Garbage on Patong Beach

[csabo]

Why wasnt the OP picking up the garbage if he is so worried about it? Its always somebody else's fault....its natural that things wash up on the beach. The time of the wash up is determined by the high tides of the day. It is natural that a municipality takes care of the beaches under their care. But TIT.

You are wrong, he is right. Someone obviously dumped more than the usual amount of refuse in the sea. It's made it's way all the way to Naiharn now. I have never seen such rubbish in the sea at Naiharn like today. Bits of string, bottle tops, plastic labels, plastic bags, bottles etc. It was noticeable to the point were I chose to go back to the pool. I'll wait a week for this crap to wash away but agree with the OP, something is rotten in Phuket.

[ABCer]

I live on the beach. The OP pictures are real. You may add to this occasional yet regular oil spills.

One does not have to be a Sherlock Holmes to understand that all this garbage is not generated by tourists.

Thais really love their country to death.

[neeray]

I live on the beach. The OP pictures are real. You may add to this occasional yet regular oil spills.

One does not have to be a Sherlock Holmes to understand that all this garbage is not generated by tourists.

Thais really love their country to death.

Agreed, Thais love their country, so do many foreigners. And agree again, the majority of this stinking disgusting garbage situation is inbound from the sea. That would be a tuff problem to solve.

But the problem is here and always will be. In the long term interest of Thailand's all important tourist industry, somebody needs to take the bull by the horns and deal with this. Daily (early morning) cleanups are required, 365 days a year. This should be a municipal responsibility, just as it is in many other countries. But if the municipalities refuse to deal with the problem, perhaps every beach should consider a volunteer network. Local merchants may even kick in some gratuitous food and water or other incentives.

Beach communities could then advertise "the cleanest beach in Thailand". There could be contests as an added incentive to really make "your beach community" the cleanest. A concept like this could have legs (no pun intended). It may even spread inland. Please somebody ..... start the ball rolling.

Foot note: Having spent considerable time in Ao Nang and Hua Hin, the beaches were very clean, especially Hua Hin.

[thailandforumaddict]

Luckily for local people so many people in this world know nothing and still go to pucket shiitehole.

My friend wanted to invite me 1 week all inclusive, no thank you <3

[Lokie]

Such a shame it is now like this, yes time of year, currents etc but was always dealt with by those Nasty, evil, illeagle beach chair vendors... the ones who used to greet me good morning on my daily stroll, kept areas clean and tidy, beds lined up ready for what the tourists wanted?? and sometimes who I may have bought a drink from on a hot fierce day.

Don't tell me what has been done to the beaches is an improvement (on any level) from one extreme to another, plain stupid state of affairs and meanwhile tourists leave never to return in droves. Is not good for anyone, will now let all the tree huggers and Its the Kings Beach and illeagle activities should not be allowed blah blah blah... drown everyone out who dares to disagree with there view of utopia and the paradise beach with nothing on it?

[steelepulse]

Great idea Lokie. The lazy lackeys you refer to could all work for the minimum wage and pick up trash all day since they are complaining about being out of a (lucrative) job.......Great idea.

[2fishin2]

Why wasnt the OP picking up the garbage if he is so worried about it? Its always somebody else's fault....its natural that things wash up on the beach. The time of the wash up is determined by the high tides of the day. It is natural that a municipality takes care of the beaches under their care. But TIT.

You are wrong, he is right. Someone obviously dumped more than the usual amount of refuse in the sea. It's made it's way all the way to Naiharn now. I have never seen such rubbish in the sea at Naiharn like today. Bits of string, bottle tops, plastic labels, plastic bags, bottles etc. It was noticeable to the point were I chose to go back to the pool. I'll wait a week for this crap to wash away but agree with the OP, something is rotten in Phuket.

You guys are silly and its very obvious you dont understand, weather, the ocean and currents.

This time of year and for the next 6 months or so is "the rainy season" this happens because its summer when the weather pattern is from the south, southwest which brings rain, wind from the south. The currents from the indian ocean swing closer to the island and the strong monsoon winds blow the trash from the currents onto beaches. The trash is blown onto the beaches on the incoming tide and left there as the tide recedes. Also due to all the rain, the trash is washed from the rivers into the ocean and again washes back up onto beaches in greater quantity because of he prevailing winds.

There is nothing unusual happening. The flotsam washing up in greater quantity during the summer monsoon is a natural occurrence. What is different is that the beach operators arent there and there fore are no longer cleaning the beaches.

