Foreigner draws praise for cleaning up the beach - but Thais turn on each other for messing it up in the first place

[birdy01]

This thing with rubbish it's not only Thai people I've lived the last nine years in cyprus and its the same thing there.
The people need to be educated and that starts from schools until that's done nothing will change.

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[thailien8]

It wouldn't cost Pattaya city much to hire some workers to do what this man is doing, but I've never seen this.  Some workers occasionally clean the beach promenade, but seem to focus on sweeping up leaves, not litter, and never seen them on the beach.

[Giorgio1610]

An Idea.......Every person who goes before a court must get a minimum of 5 hours cleaning up rubbish in their town or village. They can do it in groups with minimal supervision from one of the lazy cops. How about very low risk prisoners getting a day out to clean up too ? They do that in many countries with good results.  Written by jaiyen

 

I love this idea however as a punishment 5 hours is too little in view of many Thais working attitude. Should be at least 1 day!

 

It is much easier to buy submarines to keep other submarines or war ships away or even attack whoever (hahaha) than providing sufficient garbage bins and collect them regularly. To educate them to take the garbage home and dispose it there might be a too big task! Keep your country tidy!

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, selftaopath said:

After years of watching Thais TRASH their country I still am shocked. I just don't understand it.  Granted there are few ways of getting rid of trash here in Isaan - maybe it's just where we live. Trash is not collected but usually burned. That is if it's not just thrown on the ground to blow where the wind takes it.  The trashing of Thailand definitely tarnishes the beautiful countryside. Can this habit be explained? I'm at a loss about it. 

Nothing explained at home, school or by the government. Trash pick up school trips should be mandatory. 

[Moonmoon]

I lived in Abac BangNa and there is a nice little green grove behind my condo which I bring my dogs out for a walk everyday.

Since the influx of chinese tourist, the tour buses has brought them to another condo beside mine for the night and park their buses around the grove every night.

 

The nice clean grove is now littered with trash, left over food and human waste from the tour bus drivers. The trash cans are just 5 metres away from where they parked.

 

 

 

[Jonmarleesco]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The footage was posted to Facebook though it was unclear where it happened.

The skyline is a giveaway.

[Jonmarleesco]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Apichai Kasempornmanee noted: "Thai people come from far and wide to search out a place to eat - then they can't walk a few paces to find a bin".

Spot on.

[wirat69]

6 hours ago, fiddlehead said:

Yes, it's hard to blame the people when there are no bins to place your garbage in anywhere near the beach. 

Ever heard of "Bring your own"??? If it wasn't there when you arrived why is it there when you leave???

[scorecard]

7 hours ago, binjalin said:

sure it can... Thais are irresponsible by nature look at unwanted pregnancies, driving habits, lack of care for animals etc. etc.  Until Thais inculcate a sense of self-responsibility nothing will change.

 

Interesting comment - maybe 15 - 20 years ago a Thai human behavior Dr. Professor from the highest name uni  (well respected teacher had written many books and papers, invited speaker etc., released his new book (Thai and translated to English), it included some harsh comments about Thai wanting to ignore / avoid the concept of responsibility.  He copped wide criticism. 

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

I think my story will sum up the problem. This week I am standing in line at Makro's vegetable department. In front of me is a Thai woman (well to do - many gold and well taken care of) with a child (+- 5 years old). She bought easy peel oranges and had the guy priced it (but left the bag open) and gave one orange to the child. The child peeled the orange and left the peels on the floor. When I stared at the peels on the floor she noticed it and picked up the peels. Here in is my problem many Thai's don't teach their children to behave in a responsible way. She should have told him to pick up the peels himself, that is the only way he will learn not to litter and to responsible for his own actions. We see this lack of responsibility in many cases, red bull, the 15 yr old killing 9 people etc etc.

[DrTuner]

Looks like Pattaya beach. He'll need a multi century dredging operation to clean that one.

[steve73]

My local beach in Rayong has rubbish bins every 100m or so.  Generally the Thai's that picnic on the beach do use these bins.  (If not, the deck chair renters usually sweep up any remaining rubbish around the chairs the following morning.)  On busy Thai holiday weekends there's usually too much rubbish for the bins, and the excess gets piled up around them - and of course the dogs then rip open any bags and drag it around overnight before the bins are emptied the next morning.  Very occasionally the dogs actually tip the bins over.  I'd also like to see many of these "beach dogs" removed (and disposed of), but that's another story....!

 

By far the majority of the rubbish on the beach is washed in from the sea.  Much of it has significant barnacle growth suggesting it's been at sea for many months.  A lot of it is old fisherman's stuff; bamboo poles & flags, ropes, nets, lumps of polystyrene, large light bulbs and tubes, etc.  Most days I pick-up at least a dozen or so of the squid lures in a 2-3 km stretch as these are particularly dangerous with multiple "hooks". 

