How about banishing Bangkok’s litterbugs?

[webfact]

EDITORIAL

How about banishing Bangkok’s litterbugs?
By The Nation

 

The trash so heedlessly discarded is choking our drainage system and worsening floods

 

BANGKOK: -- With the rainy season upon us, Bangkok’s residents and administrators alike are once again sharing that uneasy feeling. It’s time to brace for more flooding. The threat – not one that a major, modern metropolis should have to face – has found a permanent place in our collective psyche. 

 

The city’s previous governor, MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, was much derided when he declared urban flooding unavoidable because we happen to sprawl so close to sea level. His solution to waterlogged residents unwilling to tolerate more: move north to higher ground. Sukhumband’s lack of determination to tackle the recurring flood problem was surely one reason the ruling junta replaced him.

 

Flooding in the city is certainly partially the result of torrential rains brought by the monsoon. But countless studies and probes have shown and confirmed that the main reason we get swamped is because the drainage network is clogged with refuse. There are tonnes of trash choking the sewers and canals by which rainwater gets to the Chao Phraya River. And most of that garbage – plastic bags, Styrofoam containers, discarded furniture, even mattresses – has been carelessly tossed aside by citizens who should know better.

 

Bangkok’s 13 million residents generate 13,000 tonnes of waste every day, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration reckons. Of that amount, a mere 3,000 tonnes is recycled. The rest needs to be disposed of, and much of it is illegally dumped in the open, where it can pose health hazards and cause harm to the environment. It’s an untenable situation for a city whose streets are generally clean, if messy in patches due to a chronic shortage of rubbish bins. The junk that’s not collected by city workers – including a lot of discarded construction material – ends up in the sewers and waterways. Bangkok’s remaining canals seem to be regarded as large, wet trash disposals that will, eventually at least, carry our unwanted food wrappers out of sight. When the rains come, drainage pipes, no matter how much they’re enlarged, are overwhelmed, as are the pumping stations.

 

In recent days we’ve had severe flooding as a result of an early monsoon. The Phra Khanong pumping station couldn’t cope with the amount of water diverted from canals in eastern Bangkok because it was carrying so much refuse – 15 tonnes a day according to the BMA Department of Drainage and Sewerage. People living along canals complained of dirty drinking water and large amounts of trash floating past.

 

The authorities continually implore residents to not dump rubbish into canals and have even threatened to take legal action against violators. Deputy Governor Chakkaphan Piew-ngam wielded the threat of fines up to Bt10,000 against anyone caught littering in a public place or waterway. Turn in a litterbug and you get half the collected fine, he promised civic-minded citizens.

 

Will this be the big stick that changes irresponsible people’s attitudes where softly spoken words have failed? Perhaps an even bigger stick is needed – more than mere fines – but our prevailing mood of desperation suggests we should be optimistic. If legal punishment is the key to instilling common sense in careless citizens, go ahead and threaten them with expulsion from the city.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/opinion/today_editorial/30317587

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-06-09

[ratcatcher]

OTOH, how about providing adequate litter bins, garbage cans, trash containers for the public to use........................oh wait a sec, they can be used to store bombs.   A no-win situation.

[yellowboat]

1 hour ago, ratcatcher said:

OTOH, how about providing adequate litter bins, garbage cans, trash containers for the public to use........................oh wait a sec, they can be used to store bombs.   A no-win situation.

The most common litter bins available were at 7-11's.  Remembering having to carry rubbish a rather long distance to dispose of it correctly. 

[impulse]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Deputy Governor Chakkaphan Piew-ngam wielded the threat of fines up to Bt10,000 against anyone caught littering in a public place or waterway. Turn in a litterbug and you get half the collected fine, he promised civic-minded citizens.

 
He may be on to something here.  

 

Or maybe not.

 

If a guy will risk his life on electrical wires for 5,000 baht, turning in a litterbug would seem a no-brainer.  But then they'd figure out that the unwashed masses were actually getting a tiny piece of the Elites' Pie.  And that would never do.

