50 tonnes of Thai garbage flows into sea every year

[webfact]

WORLD OCEANS DAY
50 tonnes of Thai garbage flows into sea every year
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- ABOUT 50 tonnes of garbage flows into the sea from Thailand every year, but less than two tonnes of that amount is collected later, Depart-ment of Marine and Coastal Resources chief Chonlatid Suraswadi said yesterday, which was World Oceans Day.

The garbage comes mostly from the tourism and fishery sectors, causing dirty beaches and the death of about 300 rare marine animals per year, he said.

The department and allies organised World Oceans Day activities at Phuket's Patong Beach, including a team of 80 volunteer divers to collect garbage from under the sea and along the beach.

Two recent reports by the World Wide Fund For Nature detail the ocean's vast wealth and role in human and economic well-being. "Reviving the Ocean Economy" said the ocean ranks seventh among the world's top 10 economies and had "annual output of goods and services" worth $2.5 trillion. Its overall value was put at $24 trillion. Another analysis said every dollar put into marine protection would win triple that in benefits from employment, coastal protection and fisheries, while increased protection of critical habitats could see benefits of up to $920 billion by 2050.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/50-tonnes-of-Thai-garbage-flows-into-sea-every-yea-30261893.html

-- The Nation 2015-06-09

[LennyW]

Looking at the garbage on the beaches around Ban Chang, Rayong, Mae Pim right now i would say the figures quoted are per day - NOT per year!!

A clean up at Phala beach alone on Saturday gathered far more than two tonnes, this story is waaaay off!!

[ChrisY1]

5000 tons is a more realistic figure......there's likely 100 tons gathered after the BKK city floods!!

[tx22cb]

Looking at the garbage on the beaches around Ban Chang, Rayong, Mae Pim right now i would say the figures quoted are per day - NOT per year!!

A clean up at Phala beach alone on Saturday gathered far more than two tonnes, this story is waaaay off!!

Perhaps the 50 tons per year of "Thai garbage" are from Thais, with the other 15,000 tons to be blamed on farangs, Burmese, Chinese tourists, Thaksin's family and other scapegoats etc?

[blueyeshk]

In any case Thailand is drowning in garbage nationwide their only solution which is none is to burn all the unsorted materials in uncontrolled burning sites - it's about time to look into waste-to-energy technologies suitable for all different sizes of communities.

[MB1]

Looking at the garbage on the beaches around Ban Chang, Rayong, Mae Pim right now i would say the figures quoted are per day - NOT per year!!

A clean up at Phala beach alone on Saturday gathered far more than two tonnes, this story is waaaay off!!

. And then there's the areas of Pattaya, I'd hazard a guess that Pattaya is more than 50 tonne. Per year...I used to take the slow boat from Ban Phei To Kho Samed and was amazed at the amount of rubbish floating around in the sea and even witnessed the staff on the boat dumping large amounts of rubbish into the sea. It seems to me that many Thais don't give a flying duck about dumping rubbish anywhere. Maybe one day through education they may realise that disposing of rubbish anywhere is a bad thing but until the government clamp Down on fly tippers it will carry on.....Oh we'll let them start in Bangkok and let them fine snot blowers or splitters....But let the soi dogs shit where they feel like... Edited June 9, 2015 by MB1

[canuckamuck]

Bizarre that they choose to blame tourism and fisheries, two industries unlikely to be the main culprits. The more reasonable accusation would be that everyone in this country seems to think that it is totally fine to throw your trash wherever you like, and what better place than a river which takes it away for you. Yet I see no evidence of a comprehensive national anti-littering campaign.

[alfalfa19]

I see. And which city is this for? Must be a smaller one.

[Asiantravel]

And this is just one place on our planet.

On a Sunday morning on Al Jazeera there is a documentary series being shown about life in the slums of Manila. You should see the amount of garbage floating in the waterways there and 40,000 people are living right in the middle of it.

Then there has been an estimated 300 tonnes per day of contaminated water pouring into the ocean from Fukushima for the past two years.

There is no doubt at all there will be a day of reckoning for humanity down the track.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Asiantravel

[Trentham]

I think there is a typo in the headline. Year should read "day".

[Jeremy50]

Looking at the garbage on the beaches around Ban Chang, Rayong, Mae Pim right now i would say the figures quoted are per day - NOT per year!!

A clean up at Phala beach alone on Saturday gathered far more than two tonnes, this story is waaaay off!!

It should have read 500 tonnes. But what's another lie in the land of lies? I went to Mae Pim 20 years ago, It was nice then.

[spacebass]

Nothing about Thailand is true.

[OZEMADE]

Looking at the garbage on the beaches around Ban Chang, Rayong, Mae Pim right now i would say the figures quoted are per day - NOT per year!!

A clean up at Phala beach alone on Saturday gathered far more than two tonnes, this story is waaaay off!!