 

Loads of plastic and glass bottles - Red-bull, M-150, etc. being the most prevalent since people replace the tops before throwing them out, so they float and wash up on a beach somewhere - God knows how many crown top bottles there must be collecting at the bottom of the oceans, as these only very rarely wash up.  There are usually enough old shoes to open a shoe-shop (although only for one legged people). 

 

Other than that it's mostly plastic bags (many still sealed and full of food etc),  and large sacks (which appear to have been slashed open - presumably to allow their contents to distribute). 

There is often large quantities of medical waste washed up - syringes, occasionally with unprotected needles (which I also remove), injection vials (often still full), drip bottles & tubes, colostomy bags, etc.   This really offends me, and I think much more effort should be made by the Thai authorities to trace where this is coming from.......

 

And of course, there are plenty of coconuts!!!!!

 

Some of the beach vendors do mae the effort to clean right down to the waterline, but most only bother to clean around their chairs.  Often they simply burn the piles collected (which is especially unpleasant due to the amount of plastic, and the glass ends up shattering).  Sometimes they bury it (whereupon it gets washed out again during the seasonal high tides when the sands shift, or they just leave the piles for the next high tide to move.  Just a few of them actually remove all the rubbish to the bins provided, but there is normally more rubbish in a 20-30m stretch than would fit into the bin that are every 100m or so.....  

 

Once or twice a year there are groups of volunteers (many 100's) that make a big effort to clear absolutely everything from the whole beach, but it only stays clean for a couple of days at best.

 

Such a shame that the beautiful beaches of Thailand are so ruined, and whether it's the Thais that are actually responsible for the rubbish, they could certainly make a better effort at removing it daily.  Beach vendors should be made to clear right down to the waterline, EVERY day, and dispose of it into the bin, or lose their concession.....  Of course, what happens to it thereafter is another story. 

 

Sorry to ramble on but I wanted to get it off my chest...

 

 

[williamgeorgeallen]

8 hours ago, cooked said:

How about the municipality investing in a machine to go over the beach to remove all the rubbish, broken glass and toilet paper every morning? The small ones cost less than a rice harvester I hate most mainland beaches in Thailand, even if they haven't been concreted over.

Thais don't see the point of beaches.

think some trash cans would be a good start if they were emptied often enough.

[pentap]

It's a breath of fresh air to note that a Thai is clearly pointing out the fact that Thais are more so to blame than foreigners, for the amount of litter and waste, as well as suggesting that Thais in general are lazy and uncaring.

Let's face it, I'm sure most readers have ventured into rural parts of Thailand and noticed, well it can't be missed, the amount of filth there is? But saying that, the filth is everywhere, not just rural villages.

The land of paradise!? Me thinks not.

Thais should be ashamed that a lowly foreigner is cleaning up their mess and for free!!




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[Mook23]

7 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

haha, i love the 'he loves the country' angle, yawn. no, he just doesn't want to sit and relax on a beach surrounded by rubbish, the country he happens to be in is irrelevant.

Little brainwashed people, forced to love their superior country, have no clue. The thai mindset is the result of systematic finetuning of xenophobia and nationalism, combined with general-ignorance-about-outer-world in order to keep the serfs in line... i love my thai friends but despise their masters... 

[cooked]

1 hour ago, Mook23 said:

Little brainwashed people, forced to love their superior country, have no clue. The thai mindset is the result of systematic finetuning of xenophobia and nationalism, combined with general-ignorance-about-outer-world in order to keep the serfs in line... i love my thai friends but despise their masters... 

Yes indeed, just like the UK in fact

 

[Canceraid]

Huh! Are those man boobs????? I am surprised that they did not fine him Bt 500 for public indecent exposure. Gawd I feel so sick now.

[Bluespunk]

12 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Thais turn on each other for messing it up in the first place

Thais turning on each other?

 

There's a first

 

Sarcasm alert.

[Dagnabbit]

I think my story will sum up the problem. This week I am standing in line at Makro's vegetable department. In front of me is a Thai woman (well to do - many gold and well taken care of) with a child (+- 5 years old). She bought easy peel oranges and had the guy priced it (but left the bag open) and gave one orange to the child. The child peeled the orange and left the peels on the floor. When I stared at the peels on the floor she noticed it and picked up the peels. Here in is my problem many Thai's don't teach their children to behave in a responsible way. She should have told him to pick up the peels himself, that is the only way he will learn not to litter and to responsible for his own actions. We see this lack of responsibility in many cases, red bull, the 15 yr old killing 9 people etc etc.

Just FYI 'well to do' women dont walk around dripping in gold.

Probably some farm girl with a sponsor.


