Neighbours Burning Plastic - Cold Season Annoyance

[george]

A few neighbors are burning plastic bottles, plastic bags, everything plastic, now when it gets colder. I get sick in my lounges and feel mai sabai when they are burning plastic.

I understand that they don't understand it's dangerous and toxic.

Would they respond to my idea that I set up a container, free of charge, they can threw their plastic waste in there, and I am happy to pay for the remove every week or so?

Or is it a waste of time and efforts?

Apparently Thai citizens are also feeling sick wile burning plastic, but they still do it.

Any solution? Or will I burn in hel_l?

[Little Black Duck]

A few neighbors are burning plastic bottles, plastic bags, everything plastic, now when it gets colder. I get sick in my lounges and feel mai sabai when they are burning plastic.

I understand that they don't understand it's dangerous and toxic.

Would they respond to my idea that I set up a container, free of charge, they can threw their plastic waste in there, and I am happy to pay for the remove every week or so?

Or is it a waste of time and efforts?

Apparently Thai citizens are also feeling sick wile burning plastic, but they still do it.

Any solution? Or will I burn in hel_l?

Tell em keep on burning "hel_l aint full yet.."

[mrbojangles]

Maybe you could try and find a report written in Thai, that explains how dangerous it is. Also, i think i've seen many poor people collecting plastic to earn money. If they knew they could get money for it they might not burn it. Not sure

[Tywais]

A few neighbors are burning plastic bottles, plastic bags, everything plastic, now when it gets colder. I get sick in my lounges and feel mai sabai when they are burning plastic.

Would they respond to my idea that I set up a container, free of charge, they can threw their plastic waste in there, and I am happy to pay for the remove every week or so?

Or is it a waste of time and efforts?

Are they burning them just to stay warm? If not then the recycle idea is very good. We put all our plastics in a large garbage bag and our nephews come to pick them up to sell. Also the idea of finding a report in Thai of the hazards is excellant.

One caveat, they may decide to put all their trash in your container.

[marshbags]

Talk about coincidence.

Only this morning my neighbour reported the woman across the soi for doing the same thing to the Moo Ban elders.

They are now going to make an announcement over the loud speaker system and will also tell this particular offender personally to put all rubbish in the bin and not burn it.

I,ve asked her several times if she would at least wait for a favourable wind to take it away from our houses.

My wife translated but she just laughed at me and probably thought i was a bit Ting Tong.

Anyway 2 days ago she had the toxins drifting over all night, then again yesterday and again this morning.

This must have to much for the neighbour as she is asthmatic also and was well peeved off, hence the action above was taken.

All burning is now to be stopped by way of re education on the toxic dangers and local instructions.

marshbags

Edited December 2, 2006 by marshbags

[DragonLad]

One caveat, they may decide to put all their trash in your container.

Yeah, Only trash will go in that container not any plastics at all.

[OneeyedJohn]

They really should know better.

Nothing is burnt that can't be sold...plastic goes for 19 B per kilo, thats a heck of a lot of plastic but nonetheless.

I can drink 40 cans of Singha very quickly, equals 1K equals 5 Baht...well it pleased me

[Jeff1]

Maybe you could try and find a report written in Thai, that explains how dangerous it is. Also, i think i've seen many poor people collecting plastic to earn money. If they knew they could get money for it they might not burn it. Not sure

A twist on that idea is tell them you will pay for all of their household plastic ( withen reason ) and to just deposit it in this bin you supply them.

[george]

Maybe you could try and find a report written in Thai, that explains how dangerous it is. Also, i think i've seen many poor people collecting plastic to earn money. If they knew they could get money for it they might not burn it. Not sure

A twist on that idea is tell them you will pay for all of their household plastic ( withen reason ) and to just deposit it in this bin you supply them.

Jeff1, Excellent idea. More ideas?

[girlx]

i have this same problem- my neighbors are freaking arsonists to begin with but i get bad headaches and coughs from the plastic. even my dog seems to get sick from it. let me know if you come up with a solution.

Edited December 2, 2006 by girlx

[Jamie]

Some habits die hard. If it's something they have done for years, it's hard to break them of that. I work in the environmental field and part of my job has been outreach and education on the dangers of buring certain items in burn barrels.

