Koh Samui is threatened with undisposed garbage totaling about 250,000 tonnes

[rooster59]

Koh Samui is threatened with undisposed garbage totaling about 250,000 tonnes

KOH SAMUI: A huge mountain of accumulated garbage is threatening the image and tourism potential of Koh Samui and the problem is steadily worsening as the only incinerator of the municipality has been inoperational for about eight years.

Mr Anond Wathayanont, a member of the development committee of Koh Samui municipality, said that the undisposed garbage, estimated at about 250,000 tonnes had been left abandoned around the malfunctioned incinerator and had piled up as high as a three-storey building.

Moreover, about 150 tonnes of garbage are generated each day from households and tourism-related establishments, adding up to the garbage which are not disposed of, he added and blamed the rapid expansion of tourism business for contributing to increasing garbage problem.
The municipality has tried to address the problem by hiring a private sector to dispose of the garbage but has to terminate the contract later on because of poor performance, said Mr Anond, adding that the municipality has sought financial help from the government to fix the incinerator but help is yet to come.

As an alternative while the incinerator remains out of order, the municipality has launched publicity campaign urging households and business operators to separate garbage into garbage which can be recycled and garbage which needs to be disposed of.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/koh-samui-threatened-undisposed-garbage-totaling-250000-tonnes/

-- Thai PBS 2016-06-19

[trogers]

Not surprised on this state of things when the island floods frequently from the lack of storm drains that discharge into the sea.

[clockman]

No planning or fore thought. For tourism to last you have to reinvest. Thais just think of today! What tourists want to see or smell garbage?

[Kasset Tak]

No planning or fore thought. For tourism to last you have to reinvest. Thais just think of today! What tourists want to see or smell garbage?

It's like Kamphaeng Phet historical park, it's from the Sukhothai era and is on the UNECO world heritage list. They charge foreigners 200 Baht to enter and last 2 times I've been there they did not have any tourist information in English and no one working that could speak English. The same goes for most national parks, no information in English and no personnel that can speak English and still we as foreigners have to pay 5-10 times as much as a Thai that at least can read the signs and get more out of the visit than just a nice view.

And sadly to say it goes back in to the educational system too, many vocational colleges have machines and even complete factories that they can't use as they have broke down because of the lack of maintenance. Basically the colleges got the equipment for free via MOE/OVEC but after installation MOE/OVEC have not allocated any money in the budget for maintenance.

[300sd]

The incinerator has been down for eight years! So just let the garbage pile up until it's so high that we can blame it on too much tourism. I'm sure that's the problem. LOS and we just don't care!!!

[LostTourist]

I always said that Koh Samui is "A huge mountain of accumulated garbage"

And now it has been confirmed.

Lets hope next time it floods it won't bring a nasty plague upon the place

[CaptainS]

I notice they often also not even collect the garbage properly anymore, there are more and more areas next to the road where the black bags just get more and more. It seems as soon as there are more then 2 or 3 they just leave it.

Many locals solve the problem on their own and just burn it (somehow I can understand it, they need to get rid of it somehow), but even burning plastic next to tourists on the beach.

In my area of Bangrak the smell of smoke increased a lot in the last year. Whenever I open the window there is smoke in the air. Last week I was on a trip, opened my bag to take out a fresh washed t-shirt and noticed how much it smelled of smoke, days before it was hanging out to dry, in the fresh air of Samui

My mum recently visited me, she got a small machine to help her breathing at night. 2 years of usage in Germany: the filter was still like new, a few weeks in Samui and the filter was completely black.

[TheLobster]

Many locals solve the problem on their own and just burn it (somehow I can understand it, they need to get rid of it somehow), but even burning plastic next to tourists on the beach.

In my area of Bangrak the smell of smoke increased a lot in the last year. Whenever I open the window there is smoke in the air. Last week I was on a trip, opened my bag to take out a fresh washed t-shirt and noticed how much it smelled of smoke, days before it was hanging out to dry, in the fresh air of Samui

My mum recently visited me, she got a small machine to help her breathing at night. 2 years of usage in Germany: the filter was still like new, a few weeks in Samui and the filter was completely black.

In our area of Bangrak http://www.bohkhungvillas.com/ it is the same, all around us and next to us there are fires every day now plus we have the yapping dogs waking us up in the morning and keeping us awake in the evening. Also there are the problems with the electric in this area ......

[Thechook]

It was tourists being blamed for all the garbage a few months ago. If the infrastructure can't cope with the tourist numbers then cut back on the numbers. Forget about counting the baht and think about the environment. If it isn't sustainable there won't be a single satang to count.

[cumgranosalum]

As with ALL Thailand's natural resources, there is no proper management, no infrastructure and no regulation.....in this case they are as ever shitting in their own nest.

