Rayong beach littered with garbage

[LennyW]

How about Pattaya city get on and clean up the beach. Tourism is suffering enough!

Photo at pattaya beach by central kiang. ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect1431608485.521685.jpg

How about you post that in the Pattaya forum, this is the Eastern forum.

[LennyW]

There was a major beach-clean effort a week or so before Songkran, with about 100 army, 50 Monks, and around 200 volunteers who cleaned the entire beach - all 10km of it. But the next high-tide deposited a little more trash again, and within a few days it was almost as bad as before.

However, this last week has seen FAR MORE rubbish than I've ever seen before (and I've lived around here for more than 7 years). Some of it is obviously from the fishing boats (light bulbs, nets, rope, and lures - which are especially dangerous), but far more this time appears to be sacks of old plastic bags which tend to neither float nor sink, and make swimming very unpleasant.

Given the quantity and variety it should be possible for "someone with appropriate training and experience" to identify the source...

If it's the big ships dumping their own rubbish (or even deliberate bulk garbage disposal) it should be possible to stop this practice (with appropriate legislation and enforcement - obviously without back-handers). But if it's simply years of accumulated trash being washed-up following larger than normal storms, then I'm concerned that these things could continue for years.

All credit to the many beach restaurants that keep their patches cleared, but there are more than a few lazy ones who do not bother (which means "their" rubbish gets washed further along to the others on the next high tide). Can I suggest all visitors closely inspect the beach in the area they intend to patronize, and vote accordingly with your feet...

This blue and white plastic bag phenomena seemed to appear on the Ban Chang beaches around the same time last year, same type of bags too. Absolutely disgusting amounts again this year. As you rightly say it should not be difficult to identify the source.

I have always thought the beaches at Ban Chang had huge potential, but the lack of control by the local authorities leaves them in a sad state. Disgusting toilet facilities - if you can find them, ramshackle makeshift kitchens and shops, piles of rubbish just dumped at the side of the road.........shame.

[rijit]

Really like that little stretch of coast and remember some bloody good restaurants there, however the beach always seemed to be covered in rubbish, always bad but nowhere near what the pics show.

[SteveH]

^{Trouble is that this coast is' the end of the road', where ever it's coming from there is nowhere else for it to go.}

[Gillyflower]

I have always understood that most of the rubbish comes from the two islands on the left.I can't for the life of me think of their names. It's too early in the morning.

[steve73]

I have always understood that most of the rubbish comes from the two islands on the left.I can't for the life of me think of their names. It's too early in the morning.

It's a popular misconception that the rubbish on MRP beach comes from Koh Samet, but the quantity washed up a week or so ago would've been about a year's worth if it was.

Also, the prevailing currents are almost entirely west to east, so much more likely to be from Map Tha Phut, or beyond such as Leam Chabang, or even washed down the rivers from Bangkok...

I recall a few years ago (2012), a couple of weeks after the first big rains since the bad Bangkok floods, MRP beach was covered in empty white sacks - at the time I thought it was all the sandbags used for flood control being washed down, but after seeing the problems this year I do wonder.

Not much "fresh" rubbish over the last week or so, although the beaches have not been cleaned as extensively as previously, as the peak "Thai visitors" season (aka school holidays) is now over.

[stevealbrecht]

As I understand the situation, the trash from Koh Samet is all dumped into the sea as there are no landfills on the island, and Ban Phe is not willing to take on the expense of transporting the trash back to the mainland. I quit going in the water on this beach years ago.

[stevealbrecht]

By the way, the beaches on Koh Samet are just as undesireable. The sand part is cleaned up fairly often, but al the sewage from all the hotels and guest houses goes directly into the sea, and the tide brings all of this crap back to shore twice a day. I would not recommend swimmint there at all.

[scoooooby]

Was just east of Rayong 2 weeks ago and the beach was a mess....fertilizer bags everywhere but not recent as the resort kept there patch free of litter but in front of the small resturants, jet ski/speedboat operators and waste land it was a mess....the sea might be cleaner than Pattaya but the sand was not

[steve73]

Not just Thailand it seems.... this link has some shocking photos..

http://www.trueactivist.com/you-will-want-to-recycle-everything-after-seeing-these-photos/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=sh

[Mooner]

As I understand the situation, the trash from Koh Samet is all dumped into the sea as there are no landfills on the island, and Ban Phe is not willing to take on the expense of transporting the trash back to the mainland. I quit going in the water on this beach years ago.

