Thai agencies to clean up parks with litter plan

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NATIONAL PARKS
Agencies to clean up parks with litter plan
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
THE NATION



Tourists will be encouraged to visit national parks on week days and take their garbage with them when they leave

BANGKOK: -- OFFICIALS plan to tackle the excessive amount of litter at national parks by implementing garbage disposal measures and limiting the number of tourists during holiday periods.

Witthaya Navapramod, director of the National Parks Office, said the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department acknowledges the garbage problem in national parks and has come up with projects to reduce and recycle garbage at sites where there are problems.

The Department of Health had earlier reported an overwhelming amount of garbage at national parks and other tourist destinations. Some top attractions, such as Doi Inthanon National Park, accumulated many tonnes of garbage during the New Year holiday last year.

"National parks around the country have 59 incinerators that can burn up to 800 kilograms of garbage per day. However, this method cannot deal with all the garbage and it also causes pollution of its own," Witthaya said.

So, projects have been introduced to reduce the waste left or created by visitors.

"One of our projects is the 'Garbage Return Home' project, which encourages tourists to take their garbage with them when they return home and reduce our burden to deal with garbage in national parks," he said.

The project was very successful after being introduced last year, he said. About 160 tonnes of garbage was collected by 93,000 tourists from over 100 national parks that participated in the programme.

"A survey of the participants' satisfaction with the project revealed that 62 per cent of them were very satisfied. This indicates that the majority of tourists who travel to national parks love nature and are ready to help us tackle the garbage problem," he said.

Nat Khongkesorn, head of the Similan Islands Marine National Park, said the national park implemented a garbage-free policy two years ago to encourage tourists to take their garbage back with them and plastic food containers were banned in the park.

"We are closely monitoring guided tours to the islands. Last week, we hosted a seminar for tour operators to Similan in order to instruct them about the rules of the national park, security and also the management of waste generated by tourists," Nat said.

He said the Similan Islands park has a points system for all tour operators. If they violate the rules, such as littering or feeding the fish, marks are deducted and they will be prevented from entering the park if their score falls below 60 per cent.

To address the garbage and water pollution problem on Ko Tachai, the park closed food stalls on the island and banned tourists from bringing in food in order to allow the island's ecosystem to recover.

Tachai Island had previously suffered from an excessive amount of garbage from hordes of tourists who severely damaged the island's fragile ecosystem.

"Not only have we enforced strict regulations on tourism, we are also planning to limit the number of tourists according to the carrying capacity of each island. But we have to wait for the official calculation from the department," he said.

Witthaya also noted that the large number of tourists during high season was a major factor that exacerbated the garbage problem.

"We are trying to limit the number of tourists in national parks during holiday periods by encouraging them to travel during weekdays or to go to less crowded tourist destinations nearby," he said.

To that end, the department has come out with a half-price discount promotion for tourists who travel to every national park on weekdays. Information about nearby tourist sites is also provided to tourists in order to even out the average number of tourists that visit popular places and less crowded places.

"The problem is many people only know a few famous tourist destinations, so these spots are always crowded on long weekends. Therefore, if we inform people that there are a lot interesting attractions nearby, they can go to those places instead and it will reduce the burden of well-known parks to deal with garbage," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Agencies-to-clean-up-parks-with-litter-plan-30272547.html


-- The Nation 2015-11-09

[espinoza]

I have never been in any of them. I see garbage everywhere, i do not need to go to some special park for that. The country is overflowing with garbage.

[bangkokfrog]

The culture among many people here seems to be that they don't mind throwing rubbish into the vacant block next door, as long as their own yard is clean. It will take at least a generation to change this.

[canopy]

In my village there is no garbage pick up. The key reason is not that they can't afford it, but surprisingly it's because they fight the government against this idea. They prefer burning and tossing plastic all over the place. People's yards, road sides, forests, just everywhere is littered. The government puts signs in some places and it doesn't work as below. The will to solve this problem is not there.

[NCC1701A]

Tourist? Don't you mean "park visitors"? Most tourists spend their days looking for the one garbage container in all of Thailand.

EVERYDAY I SEE THE THAIS THROW THEIR TRASH ON THE GROUND EVERYWHERE.