It seems even if you can offer people the ability to recycle at no cost to them, it's still easier for them to burn the material than bring it to the road side for pick up.

[goldenmile]

wait for the wind to change and then start burning a couple of old tyres

[Briggsy]

I completely sympathise. There was a homeless guy who did it near my apartment. Tell 'em it affects virility. Though I don't think an old woman will care!

[chownah]

You might suggest that every month that no plastic is burned in your neighborhood you will donate x amount of baht to the local temple....someone at the temple might know about the hazards of burning plastic and this might underscore the dangers more than your talking about them.

Just an idea,

Chownah

[London Crocodile]

Paying for people not to burn plastic is just paying another bribe.

Education is the only real solution.

[qualtrough]

A few years back we had a neighbor who was just dumping garbage over his wall into the empty lot next to our house. This despite the fact that daily garbage pickup in our neighborhood costs something like 100 Baht a month. My wife went down to the Tesaban (I think that is what it was) and filed a complaint. A day later a pair of officials came out, listened to my wife's complaint, and took a photo. At some point they had a word with the neighbor. Problem stopped. It's not always as bad as people on this forum seem to make it out to be.

[Douggie Style]

Jeez, burnt plastic is a toxic cocktail...hope you find a solution fast...

The chimney from the house next door is the same level as our top level, they started to burn plastic, so I complained to everyone and anyone, then got a Sunbeam Therapeutics Model AC8800 aircleaner and keep the windows closed on that side - seems to work well but fliter needs to be replaced.

Can you physically reduce the smoke, new seals on the doors etc?

best of luck

Edited December 3, 2006 by Douggie Style

[my friend I]

We were staying in a bungalow at Samet when the staff dumped a mountain of plastic drinking bottles next to the side window & set them alight. Luckily it was pre noon so checked out.

[kmart]

If you don't complain / take action nothing ever gets done. The people next to our 7-floor building used to burn plastic and all other sorts of crap all day. The fumes used to seep into the building and everyone in the building used to complain. Someone even wanted to call the police.

All it eventually took was the crazy farang (me) to go and have a polite chat and explain the problem to the Alpha male of the tribe next door, and it didn't happen again. He was apologetic and sincere; didn't want to be a nuisance, just didn't think about the consequences of his actions.

Thais sometimes are so unsure of their own social class that they are scared to complain / comment.

[Travel2003]

Quite a bizarre problem really, as it seems to me that the vast majority in this country don't care about the environment at all.

Wherever I have been in this wonderful country, there is one thing I always notice. The amount of various garbage thrown away, everywhere!

This, of course is due to lack of (environmental) education.

But then again, proper environmental actions (and education) is something normally only rich countries can afford.

To keep closing your windows, installing conditioners, etc, is like accepting the burning, thus you become "prisoner" on your own property.

Sometimes the (old) "if you cant beat them, join them" actually works.

And I don't mean join them in the plastic burning.

Befriend them, and then discuss the problem over some food (and drinks).

rgds

Sailor

[oevna]

Quite a bizarre problem really, as it seems to me that the vast majority in this country don't care about the environment at all.

Wherever I have been in this wonderful country, there is one thing I always notice. The amount of various garbage thrown away, everywhere!

This, of course is due to lack of (environmental) education.

It is also due to the centuries-old habit of burning refuse or throwing it away any old place, because traditionally food items were wrapped in banana leaves or other biodegradable packaging. When modern times rolled around and everything sold is now packaged in plastic, the old habits never died. It's not so much a lack of care for the environment as it is a hard habit to break. As you pointed out, a little education on the matter is in need.

Most Thais generally want to do the right thing, but our Western way of using confrontation to solve problems doesn't work in Thailand. In fact, it usually has the opposite effect that we hoped for. It doesn't surprise me that the people on this thread who said that they had a polite talk with their trash-burning neighbors were met with success.

[Heng]

Paying for people not to burn plastic is just paying another bribe.

Education is the only real solution.

People will do what they want to do. I (along with several hundred million other folks) know very well that my cars emit toxic gases, but I'm not going to stop using them.

