Welcome to paradise - sorry about the rubbish!

[Bcgardener]

This is a photo of Manly beach in the middle of Sydney , a city of about 5 million people. This beach probably sees more tourists than Samui yet is clean with clean clear water because the population is educated in the consequences or dumping rubbish and other pollutants. Even after a storm you will see little in the way of man made waste on the beach. The local government understands the value of the tourist dollars and makes every effort to keep the beach looking good. You can usually see tractors with special sand filtering drums grooming the beach around dawn each morning. 

A far cry from the ignorant and greedy Thai approach to tourism.

[papa al]

6 minutes ago, Get Real said:

As usual we have the bright Netizens, that all were in no doubt that the beach had to be cleaned up. Yep! That´s right, and even my 4 year old daugther also draw the same conclusion. Yippie! There´s a bright future ahead for the world when paople really can be so unimaginable smart. LOL

Yes.

Smart paeple.

[Elkski]

sad thing is even on a remote desolate island there is trash...  so if you go to shore off a dive boat just dont expect pristine.    the more I am thinking about it the more I may have to loose my sex worker virginity and try Thailand for the rental women.  what else is there?

[robertthebruce]

1 minute ago, Bcgardener said:

This is a photo of Manly beach in the middle of Sydney , a city of about 5 million people. This beach probably sees more tourists than Samui yet is clean with clean clear water because the population is educated in the consequences or dumping rubbish and other pollutants. Even after a storm you will see little in the way of man made waste on the beach. The local government understands the value of the tourist dollars and makes every effort to keep the beach looking good. You can usually see tractors with special sand filtering drums grooming the beach around dawn each morning. 

A far cry from the ignorant and greedy Thai approach to tourism.

 

 

Totally agree with you ....

 

i have been been to that beach in Sydney and it's beautiful..., Infact that area. Is Class...,was very impressed.....

 

 

[me in BKK]

instead of making a big fuss about it and share a million stories, go and clean it up.  Surely somebody in Samui has a tractor to clean this up!!

[notmyself]

2 minutes ago, Elkski said:

sad thing is even on a remote desolate island there is trash...  so if you go to shore off a dive boat just dont expect pristine.    the more I am thinking about it the more I may have to loose my sex worker virginity and try Thailand for the rental women.  what else is there?

 Lot of delirious in Utah. 

[Emster23]

I spent a month at Chaweng back in 84. We had a big storm while there, and still no trash washed up. " This is the result of Mass tourism.": I disagree.

 Need education, public campaign, and honest beach cops (and other places, of course) enforcing on ALL not just quick baht from tourist who drops butt. Sadly, don't see that coming over the horizon. Much easier to blame "powers beyond their control".

[notmyself]

1 minute ago, me in BKK said:

instead of making a big fuss about it and share a million stories, go and clean it up.  Surely somebody in Samui has a tractor to clean this up!!

 Local government does and no doubt can provide the receipts. It's in BKK under repair I imagine.

[hawker9000]

8 hours ago, Ostseefoto said:

This is the result of Mass tourism. All tourists should help to collect and sort the garbage. For a clean enviroment.

[phantomfiddler]

Sadly asians seem to have no concept of proper waste disposal. The worst I ever saw was at Ban Phae around where the ferry leaves for Koh Samet, much worse than the garbage shown in the photos here   I do believe farang tourists are not responsible for this problem.

[notmyself]

Met this old fella in '99 ish and asked how he felt about all these tourists. Said when he was a kid he used to have nothing but now his children have been to higher school and his grandchildren are going to Uni. He used to drag coconuts, in a sack, through the jungle for 1 Baht a day.

[wvavin]

What a pristine beach.

[SuwadeeS]

In fact, I see every day some people staying next to a trash can / garbage can.

Sometimes less than to meters. And just drop their garbage on the street.

 

You know what, they are Thai citizen.

[notmyself]

I used to of the opinion that very little of the money generated went to Surat province and little came back but that is not the case. Samui, part of Surat province, actually gets a fair square share from the pot but most of what is allocated goes into the pocket of a certain people who just happen to be friends. Do you know for example that we still pay SSWIU to burn the refuse? Why bother paying for the energy to burn it when you get paid just to dump it in a heap?

[DekDaeng]

what's an 'ecosystem'?

[r136dg]

1 hour ago, toenail said:

Why should tourists from developed countries spend their holiday cleaning up after the Thais? I observe daily Thais leaving their foam or plastic bag food containers where they have finished eating outside including empty bottles (too lazy to place it somewhere in s bin). --A huge government marketing campaign & education in Thai schools ( the future adults of Thailand)  about not littering & caring about the environment. --For some reason Buddhism in Thailand does not connect to respecting the environment.

NO DOUBT!

