Seems the locals here (more than one house hold) in our area love to burn their rubbish everyday about a 1/2 hour before sunset,

They burn it all plastic rubber household trash, yesterday had to close all our doors and windows and off the AC the yellow smoke was terrible.

Could not sit in our yard it was toxic smoke..Geeez..

Also noticed the illegal dump / burning area near Nai Harn Lake has been getting bigger and smoldering all the time as of late..

Sad to see here in Phuket the local government doing F_ALL as normal...

The area has gone to the dogs. The beach lagoon looks terrible and that dumping ground is just landfill for something to get built in that spot.

This is not an area specific problem it is a national pastime.

My time in Rawai was punctuated by bad odours.

My time in Rawai was punctuated by bad odours.

Some people can't handle the local cuisine.

The landfill burning at Nai Harn has been ongoing now for at least four days. Good thing K Aron is on the job and policing his area!

Rawai is bad area!

At least here in Bangkok it is possible to file a complaint and the city will take care very quickly, within a few days. Bangkok itself is quite serious to stop the stupid ones still burning plastic. Give it a try, call your district office and demand action.

The area has gone to the dogs. The beach lagoon looks terrible and that dumping ground is just landfill for something to get built in that spot.

First it was OrBorTor trucks dumping perishable weeds etc and it was an open invitation after that. A no dumping sign was posted and promptly removed and since I have seen a toilet, a 60 gallon fish tank and countless plastic bags filled with all sorts of household rubbish and it was bad. Then some genius decided to light it on fire last week! All the trees have lost their leaves and people keep piling on the garbage which has been smoldering for a week in the damp weather. This is an absolute disaster in my opinion. It is incredibly disheartening to see this behavior directly behind the biggest money making draw to the area. It would seem that anyone worth complaining too must be aware of this already, no?? And what about the condo developers in the area? Don't they know that no one is going to invest in an area with a burning wasteland? Seems they would be a motivating force in cleaning it up. IDK but I see that crap everyday down there and I am frustrated beyond belief.

As far as the lagoon, it appears that it is cut off by naturally occurring sand formations now on the beach which, actually, might be good for the sea water. That river/lagoon water is, how shall I say, uninviting.

Are you sure the smoke and smell is not the incense burning from a large Buddha shrine?

I feel or should I say smell your pain Brother.

In my little village in Lampang Province this is thorn in my side as well. Even though the village headman announced that residential burning of refuse specifically plastic was banned and this was 5 years ago. Granted it's not as bad as it was 5 years ago but we still get smoked out all to often.

One of my neighbors is especially fond of burning pillows and old clothes with their plastics as well, which smolder away for about 2 days.

The burning on Naiharn beach must be the most obvious sign that the local administration isn't taking care of the area. This place used to be one of the few nice areas around Phuket. Rawai and Naiharn with it is on a downward path for a couple years now and there are no signs of any improvements. I lived there but moved more north two years ago. A bit sad as I still have friends there and I do like to ride the Naiharn-Promthep road with my motorbike but I don't want to think how it's going to look like in 5-10 years.

More and more people are moving out of there for various reasons, many properties on the market for years, waiting for a buyer.

Well at least there are rubbish bins now.

Where can one legally dump garden refuse, etc?

I'm based in Rawai.

Where can one legally dump garden refuse, etc?

I'm based in Rawai.

I cut it up and put it in large, black plastic bags. The rubbish collectors then take it away.

Thanks, KB, so is there no such thing as a dumping site provided by local authorities, or any legally usable dump in Rawai/Chalong, that you know of?

There is a place in Phuket Town where hazardous waste can be dumped, but, I don't know of anywhere that you can dump garden waste.

It is just taken for granted that it will be burnt by the owner.

All over Thailand household rubbish will be burned all kinds of materials in uncontrolled burning sites as if their were no better solutions since decades available (waste-energy) suitable for all sizes of communities. Asia and especially Thailand is far behind to take on this issues seriously.

Pai/Mae hong son one of many elevated uncontrolled burning sites surround the valley close to water reservoirs and agriculture. Sad thing but this is how it looks country wide everywhere

There are so many levels to this problem you are left with your personal level and the impact you and your household have on this. That your neighbor burn it is not good but understandable as they see the final solution provided by the authorities is the same - it needs huge amount of education and willingness to change to a better to take this on but until now there is only ignorance and incompetence it seems.