[bina]

this environmental stuff , well....

while fishing in a natl park near korat with the rangers, we discussed these issues. me-- in five/ten years, this whole area will be full of houses and the water will be even more polluted then it is now from poisonous runoff etc; why does the park not do any kind of envir. educ. for school kids...

them-- what... in five/ten years, thats so far away, who cares

me-- instead of planting eucolyptus and rubber trees bla bla bla

them-- who cares, thats so far away we dont know what will be tomorrow

and these were educated guys.

actually my husband is learning since my kids are not silent activists... everytime he tosses plastic or paper or even a banana peel out the window etc, he gets THE LOOK and then, an explanation... as to why its REALLY BAD to burn plastic, throw garbage, not recycle etc...

it seems to slowly sink in as there is nothing more poisonous then THE LOOK from teenage children who are far superior to us .....hopefully when back in thailand, he will then pass on his 'training' to others by the, do as i do way.

on a trip in korat area thru pristine -NOT- jungle , to fish in a stream, my daughter and i collected all the plastic and junk we saw along the way in a bag much to the amusement of anon's hunter/farmer old folks and the assorted kids that accompanied us. one of the kids thru a candy wrapper into the forest and he got THE LOOK, and went to fetch candy wrapper, gave it to me, and slunk off in a huff. of course didnt find anywhere to throw out all the collected garbage when we got back -- at the waat phaa near soeng sang, so probably the monks burnt it all....

Edited December 4, 2006 by bina

[emanphoto]

a water hose maybe??

[qualtrough]

I have heard the argument that waste here used to be biodegradable (banana leaves, etc.) and thus the reason some Thais continue to discard more modern packaging, etc. without concern, but I don't think that covers the entire issue. Any of you who have been out in the sticks will have noticed that trash is often discarded right under the house, where it rots and stinks. The area under the houses on stilts is often littered with plastic bottles, bags, garbage, etc. Now of course in past times that type of material would disappear eventually if biodegradable, but the larger issue is why couldn't these folks be bothered to walk, say, 5 meters from the house and discard it in a rubbish pile?? I normally do not engage in Thai bashing, but I will make an exception in this case for that portion of the local population who just dump things where they please. When it comes to littering, etc. I think there is also a sheer indolence component, which would explain, for example, why our neighbors used to dump trash over their wall rather than put it in a bin for monthly pickup at 100 Baht/mo. The only reason they didn't dump it under the house was because it was Western-style and therefore couldn't be done.

There is hope though. As I mentioned earlier, after the local authorities had a chat with the neighbors that behavior stopped. We would have spoken to them directly, but there was a history of poor neighborly relations with these people dating back prior to my arrival on the scene, so it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that a nice chat wouldn't have worked in this case. I would try that first in most cases.

[Jamie]

I think it really does have to do a lot with the old ways. Here in the States, I've seen and heard first hand from old timers that have used burning barrels their whole life. Most packing materials way back were not plastics, but instead wood and paper products. Today, everything is plastic and dyed paper products.

It also has to do with a general lack of education. There are still people who believe when you burn something, you are getting rid of the problem. They don't understand that heavy metals are released or that dioxins are produced in the low temperature fires.

[chownah]

The burning of plastic is a serious health hazard for humans. It used to be said that the most potent carcinogens (cancer causing agents) known to man were created by burning plastic.....maybe they have discovered more potent ones since then but the fact remains that if you want to get cancer or to give cancer to your neighbors or friends then one of the best ways to do it is to burn plastic and breathe the fumes.

Chownah

[Heng]

Well said, Chownah. When will they finally build industrial sized incinerator facilities in remote areas so that this carcinogen threat is finally out of sight and out of mind?

[kmart]

Well said, Chownah. When will they finally build industrial sized incinerator facilities in remote areas so that this carcinogen threat is finally out of sight and out of mind?

How long did it take to set up a coherent waste disposal system even in a huge town like Chiang Mai? Even now, the villagers still burn crap everywhere, and mess up the quality of the air.

So I don't think remote areas in Thailand will be getting any incineration facilities soon, sad to say.

It would be nice if a small amount of education was taught regarding pollution / waste in the national curriculum.

[chingching]

Well, is it or is it not illegal to burn the trash? that's one thing I like about Pattaya, I have only seen trash burning in a few places. Plastic burning produces dioxin which is the MOST carcinogenic substance on earth.