Are Thais Worse Than Farangs For Litter?

[meadish_sweetball]

It's nice that the city streets are clean, but this is because major cleaning goes on in the wee hours of the night. In other words, it's not so much because people are mindful of not littering, as much as it is because other people are paid to clean up their mess... harsh penalties are a start but won't solve it in the long run.

The only way to fix it longterm is to make people understand it is their own responsibility, and that their own habits can make a change.

[Sing_Sling]

The Sing_Sling family fled the Indonesian burning haze here last week-end and stayed in Phuket for a week . . . simply shocking. Whether it's the side of the road or the beach or anywhere really. Rubbish everywhere.

Whether it's Bangkok, Phuket or Udon Thani the amount of crap people just chuck into the open is frightening . . . having said that, it is not much different in the Philippines, Malaysia or elsewhere here. Ah - except of course Singapore. Why?

Reasons:

a) You get fined big time

b ) You get to wear an orange jumpsuit and clean the streets

c) There are rubbish bins everywhere

d) Education

[Richb2004v2]

In the ten years I have been living and visiting Thailand I don’t think I have seen any improvement. I guess that until somebody can make money from it nothing will be done.

Well, you do something then..... it requires minimal effort on your part and the benefits are quite rewarding.

What do you suggest?

Should I start a Tv advertising campaign? Should I start visiting schools across the country and giving seminars? I could drop yellow bio-degradable leaflets from a plane claiming the merit gained in the next life for being clean and tidy.

At the minute I pick up any rubbish that escapes the paid cleaners on our estate, as well as picking up others rubbish I find here and there. I do not find it in any way rewarding. I shouldn't have to do it. Littering is permissible behavior from children, but I expect better from adults.

[Thaipwriter]

Thai's love noise, trash, bright colours, plastic furniture and general chaos.

Let them get on with it.

In about 30 years things will be different. They will think and act the same as we do now. They just have to develop at thier own indoctrinated paced, that's all

[Sing_Sling]

Thai's love noise, trash, bright colours, plastic furniture and general chaos.

Let them get on with it.

In about 30 years things will be different. They will think and act the same as we do now. They just have to develop at thier own indoctrinated paced, that's all

And that's exactly playing tot he point made earlier - wouldn't it be easier to learn from the mistakes of others in the past? Why re-invent the wheel . . .

I guess it's just another case of problem? Chiang mai lu . . .

[kmart]

I have definately seem improvement on the streets is Bkk. I also saw a police officer ticket a guy for throwing a cigarrete on the street! !

You saw a Thai cop selectively enforcing a very lucrative little law to line his bosses pocket. Thats all.

Thats all they see it as too.

[t.s]

Last medium size flooding (three feet in the soi) in Si Ping Muang area (CM), I had to wade to my office. Had to dodge debris (not unusual, but this was pretty thick) and stop every 30 yards or so to peel the plastic bags off of my legs.

Recycling is always good, except when the people who recycle batteries pour the waste acid into the rain gutter.

I posted about this six months or so back, but as to education, do the Americans here remember the crying Indian (Native-American) commercial? Up to that point it was common to see people throw McD bags and other paper out of a car on the highway. After the ad, I mean it was just along the scale of a 95% dropoff in litter! OK, I doubt that an exact repetition is possible (I think most of the driving force behind that was probably guilt about stealing the land and THEN polluting it too), but I do think the projects mentioned above have merit.

i remember the crying indian, it played north of the border as well.

thailand had a similar campaign with thai peple going to beautiful spots only to be confronted with giant empty bags of coca-cola, giant styrofoam boxes etc.

i have also been confronted by thais on occasions while they patiently explain that it is tourism that makes thailand dirty, not thais. there is a blind spot there, and it is a combination of ignorance and denial. the worst example of littering (other than the full moon parties on haadrin)I have ever seen was with a group of people i had been argiung about this with a couple days previous. they were a group of university students visiting samet who explained to me why tourist were bad for the environment. the story was the same, thais love thailand, farang don’t care

the next day, for the boat ride back to the mainland, they had packed a lunch for about 10, when they were finished, they fastidiously collected all the plastic and styrofoam into a bag and over the side it went. still they could not see what they had done.

similarly up the coast of rayong on a motorcycle trip I took a few years back we found a an absoulutely brilliant beach in a national park, but for one thing. it was 1 week after songkran and many thais had been there for a party. bags of uneaten seafood remains were rotting in the sun, piles of smashed whiskey and beer bottles were littering the ground. The surrounding area reeked of excrement and urine and a totally beautiful beach was essentially ruined. And this was a large area, it must have been a gathering of 100 or more people.

the litany could go on and on. Sadly, irrespective of their education, many thais just could not care less.

[qualtrough]

Just for the record, the 'Crying Indian' wasn't really an American Indian, he was an Italian-American. It was a good commercial though...

http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/ironeyes.htm