[futsukayoi]

Many locals solve the problem on their own and just burn it (somehow I can understand it, they need to get rid of it somehow), but even burning plastic next to tourists on the beach.

In my area of Bangrak the smell of smoke increased a lot in the last year. Whenever I open the window there is smoke in the air. Last week I was on a trip, opened my bag to take out a fresh washed t-shirt and noticed how much it smelled of smoke, days before it was hanging out to dry, in the fresh air of Samui

My mum recently visited me, she got a small machine to help her breathing at night. 2 years of usage in Germany: the filter was still like new, a few weeks in Samui and the filter was completely black.

In our area of Bangrak http://www.bohkhungvillas.com/ it is the same, all around us and next to us there are fires every day now plus we have the yapping dogs waking us up in the morning and keeping us awake in the evening. Also there are the problems with the electric in this area ......

Do you pay for garbage collection ? Most foreigners and locals don't pay and burn or fly tip their rubbish so of course there is no money to solve the problem. Of course if everyone did pay the money would probably just disappear into someones pocket anyway.

[williamgeorgeallen]

It was tourists being blamed for all the garbage a few months ago. If the infrastructure can't cope with the tourist numbers then cut back on the numbers. Forget about counting the baht and think about the environment. If it isn't sustainable there won't be a single satang to count.

charge a fee on every tourist coming to samui on the ferry or arriving by plane at the airport. efficiently collect the fee and then use it to form a committee on how to solve the problem. pay expensive consultants to look into the problem and then hope the problem goes away on its own. only took 10 years to get me thinking like a thai. you will all think i am crazy but i actually understand them and how their systems work now. its so beautiful, now i need to study up on becoming a consultant that specializes in waste disposal incinerators.

[cumgranosalum]

Simply burning rubbish is a potential eco-disaster..even in small private fires....that amount of rubbish would create a huge amount of toxic gases, smog and of course extra carbo in the atmosphere. The problem with allowing garbage to pile up is that it gets increasingly difficult (and costly) to dispose of.

someone will probably suggest landfill, then build upon it and a few years down the line the whole lot will explode due to methane gas build up.....

[12DrinkMore]

Not surprised on this state of things when the island floods frequently from the lack of storm drains that discharge into the sea.

I did not see any flooding problem discussed. Am I looking at the wrong article?

[Fookhaht]

The last four islands I have visited were inundated by garbage, including Samui, Chang, Lan and Phuket. I was just trying to escape the garbage-strewn countryside of Isaan.

I feel a new "hub" has arrived, although TAT won't be announcing this one.

[eliotness]

Just so 3rd world. In tourist areas separate bins for recycling should be compulsory, as should regular emptying of the bins. Simple really ! Also how could "they" allow the garbage to accumulate for 8 years without fixing the incinerator. Seems they don't want any more tourists !!!

[Doc46]

So what is the problem,,,,you can't tell me that after 8 years they have

not fixed the Incinerator,,,That is no excuse,,That's the Fault of the Lazy

Good for Nothing Bludger in charge,,,He should have been Replaced with a

competent person and fix the Incinerator,,,Peace of cake,,,,The Government

has got enough money confiscated from all the corruption Hi so people to pay for this.

[tuanku]

As Samui is an island, the eventual destination of a proportion of that rubbish will inevitably be the sea. Thailand can maintain its position of being amongst the worlds 5 biggest plastic polluters of the oceans (all of them Asian countries)

Much of the rubbish does not need to be generated in the first place. This country has a serious problem with too much packaging on everything. Even a pack of biscuits has individually wrapped biscuits inside.

Tax packaging and use the money to build proper waste disposal plants. Too difficult?

[ronaldo0]

I fail to see why they cant just charge every house a small monthly amount and have a proper collection service on a weekly basis.

I don't think one person would object to this as it is the only real solution.

This would more than pay for new incinerator , new larger disposal trucks, staff and maybe even public bins!!

People wonder why there is so much garbage in some places, I have hardly seen any public bins for garbage like wrappers cans etc.

There is also the possibility of recycling place. The jobs there could be given to the poor souls who spend their days rummaging through bins for bottles etc !

But then this is no doubt a dream as some greedy git would want their cut for doing nothing because they need a new merc!!

[khunPer]

The garbage story about incinerator has different variations – in some news stories there are talked about two, where one is malfunctioning and the other working on 40 percent capacity. The reason for not being repaired was said to be due to warranty claim and discussions with the supplier; which in some stories has gone out of business. These stories has been going on for several years now, dating all way back to when the island had printed weekly newspapers, sometime in the long forgotten past. I saw, the then newly build incinerator back in 2001, so in that case it must have been working some years, if only 8 years with malfunction.