To see so many blatantly (maybe subconsciously) throwing garbage out of their vehicles while driving is depressing.

[Ulic]

Well, they could try having the public works department clean it up.

[bkkgriz]

13 hours ago, webfact said:

Most netizens were in no doubt that something needed to be done to clean up the beach.

However, not a single person will lift a finger and actually do anything about it. All talk, no action.

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, ThaiTrav said:

 

U doen understand silly farang we luvvvv it like dis!!

Unfortunately you are right, smelly, loud, and dirty, Thai paradise. Having said that my brother was on holiday in Cornwall, one morning he came to the beach to find it littered with plastic oil bottles labeled, ' only for use on HM submarines'

[johnny49r]

Some people mentioned that folks should simply take their trash to a bin instead of tossing it on the ground.

Anyone seen a bin lately? And if there was one, who would empty this magical bin?

Even the big metropolitan places like malls and the airport have precious few disposal bins. 

 

Thai culture also prevents proper disposal and recycling of trash. I have seen countless adults and children simply toss their trash on the roadside. 

Thais apparently see beauty in a landscape choked with plastic waste. Perhaps I just need attitude adjustment!

[samuibeachcomber]

Most of the rubbish shown in the pics.is from the monsoonal weather and has come in from the sea.

 

Having said that rubbish all over thailand is a problem.

 

Many villages are actually pretty clean as more and more families take care and pride to clean up around them,and if the local tessaban has a pick up programme then everything is made easier.

 

Tourist areas are a bigger problem,as most thais in these locations are not local and dont care,the local authorities dont place rubbish bins on the beach...dont think it would be so much of a problem if bins were plentiful.

 

And finally..education in the schools about not throwing litter on the ground would be a good idea.

[snoopy21]

13 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

So.....what's the issue?

All beaches are similar......

Not even the beaches! I live at Pattaya. It is a common practice that people dump their trash or even construction wastes and any unwanted items outside from their balcony or leave them in opened space.

[graeme64]

11 hours ago, Elkski said:

Biggest disappointment of my visit.   I tell everyone about the trash in my first moment or two of my Thailand impression.    Trash everywhere including the beaches, roadsides, yards, just unimaginable and the scuba diving sucks. 

you are an idiot.

 

Scuba diving sucks?? Based on how many dives at how many sites are you stateing the diving in thailand sucks??

 

enjoy the diving in Utah - bound to be much better

[cracker1]

8 hours ago, Ostseefoto said:

This is the result of Mass tourism. All tourists should help to collect and sort the garbage. For a clean enviroment.

When guests pay a minimum of 10,000 baht a night to stay at Santibury Resort, they do not expect to be required to clean the beach !

[ftpjtm]

It's not a tourist problem, it's a Thai problem. It's not even an Asian problem, it's a Thai problem! 

 

I visited the Philippines last year and was SHOCKED at the cleanliness of the beaches in comparison to those in Thailand. We were in Puerto Galara not far from the main island Luzon (containing Manila) and the beaches were pristine. And not from resort cleaning crews, we hired a boat and went to several remote, totally unmaintained beaches which were completely devoid of trash. 

 

The Filipinos have far more respect for the environment IMO. Trash bins are much more prevalent and used/emptied properly. 

[Gillyflower]

A few days ago I was coming back from Rimping by the iron bridge in CM.  I passed a Thai lady, who had beside her a large shopping bag.  I stood and watched her for a while.  The bag was packed with small plastic bags full of something which she emptied into the Ping and then the plastic bag after.  I counted ten bags that were sailing down and her bag was still quite full.

[notmyself]

17 minutes ago, Ulic said:

Well, they could try having the public works department clean it up.

 

They do.

[carmine]

11 hours ago, Elkski said:

Biggest disappointment of my visit.   I tell everyone about the trash in my first moment or two of my Thailand impression.    Trash everywhere including the beaches, roadsides, yards, just unimaginable and the scuba diving sucks. 

 

What time of the year were you here?  And where in Thailand?

[Konaboy1]

has the governments ever supplied any trash cans? Especially in BKK?

[Taco]

There is no easy solution to this.  The Thai people's love of plastic bags and the lack of consensus that garbage is to be throw in a bin is the culprit.  It is a never ending battle.  If Samui is dirty come to Koh Phangan.  The beaches are nice and cleaner.  Most resort owners have their staff clean the beaches and we have an small organization called Green Cross that does island wide beach clean days.  I usually host the after party and give everyone who pitched in a free beer and people feel good about it.  Half of what we clean up  on a beach clean day is coming from the fishermen.  Real intelligent folks it seems like, making their money from the sea and trashing it. 

 

Also in Phangan there is more of a sense of community and people take better (not perfect) care of the island.  In Samui there is more of a feeling that your  on your own.