There are landfills on Samet but it can't cope with the amount. Most is taken away on boats but what happens when it leaves the pier is anyone's guess.

Also not all sewers lead to the sea. Most places have tanks.

Been going to Samet for 15 years and lived here 2 and never been sick from swimming or seen any floaters.

[commentor101]

As I understand the situation, the trash from Koh Samet is all dumped into the sea as there are no landfills on the island, and Ban Phe is not willing to take on the expense of transporting the trash back to the mainland. I quit going in the water on this beach years ago.

There are landfills on Samet but it can't cope with the amount. Most is taken away on boats but what happens when it leaves the pier is anyone's guess.

Also not all sewers lead to the sea. Most places have tanks.

Been going to Samet for 15 years and lived here 2 and never been sick from swimming or seen any floaters.

The problems go deeper than what a few mass clean up can solve. Plastic bags are just used for everything - I have yet to see a paper bag in Thailand.

Every kind of bottles are made out of plastic - glass bottles are becoming rarer and rarer.

I also notice that if garbage are just outside of the fence of any house or factory, people would never bother to clean it out.

[daiwill60]

Many incidents occur along this stretch all the time.

Many on this post mention bags , sacks etc as main objects.

But a friend took some pics last year at HMRP which included medical phials and sharps, surely this must point to illegal dumping of waste at sea from major cities.

[OJAS]

In addition to the garbage issue we must not forget the perennial Thai problem of noise pollution which, in the case of the stretch of beach to the east of Ban Phe (dunno what it's called if it has a particular name), is caused by the boom-boom brigade who turn up in force on Sundays in their pickups and cars complete with loud stereo systems.

[phycokiller]

i would like to know when they ll make test sea water near the beaches like we do everywhere in the world . i think nobody will go swimming after the results . the beaches are real dumping ground and the sea a dangerous coktail of bacterials , fecal matter , oil , glass and plastic bottles .

actually it wouldnt take much for an individual to test the water and publish the results on a website, I think cheap test kits go for about $30. almost done it myself but hopefully someone will

[phycokiller]

I noticed on Pattaya beach one day large amounts of plastic packaging all with the same branding which i suppose I shouldnt name but was a global company, so I checked out where their manufacturing plant was and sure enough its on the edge of the big river near Chonburi, seems someone had decided it was easier/cheaper to throw it all in the river

it wouldnt surprize me if alot comes down the rivers, mainly that one and Bangkok, and it pretty much settles offshore until a storm hits and it ends up on a beach

[anotheruser]

There was a major beach-clean effort a week or so before Songkran, with about 100 army, 50 Monks, and around 200 volunteers who cleaned the entire beach - all 10km of it. But the next high-tide deposited a little more trash again, and within a few days it was almost as bad as before.

However, this last week has seen FAR MORE rubbish than I've ever seen before (and I've lived around here for more than 7 years). Some of it is obviously from the fishing boats (light bulbs, nets, rope, and lures - which are especially dangerous), but far more this time appears to be sacks of old plastic bags which tend to neither float nor sink, and make swimming very unpleasant.

Given the quantity and variety it should be possible for "someone with appropriate training and experience" to identify the source...

If it's the big ships dumping their own rubbish (or even deliberate bulk garbage disposal) it should be possible to stop this practice (with appropriate legislation and enforcement - obviously without back-handers). But if it's simply years of accumulated trash being washed-up following larger than normal storms, then I'm concerned that these things could continue for years.

All credit to the many beach restaurants that keep their patches cleared, but there are more than a few lazy ones who do not bother (which means "their" rubbish gets washed further along to the others on the next high tide). Can I suggest all visitors closely inspect the beach in the area they intend to patronize, and vote accordingly with your feet...

Great idea I think I will find a beach restaurant in Hawaii.