Ocean trash is a problem all over the world. And as usual the TV conspiracy and Thai bashing people are out in full force.

Simple solution if you dont like it and are out walking on the beach, do your part, take a trash bag and pick up a bag full. If you dont, then you are just as much a part of the problem than the people you put down.

[Mr Somtam]

I live on the beach. The OP pictures are real. You may add to this occasional yet regular oil spills.

One does not have to be a Sherlock Holmes to understand that all this garbage is not generated by tourists.

Thais really love their country to death.

Agreed, Thais love their country, so do many foreigners. And agree again, the majority of this stinking disgusting garbage situation is inbound from the sea. That would be a tuff problem to solve.

But the problem is here and always will be. In the long term interest of Thailand's all important tourist industry, somebody needs to take the bull by the horns and deal with this. Daily (early morning) cleanups are required, 365 days a year. This should be a municipal responsibility, just as it is in many other countries. But if the municipalities refuse to deal with the problem, perhaps every beach should consider a volunteer network. Local merchants may even kick in some gratuitous food and water or other incentives.

Beach communities could then advertise "the cleanest beach in Thailand". There could be contests as an added incentive to really make "your beach community" the cleanest. A concept like this could have legs (no pun intended). It may even spread inland. Please somebody ..... start the ball rolling.

Foot note: Having spent considerable time in Ao Nang and Hua Hin, the beaches were very clean, especially Hua Hin.

Most Thais are compltely happy sipping their beer/whisky on a big pile of smelly rubbish. They have mental filters in their brain, they really do not see or smell anything. Don't you know this? How many minutes have you been here?

[phuketrichard]

its low season and the on shore breeze currents bring this shit in every year an have been for the past 30 years i have been here.

Go photograph AFTER the high tide the the water has washed this shit back into the sea.

ONLY dif this year is their nobody renting chairs on the beach so nobody cleaning up.

[RT555]

Thailand = Armpit of Asia.

[DrDave]

its low season and the on shore breeze currents bring this shit in every year an have been for the past 30 years i have been here.

Go photograph AFTER the high tide the the water has washed this shit back into the sea.

ONLY dif this year is their nobody renting chairs on the beach so nobody cleaning up.

Exactly right!

Obviously the majority of the trash was washed in from the sea.

The whole point of the OP was that nobody bothered to clean it up (Patong Municipality and all the others that profit from commercial activities at that beach).

And.... while chairs are no longer rented there, mats and umbrellas are rented on a smaller scale, along with jetskis/parasail/tube operations that monopolize large portions of that beach. A number of people are still making money on a beach that they don't help maintain.

[USNret]

Just wondering how much the OP picked up after snapping these photos. FWIW, this is not necessarily from folks dumping trash on the beach. From the tidal patterns, it looks like it floated in on high tide & was stranded there. Meaning it is an endlessly hopeless problem.

[Argus Tuft]

2fishin2 got it. Is Normal for this time of the year, started the monsoon and deposition on to the shore line.

Nothing unusual about that photo for the time of tyear

[KarenBravo]

This is nothing compared to Vietnam.

[DLock]

Turning on the OP to pick up the trash is stupid. He was just pointing out a major problem...

If Thailand/Phuket what to be "world class beaches" as they seem to claim from time to time, it's up to the local Government to step up and do something about it...

...but it's just typical lip service when they don't appear on the Top 10,000 beaches of the world...

[Johnny S]

This is nothing compared to Vietnam.

I really doubt that - been to Vietnam several times and have never seen garbage on their beaches on a scale like in Thailand ... but maybe you have some pics from Vietnam garbage to show us ...?

Thais have a special view to throwing garbage everywhere, kind of a chinese-style ...

[KarenBravo]

This is nothing compared to Vietnam.

I really doubt that - been to Vietnam several times and have never seen garbage on their beaches on a scale like in Thailand ... but maybe you have some pics from Vietnam garbage to show us ...?

Thais have a special view to throwing garbage everywhere, kind of a chinese-style ...

Admittedly, the tourist beaches are better. Probably because they get cleaned.

I work at sea all over the world and I have never seen so much plastic in the sea as in Vietnamese waters. It's even worse than China.

Also, been to Haiphong which is not really a tourist beach and the garbage lays in drifts on the coast.

[NamKangMan]

This is nothing compared to Vietnam.