[MartinL]

"BANGKOK: -- OFFICIALS plan to tackle the excessive amount of litter at national parks by implementing garbage disposal measures and limiting the number of tourists during holiday periods".

Wouldn't it be interesting if the number of Thai visitors were limited to allow more foreigner visitors, who pay a higher entrance fee, to enter?

That'd tend to kill the notion, often brought-up on TV in threads about differential pricing, that foreigner prices were higher to allow the less-well-off Thais to visit.

Edited November 9, 2015 by MartinL

[eliotness]

An interesting concept, reducing the litter by reducing the number of tourists allowed to visit the parks. Not making people responsible for their own litter - "take your litter home" would be a better approach, but then again they'd probably throw it out of the window as soon as they get out of the park area. Thailand needs a concerted campaign with strict enforcement, but sadly not liable to happen. Another approach could be to ban all vendors within the park using plastic bags, cups, mugs and trays.

[pinkpanther99]

Litter or no litter.

I'd be much eager to visit Thailand's national parks if I knew I wasn't going to be charged ten times the going rate to enter.

Being unfairly targeted because of the colour of my skin isn't my idea of a pleasant day out.

Edited November 9, 2015 by pinkpanther99

[timber]

I am very troubled by this subject. I come from an environmental conscious background and can not sort out what to do about garbage in Thailand.

Often I spend half an hour looking for a place to put my garbage in Bangkok. At home I spend a half hour taking garbage to a garbage collection point.

Thailand is avoiding spending 100 million baht by telling people going to parks, to take it home with them rather than dealing with it themselves. Rather

than setting up a collection point to sort the garbage and make money off of it. Avoiding a responsibility and accountability. So if I was a normal person

I would throw it in the forest. If I did what the government wants I would take it home and toss in in the jungle, into the forest, or river and let nature take care

of it. I don't have garbage collection. Its not that I live in a poor area it is not a priority. What I do is put it in the car and take it to the nearest garbage

collection point on the way home. I buy as little at the National park as possible, because then I have garbage that I have to find a home for. I see mothers

taking their children to school tossing bags of garbage in the forest. I see fathers with their children tossing garbage out of the train or car window.

When I took the train from Hau Mak to Bangkok I observed this happening and along side the tracks was a sea of plastic the entire way. What do I do

if I am an environmentally conscious person in Thailand, that makes sense. I think it is more important than Thai's and Farangs giving lip service to what

I see as a priority that can be easily solved with the right mindset.

[eliotness]

It's not restricted to Thailand. Even in the UKs Lake District National Park, there are numerous waste collection points, fines imposed for those caught littering, but still there is litter, even on top of some of the mountains. It's the mindset of some people, it's just in Thailand those sort of people seem to be quite numerous.

Environmental awareness needs to be taught hard in the schools. Make the kids put pressure on their parents. It will take some time, maybe more than a generation, but the long term effects will make a difference. If the present government wants to earn some brownie points here is a simple task to undertake.

[Brit_Doggie]

Plan A Educate on the spot fines.

[CantSpell]

Plan B: Install some bins at the park, if it's so much crowded, much have some spare cash to buy a few bins....

[kiwikeith]

I have never been in any of them. I see garbage everywhere, i do not need to go to some special park for that. The country is overflowing with garbage.

If they installed rubbish bins might help.

I went to Auddhaya a while back and could not find a rubbish bin anywhere, however rubbish on the ground was easy to find.

Edited November 9, 2015 by kiwikeith

[trainman34014]

Even if they do leave the park and take their garbage with them, it will be lobbed out of the car on the way home somewhere by the roadside. Thai's are basically filthy pigs when it comes to garbage. I have near neighbours who won't even pick up a piece of paper right outside their house, they will walk right over it for days on end until it blows away or someone else picks it up.

[Pattaya28]

Take my garbage with me

And concerned about the pollution burning the garbage

What about the black carbon pollution from so many vehicles on every road ?

I read on TV a month back billions of Baht had "disappeared" from entry fees to National Parks. Surely this "disappeared" money could or should be spent on dealing with this litter problem.

If they sell snacks and drinks they must cater for the disposal of the wrappers and bottles.