It should have read 500 tonnes. But what's another lie in the land of lies? I went to Mae Pim 20 years ago, It was nice then.

I bet there was more than 50 tons of rubbish that blocked the water pumps in Bangkok and once they were cleared they would pump tons of rubbish out into the river which flows into the sea.

[Praematura]

Came back from Yangon last week. My Thai wife couldn't get over how clean the city was. I asked the taxi driver and he said the government is making an effort to recycle. Almost every city block had 3 large yellow dumpsters to put trash into. The Burmese taxi driver looked perplexed when I told him there are hardly any trash cans in Thailand except for the overflowing ones at 7-11.

More package tourists at low end hotels = lots more sewage pumped out to the water. The ocean in Jomtien is so fetid with bacteria, trash, human waste I'm shocked the occasional person walks in it.

When it barely rains the streets flood and all the trash and rainwater is pumped into the ocean.

[AleG]

Bizarre that they choose to blame tourism and fisheries, two industries unlikely to be the main culprits. The more reasonable accusation would be that everyone in this country seems to think that it is totally fine to throw your trash wherever you like, and what better place than a river which takes it away for you. Yet I see no evidence of a comprehensive national anti-littering campaign.

Actually fishing is a main culprit, not just in the volume of trash but in the impact it has. Derelict nets from fishing (accidentally lost or deliberately discarded) cause enormous damage to the marine ecosystem, they float around until they wrap themselves around a reef and destroy it in a way other trash can't.

Also lost fishing traps continue to trap and kill fish for as long as they hold up, which can be months or years, not to mention the physical damage the can cause by being moved around reefs by currents

[blueyeshk]

There are so many levels to this issue - one is only left to look at the personal and evaluate what you can or want to do to lower your footprint. But I totally would also understand if somebody don't care because it will only slow the speed to extermination down not solve the problem.

Edited June 9, 2015 by blueyeshk

[Emster23]

That 50 tons is just what comes from ministry that pulls these numbers out of hats. Good news: BS if properly recycled is good for the roses.

[Rogergreybeard]

Where does the money go to buy new garbage trucks??? Where does the money go for garbage bins???, Mind you would have to bolt them to the ground,where does the money go for Labor??? Sorry can't find Thais to do that job??? And besides thai people don't give a shit, unwrap throw on ground, throw on beach, go for swim come out with all sorts of skin problems, see it everywhere, the amount of shit in the water,oh,sorry and the oil and other substances from food stalls,just take a drive one big cesspit everywhere teaching starts with the children, oh sorry

[Lupatria]

There's a lot more than 50 tons currently blocked and awaiting free flow in the drainage systems of Bangkok alone. However, the next flood will set them free.

[anon467367354]

The only pier I've seen anything that resembles a trash bin is at Siriraj where they do have a plastic bag tied to one of the railings.

When I say something to the boat captains or the person that ties the boat about throwing trash left behind by passengers into the

river, they look at you and laugh as if you're crazy. Then they have to talk about it amongst themselves and laugh.

It's an awareness problem, so far it's not on the radar yet.

[DaveinAsia]

It's very simple. As long as the government keep charging people 20/30/50 baht or whatever else to collect their garbage, they are going to keep dumping it where they like or burning it and poisoning themselves and their neighbors. It's time the Thai government took this problem very seriously instead of ignoring it and silently hoping it will go away. The next pic is courtesy of John Everingham and shows a very alarming situation that would make one wonder about a next trip to the beach

[SOTIRIOS]

....considering that...on any given day...any given 'talad'....seems to produce............. around 1 Ton of garbage at the end of the day.....

...that really sounds ........'miniscule'.....

[laobali]

Nothing about Thailand is true.

That's true.

[Lee4Life]

It would be interesting to know how this person came up with the figure of " 300 rare sea creatures per year" that die because of the garbage.

[Doc46]

Get the cops of their <deleted> and fine people for throwing rubbish everywhere,,,, no one seems to give a flying F,,k about the Shit everywhere,,,

[Lopchan]

Missing a few 0s I do believe

[Basil B]

Million

50 ^ tonnes of Thai garbage flows into sea every year

Just thinking there will be thousands of tonnes just for loy krathong...

[Tchooptip]

50 tons per year : 365 days = 137 kg per day in a country with over 3.000 km of COASTLINE LENGTHS

An example for the rest of the world

Edited June 9, 2015 by Tchooptip

[Thai at Heart]

50 tonnes? Is that it? 20 truck loads?

[quandow]

What you DON'T see is the coral beneath the surface that is dying. I've been diving in Thailand almost ten years and am brokenhearted to see the decline of an organism that takes CENTURIES to grow back. Coral is one of those critical elements in the food chain. It's like the bees dying in America. If the coral dies, if the bees die, then we die.

When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.