I really doubt that - been to Vietnam several times and have never seen garbage on their beaches on a scale like in Thailand ... but maybe you have some pics from Vietnam garbage to show us ...?

Thais have a special view to throwing garbage everywhere, kind of a chinese-style ...

Admittedly, the tourist beaches are better. Probably because they get cleaned.

I work at sea all over the world and I have never seen so much plastic in the sea as in Vietnamese waters. It's even worse than China.

Also, been to Haiphong which is not really a tourist beach and the garbage lays in drifts on the coast.

"Admittedly, the tourist beaches are better." - true.

"Probably because they get cleaned." - yes, and cleaned well.

[NamKangMan]

Beach garbage/plastic is a local people issue across SEA and I do not fault tourists like some previous posters. Attached a recent pic from beautiful Otres beach in Cambodia with lots of plastic trash on a particularly bad day. My amateur beach-walking analysis was that 1/3 of it was marine trash like nets/lures/lines from fisherman and the rest Angkor beer and takeaway local-food trash. Locals do not think it is a problem, who is harmed by it anyway? FAIL.

But the Cambodians are not falsely promoting Otres Beach as a "World Class Tourist Destination" - are they????

[Crazy chef 1]

Thai Thinking: "Not my crap. Not my job to pick it up."

Thai thinking: Mak Naa...

[Sandy Freckle]

I think it's absolute BS that coastal and island resorts in the S/E Asian peninsular area promote their beaches as being clean and unpolluted.
No body should really believe this. The whole area has long been generally overfished while at the same time it's seas have also been used as a giant fluid waste(all kinds of) disposal system. There should be little doubt that this whole area in general would have to be one of the most polluted places on earth…, and it's obviously getting worse. Which local S/E Asian countries have or will do anything 'substantial or meaningful' to reverse this situation ? These nations are pushing 'it' uphill while their population is relatively unregulated. It's simply survival anyway they can for the masses…, and who can really blame the masses, they generally do not know of, or are not provided with any alternative than to take what they can from the ocean and throw back into the ocean that which they no longer have need for. Meanwhile larger, so-called developed countries farther to the south have long had environmental constraints which are paying off…, although they have their hands full controlling their waters…, but the point is, these countries are making some effective efforts.

[eliotness]

Up to the 1970s the Irish Sea was one of the most polluted seas in the world. It has taken over 40 years of concerted effort by mainly the UK to improve it, but still many of the beaches, including Blackpool, still fail to get an EC "blue flag". It will take Thailand a similar timescale to improve their shoreline if, and only if, they have the will and determination to do so.

[ctrunfree]

Am I right to think it was worst at the northern end of the beach? How about up towards the Amari?

[GiantFan]

Am I right to think it was worst at the northern end of the beach? How about up towards the Amari?

You are probably right. The Amari side (south) is shielded from the winds this time

of year. But the small creek on that end of Patong is just downstream of the sewerage

treatment plant that is severely overloaded. Your choice!

[DrDave]

Correct - the worst of it was on the northern half of the beach.

After a couple of days, most of it was gone - washed back out to sea after a few high tides, I think.

[Peterocket]

I think it's absolute BS that coastal and island resorts in the S/E Asian peninsular area promote their beaches as being clean and unpolluted.

No body should really believe this. The whole area has long been generally overfished while at the same time it's seas have also been used as a giant fluid waste(all kinds of) disposal system. There should be little doubt that this whole area in general would have to be one of the most polluted places on earth…, and it's obviously getting worse. Which local S/E Asian countries have or will do anything 'substantial or meaningful' to reverse this situation ? These nations are pushing 'it' uphill while their population is relatively unregulated. It's simply survival anyway they can for the masses…, and who can really blame the masses, they generally do not know of, or are not provided with any alternative than to take what they can from the ocean and throw back into the ocean that which they no longer have need for. Meanwhile larger, so-called developed countries farther to the south have long had environmental constraints which are paying off…, although they have their hands full controlling their waters…, but the point is, these countries are making some effective efforts.

Should Thailand be outperforming Britain in terms of this?

"Britain's 31,000-odd Combined Sewer Overflows, the legacy of an outdated system that made no distinction between sewage and storm-water, discharge both types through combined outfall pipes. This may stop sewage backing up into people's homes – but it also directs it, mixed with storm-water, into streams, rivers and eventually, the sea."

Edited June 11, 2015 by Peterocket