However, it's beyond my understanding, why the local administration had let it go on for that many years, instead of getting at least one – if there are two – incinerator working on full capacity. Expanding tourist business generates a lot of garbage – also indirectly from associated business like restaurants and malls, and furthermore assisting workers – so when applying for permission to build, expand or open tourist related business, a garbage fee should be part to make the incinerator operational, cover ongoing maintenance costs,and expand with back-up capacity; the fee could be a surcharge to the normal collection fee, it would probably not need to be much...

Personally I would not mind either, to pay a little garbage surcharge to get the problems solved.

[cumgranosalum]

Many locals solve the problem on their own and just burn it (somehow I can understand it, they need to get rid of it somehow), but even burning plastic next to tourists on the beach.

In my area of Bangrak the smell of smoke increased a lot in the last year. Whenever I open the window there is smoke in the air. Last week I was on a trip, opened my bag to take out a fresh washed t-shirt and noticed how much it smelled of smoke, days before it was hanging out to dry, in the fresh air of Samui

My mum recently visited me, she got a small machine to help her breathing at night. 2 years of usage in Germany: the filter was still like new, a few weeks in Samui and the filter was completely black.

In our area of Bangrak http://www.bohkhungvillas.com/ it is the same, all around us and next to us there are fires every day now plus we have the yapping dogs waking us up in the morning and keeping us awake in the evening. Also there are the problems with the electric in this area ......

Do you pay for garbage collection ? Most foreigners and locals don't pay and burn or fly tip their rubbish so of course there is no money to solve the problem. Of course if everyone did pay the money would probably just disappear into someones pocket anyway.

Most people living in "villages" pay estate fees which I presume include the collection of garbage?

[Moonsterk]

I always said that Koh Samui is "A huge mountain of accumulated garbage"

And now it has been confirmed.

Lets hope next time it floods it won't bring a nasty plague upon the place

Ground water with leached chemicals is the real hazard and it's all over Thailand. Interesting theory about bisphenol A (BPA) from plastics in the environment and the disproportionate number of trans-gendered males.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/18/research-proves-genderbending-chemicals-affect-reproduction.aspx

Just a question but are the complainers on this thread recycling as much as possible? Buying only refillable beverages, separating organic waste for composting, etc etc ? I know I am. I throw out one small bag mostly chicken bones and bathroom tissue waste a week. I'd compost the bones, too but the cat gets into them.

Thailand certainly is set upon killing the golden goose in her tourist dependent regions.

[elgordo38]

No planning or fore thought. For tourism to last you have to reinvest. Thais just think of today! What tourists want to see or smell garbage?

This costs MONEY and the government is well very reluctant to part with it. Incoming yes outgoing no. I wonder if TAT got a whiff of this? Just a an article a couple days ago how Phuket is booming and condo's are selling well there are limits to that to if prospective buyers are wise and take time to look things over before buying. Its amazing how we mortals take the essentials of life for granted. This is an 8 year problem and as it says in the bible maybe the fat years are over.

[elgordo38]

I always said that Koh Samui is "A huge mountain of accumulated garbage"

And now it has been confirmed.

Lets hope next time it floods it won't bring a nasty plague upon the place

This should be a PS on the bottom of travel brochures to warn people.

[goodheart555]

Everywhere I go here in Thailand has garbage everywhere, it is not only in the national parks and beaches but in every village and town and every city.

Where there are Thais there is garbage...heaps of it.

I used to try to pick it up on the beaches, I would swim around an outcropping of rocks to the next beach with 5 garbage bags and swim back to the beach with all of the garbage bags full and flouting behind me.

Thai people would just smile at me as I tried to find a place to put the garbage in vane. I smiled back but my smile said stop throwing you garbage everywhere you filth.

I gave up a long time ago, it seams to me Thai people can not change, money and face, which means money is all they care about.

[timendres]

The garbage story about incinerator has different variations – in some news stories there are talked about two, where one is malfunctioning and the other working on 40 percent capacity. The reason for not being repaired was said to be due to warranty claim and discussions with the supplier; which in some stories has gone out of business. These stories has been going on for several years now, dating all way back to when the island had printed weekly newspapers, sometime in the long forgotten past. I saw, the then newly build incinerator back in 2001, so in that case it must have been working some years, if only 8 years with malfunction.

However, it's beyond my understanding, why the local administration had let it go on for that many years, instead of getting at least one – if there are two – incinerator working on full capacity. Expanding tourist business generates a lot of garbage – also indirectly from associated business like restaurants and malls, and furthermore assisting workers – so when applying for permission to build, expand or open tourist related business, a garbage fee should be part to make the incinerator operational, cover ongoing maintenance costs,and expand with back-up capacity; the fee could be a surcharge to the normal collection fee, it would probably not need to be much...

Personally I would not mind either, to pay a little garbage surcharge to get the problems solved.

