reason is that landless peasants clear away virgin land, government land, to plant crops illegally - when the alternative is to starve. In fact sometimes they don't even have to plant a crop to gain a harvest. Mushrooms sometimes grow on land cleared by fire. They require no cultivating and are easy to harvest and fetch a good price in Chiang Mai.

I know that both of these points are true. I have walked in the fields around Chiang Mai and seen the burnt and burning fields and the mushrooms. I am not trying to excuse or moralize anyone - just stating facts that it seems people don't want to consider or care about. I don't see much chance for those in power in Thailand - nobles, government people, cops, people who go to meetings and file reports on things, to address the problem in any real way, since they don't even relate to the peasants who are doing the burning.

[Torrens54]

THAILAND is their country isn't it?

[bbbbooboo]

To the Thais the world is their rubbish tip

[Johpa]

I have a home in a rural area that does not have any garbage collection services. Most neighbors have few options other than to burn their trash as they seldom travel out of the village area. I too use to burn my trash. But now I just take it back from whence most of it came and deposit the trash into the trash receptacles outside the nearest 7-11. But I can do that only because I frequently travel to the main road.

[jacko45k]

Maybe I'm just new, but it appears to me that Thais are way more into reusing and recycling than the West is. I therefore would guess that they know how to value compost.

"Why do locals burn trash?"

It's due to a lack of education. Most Thais don't know the value of compost.

Can't really compost metal, plastic.. otherwise agree. .

Everyone points to the West but I often think we got it screwed up.

Putting this trash in a blue bin, another type oin a grey bin another in the black bin. What an absolute waste of time and effort.

There isn't a rubbish collection in the rural villages so burning at least stops it festering and bringing bugs etc.

[kannot]

in a nutshell because they are lazy..no excuses..including the farangs.....when our rubbish was collected in ubon it was/is 20baht a month so dont come back with the affordability card..that wont wash...like most of the locals there lol...

Well my Wife told me some locals incredibly refused to pay the 20 baht............maybe the beer was better

[kannot]

THAILAND is their country isn't it?

On an ever shrinking planet?

[marko kok prong]

What about the charcoal making,the shack,a little to our left on the opposite side of the road,do it on a regular basis,when the wind is blowing in our direction,so we have to suffer from the stinking smouldering wood,and it blows away from them,very considerate of them.

[ericthai]

Reading the responses here I am surprised that two points are not mentioned: the first is that farmers tend to want to clear the husks, stalks, remains of their grain crops after havesting the edible parts. Be it rice or wheat, corn or hay, the simple thing to do, rather than gather up the left over stuff, to compost of use for building material or pig feed or something - just set it afire when it is dry enough. So the fields get some fertilizer from the ash and the weed seeds are killed too. This has been praticed in every country since farming begin - even in the countries that the farangs here came from. Trash disposal aside, there are acres and acres of fodder or stubble left over in the fields that have to be removed before the next crop is planted.

In modern times, in modern countries this practice has died out as people have become aware of the growing problem of pollution, increased population, with more land under cultivation, and because of the increased use of chemical fertilizers instead of the natural ash. I am sure everyone knows this - but no one referenced it. All Thai-bashing aside, this is a backward country - the farmers are poor and poorly-educated and are naturally conservative - I mean they are reluctant to change the old ways that things have always been done. And the government has been inept at educating the farmers, teaching them new ways that are more suitable for all.

The second reason is that landless peasants clear away virgin land, government land, to plant crops illegally - when the alternative is to starve. In fact sometimes they don't even have to plant a crop to gain a harvest. Mushrooms sometimes grow on land cleared by fire. They require no cultivating and are easy to harvest and fetch a good price in Chiang Mai.

I know that both of these points are true. I have walked in the fields around Chiang Mai and seen the burnt and burning fields and the mushrooms. I am not trying to excuse or moralize anyone - just stating facts that it seems people don't want to consider or care about. I don't see much chance for those in power in Thailand - nobles, government people, cops, people who go to meetings and file reports on things, to address the problem in any real way, since they don't even relate to the peasants who are doing the burning.

I think nobody mentioned anything about farmers clearing their fields as everybody knows this and it's not what the OP asked. Did you read the OP's post? He asked why do they burn trash.

[winstonc]

Presently, there is no alternative for burning / dumping your own plastic.

a lazy reply even..get off your ar-se and take it for proper disposal...or stop trolling..

[leo202]

Because they are stupid.

[alex88]

Because it's a practical way to get rid of trash...

[baneko]

No bin man.

[nidieunimaitre]

Presently, there is no alternative for burning / dumping your own plastic.

a lazy reply even..get off your ar-se and take it for proper disposal...or stop trolling..

OK, WHAT is your alternative? "Proper" disposal - in Thailand???

Handing over the plastic to garbage collectors?

And what do you think they do with your plastic? They burn it or dump it. So what is the point of the whole exercise?

[marko kok prong]

Driving to Phitsanoluk the other day,i said to the Wife,"look at all the smoke haze in the air"

"not smoke ,Mork [mist] "she tells me!

[KhunLA]

On 3/18/2015 at 9:30 PM, VillageIdiot said:

The country people around Chiang Mai will tell you that the smoke from smoldering fires keeps the mosquitoes away.

Now it is also starting to keep the farangs away.

Expect it to increase.

Smog in north definitely keeps us away. 

 

Not just the farmers, but gov't burns their fair share.  At the local park today, and this small fire will produce more smoke in 1 hour, that we do all year, burning what little trash we burn.