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[Dagnabbit]

Bang Saen beach is disgusting. It's like sitting at a garbage dump. If it's getting washed up and not left by the locals, then it's a very focused tide.


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[Andrew Dwyer]

Laem Sing Beach ( Chantaburi ) is the absolute pits !!
Long straight stretch of beach with a good width of sand, plenty of resorts and places to eat but spoilt by the tons of garbage that litter the place !!
Most of it appears to be washed up .
I have never seen as many shoes, sandals or flip flops in one place since last time I had tea with Imelda Marcos !!

[Grovst]

A couple of years ago I went to Hua Hin and was positivley amazed of how clean it was there. I found out that the reason was that it was King Bhumibol´s summer residens. I could not see any apperent different behavior from the thai´s that are living there as from everyone that lives elsewhere. The conclusion I belive is respect for the King.

As for every else I´ve gone in LOS I see thai´s, as a ruel, just dumping their trash everywhere else but in the waste bin!

Myself I make a point of avoiding the straw and the plastic bag they almost force on You in the Seven Eleven´s and other stores.

" Small streams make large rivers "

[mok199]

asians spend 20% of the day thinking about food ,another 20% looking and buying food,another 20%cooking food and the balance of the day eating said food...no wonder they have no time to think about something as trivial as cleaning and picking  up after themselves...sawdee no crap

[anotheruser]

4 hours ago, Dagnabbit said:

Bang Saen beach is disgusting. It's like sitting at a garbage dump. If it's getting washed up and not left by the locals, then it's a very focused tide.


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You may not be aware of exactly how widespread the garbage problem is in the gulf of Thailand. It doesn't have to be that focused because basically the entire gulf is beyond saturated with garbage. 

 

This is one reason clean up attempts do not work. That being said the problem is also in Indonesia and other places.  The ocean seems infinite until you fill it with trash and Thailand and Indonesia are in the top 5 for throwing trash in the ocean.

 

If you would like to get a better understanding of what has been going on for 3 decades get a scuba diving license so you can see under neath the water.

 

http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-02-16-ocean-of-trash-an-island-of-garbage-is-moving-in-on-thailands-tourist-resorts.html

Edited April 23, 2017 by anotheruser

[fruitman]

Here is Phi Phi, 20 years ago it was an idyllic paradise island in the very clear andaman sea....

 

[Banana7]

Watch the immigration department arrest him and deport him and blacklist him for working at a job without a work permit, since it is a job that a Thai person can perform.

 

[kannot]

22 hours ago, binjalin said:

sure it can... Thais are irresponsible by nature look at unwanted pregnancies, driving habits, lack of care for animals etc. etc.  Until Thais inculcate a sense of self-responsibility nothing will change.

aint  that  the  sad truth

[kannot]

13 hours ago, pentap said:

It's a breath of fresh air to note that a Thai is clearly pointing out the fact that Thais are more so to blame than foreigners, for the amount of litter and waste, as well as suggesting that Thais in general are lazy and uncaring.

Let's face it, I'm sure most readers have ventured into rural parts of Thailand and noticed, well it can't be missed, the amount of filth there is? But saying that, the filth is everywhere, not just rural villages.

The land of paradise!? Me thinks not.

Thais should be ashamed that a lowly foreigner is cleaning up their mess and for free!!




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Some of them like round by me will COMPLAIN that its NOT his  job as they have ferk all better to do all day.............got this when spending 5  days fixing  the road at my own expense and labour costs, ie ME and my one staff member.

[romeijoe]

 We took the kids to the beach last week at cha am,  was the same, rent chairs and start to relax,  the beach sand was full of rubbish  , asked the owner to clean the area so the kids could play in the sand , should have seen the look i got from her, normally these days we travel that little bit further to get to khiri khan  so that we dont have to swim with all the plastic and rope, a real shame thais dont take a little more pride in the beach and other areas , but i guess they may well do when people no longer want to come . due to the rubbish  and increasing cost of the thai bhat.i will still be here because i love living here.

[pentap]

Reminds me of a report within the past year or so, of an elderly foreigner chap, who repainted a temple wall, by himself, free of charge and at his own expense.

However! There was was talk of a violation of Thai visa regulations. Which technically, there was.

No doubt this chap, cleaning the beach, plus the other chap, who painted the wall, were/are both clearly demonstrating, that not all foreigners are bad and that there are foreigners that do care, as they both clearly demonstrated, even if they did both break, Thai immigration law.

But! Considering the mindset of these fickle people, so called FACE could be considered LOST!?

My point is:

Foreigners in general should not been looked upon as just an ATM or beer drinking, chain smoking, womanizer. There are a great deal of foreigners that do respect and care, in more ways than Thais may want to believe or accept?