Let's do some math. Let's say fixing that incinerator costs 10 million baht. Let's say new garbage trucks run 2 million and we would like three more. Then let's say the cost to deal with the current mountain of trash is another 2 million baht. Total tab to get back on track: 18 million baht. Divide by the estimated population of 63,000 people on Samui, and you get a little under 300 baht. Even if you call it 30 million baht, it is less than 500 baht per person.

If I ran for election on the platform: "everyone gives 300 baht, and we fix this trash problem now and for a long time", bet I could get elected!

[Moonsterk]

Everywhere I go here in Thailand has garbage everywhere, it is not only in the national parks and beaches but in every village and town and every city.

Where there are Thais there is garbage...heaps of it.

I used to try to pick it up on the beaches, I would swim around an outcropping of rocks to the next beach with 5 garbage bags and swim back to the beach with all of the garbage bags full and flouting behind me.

Thai people would just smile at me as I tried to find a place to put the garbage in vane. I smiled back but my smile said stop throwing you garbage everywhere you filth.

I gave up a long time ago, it seams to me Thai people can not change, money and face, which means money is all they care about.

I used to pick up garbage from the beach too, and join in on the beach clean ups that foreign business owners organize- so they can still operate, but now I realize that just enables Thais to not change their ways while foreigners clean up their mess.

Make the govt provide recycling and force citizens to do it. That is the only answer, not more garbage cans and pick-ups.

[elgordo38]

No planning or fore thought. For tourism to last you have to reinvest. Thais just think of today! What tourists want to see or smell garbage?

Incoming yes outgoing NO!

[goodheart555]

Everywhere I go here in Thailand has garbage everywhere, it is not only in the national parks and beaches but in every village and town and every city.

Where there are Thais there is garbage...heaps of it.

I used to try to pick it up on the beaches, I would swim around an outcropping of rocks to the next beach with 5 garbage bags and swim back to the beach with all of the garbage bags full and flouting behind me.

Thai people would just smile at me as I tried to find a place to put the garbage in vane. I smiled back but my smile said stop throwing you garbage everywhere you filth.

I gave up a long time ago, it seams to me Thai people can not change, money and face, which means money is all they care about.

I used to pick up garbage from the beach too, and join in on the beach clean ups that foreign business owners organize- so they can still operate, but now I realize that just enables Thais to not change their ways while foreigners clean up their mess.

Make the govt provide recycling and force citizens to do it. That is the only answer, not more garbage cans and pick-ups.

I have seen many non-Thais picking up garbage....well that's not true I have seen when Thai schools have brought students to pick up the garbage on the beach but it is just one of those do for show kind of things that goes on here in Thailand.

It doesn't happen to often not enough to deal with all the garbage That Thais just trough around anyway...it is just funny that at some of these beaches I was charged 10 times what Thais pay and had to pick up Thai peoples garbage...or I mean for some reason felt I had too.

[khunPer]

The garbage story about incinerator has different variations – in some news stories there are talked about two, where one is malfunctioning and the other working on 40 percent capacity. The reason for not being repaired was said to be due to warranty claim and discussions with the supplier; which in some stories has gone out of business. These stories has been going on for several years now, dating all way back to when the island had printed weekly newspapers, sometime in the long forgotten past. I saw, the then newly build incinerator back in 2001, so in that case it must have been working some years, if only 8 years with malfunction.

However, it's beyond my understanding, why the local administration had let it go on for that many years, instead of getting at least one – if there are two – incinerator working on full capacity. Expanding tourist business generates a lot of garbage – also indirectly from associated business like restaurants and malls, and furthermore assisting workers – so when applying for permission to build, expand or open tourist related business, a garbage fee should be part to make the incinerator operational, cover ongoing maintenance costs,and expand with back-up capacity; the fee could be a surcharge to the normal collection fee, it would probably not need to be much...

Personally I would not mind either, to pay a little garbage surcharge to get the problems solved.

Let's do some math. Let's say fixing that incinerator costs 10 million baht. Let's say new garbage trucks run 2 million and we would like three more. Then let's say the cost to deal with the current mountain of trash is another 2 million baht. Total tab to get back on track: 18 million baht. Divide by the estimated population of 63,000 people on Samui, and you get a little under 300 baht. Even if you call it 30 million baht, it is less than 500 baht per person.

If I ran for election on the platform: "everyone gives 300 baht, and we fix this trash problem now and for a long time", bet I could get elected!

»...bet I could get elected!«

I'm sorry to say that odds to bet against that, is probably higher – unless of course, if you are both Thai and Samui resident...

I rather think you shall promise free garbage collection from local Thai nationals to be elected – or even better, a cash bonus – let the farang expats and tourist business' pay. But no matter what math model is used, it's relative small money when divided out. Small money, that may even be able to do more in long term, like numerous nice-looking garbage containers that are emptied and kept in good service; which will be a very good investment in tourism, for example use Singapore as model, and make Samui a model for Thailand...