 

Edited June 9, 2017 by impulse

[rkidlad]

I remember when the mayor a few years ago was re-elected (I think) and one of his policies was more bins on the street. Soon after there were in fact some plastic bins on the street. They were often overflowing with rubbish and very quickly they broke. After maybe 6 months, I had noticed that they were all gone. Someone told me they were often stolen. 

 

Anyhoo, there's a serious lack of bins, a serious lack of education and a serious lack of care. After a heavy downpour, it often floods. The water recedes and that's when you notice what a dump Bangkok really is. There is zero civic pride at all. This is not my city (I'm a farang) but I never drop litter. I usually end up carrying it around until I can find a bin. Been asked a few times;

 

"What's that?"

"Oh, it's my rubbish. Waiting 'til I find a bin"

"Ha ha.  Just put it over there"

"I'll wait 'til I find a bin". 

 

I live in a pretty nice condominium with middle to upper class people and they can't even put rubbish in the bin sometimes. Often the communal bins at the end of the halls have plastic bins just thrown next to the big bin. Lazy twots can't even be bothered to open the lid and put it inside. Like it's beneath them. 

[Emster23]

Banish litterbugs? Bangkok would look like PP after Khmer Rouge took over if they banished litterbugs

[Moti24]

At my local 7/11, I see people walking out of the door, stopping, unwrapping a sandwich, pack of cigarettes or whatever else they've bought, and then throw the wrappers on the ground.  And yet, they're standing right next to a bin.  

 

The whole population needs re-educating.  In the meantime, the authoritues need to get tough with the constant offenders.

Edited June 9, 2017 by Moti24

[robertthesculptor]

And then there is the scientific fact ( 97 to 99 % depending on who you talk to) that the water will rise more. Other countries have moved their capitols due to raising water....but this government chooses to ignore fact along with the current US nitwit

[anon4637435435]

""Sukhumband’s lack of determination to tackle the recurring flood problem was surely one reason the ruling junta replaced him.""

 

Replaced because of the truth that would inturn be one hefty financial kick in the pants if people realized there going under and that the value in land and housing is fake and what a big loss of face it would be for the people that had the powrr to do sonething but didnt.

I think there would be more evidence of these scientific so called studies that will show a lack of proper town planning to begin with and also that bangkoks slowly being flushed.

 

On another note. Blame garbage if it helps clean things up. Im all for that. Better out come than nothing i guess.

[sanukjim]

Quote: urban flooding in Bangkok is "unavoidable" because we sprawl so close to sea level: OK you present and past Bangkok Governors ,How is it that the major cities of the world doesn't have this same problem as Bangkok? If you believe this then it means that you are ignorant of any type of engineering or science and if if your engineers believe this then

the government needs to quite hiring their friends and relatives as engineers and hire someone that actually knows what he or she is doing when it comes to this problem.What a STXPID statement.

Edited June 9, 2017 by sanukjim

[just.a.thought]

The garbage problem is not confined to Bangkok it is nation wide, focus is needed on educating people about the effects of pollution before it is too late.....

[gazza4]

12 hours ago, rkidlad said:

I remember when the mayor a few years ago was re-elected (I think) and one of his policies was more bins on the street. Soon after there were in fact some plastic bins on the street. They were often overflowing with rubbish and very quickly they broke. After maybe 6 months, I had noticed that they were all gone. Someone told me they were often stolen. 

 

Anyhoo, there's a serious lack of bins, a serious lack of education and a serious lack of care. After a heavy downpour, it often floods. The water recedes and that's when you notice what a dump Bangkok really is. There is zero civic pride at all. This is not my city (I'm a farang) but I never drop litter. I usually end up carrying it around until I can find a bin. Been asked a few times;

 

"What's that?"

"Oh, it's my rubbish. Waiting 'til I find a bin"

"Ha ha.  Just put it over there"

"I'll wait 'til I find a bin". 

 

I live in a pretty nice condominium with middle to upper class people and they can't even put rubbish in the bin sometimes. Often the communal bins at the end of the halls have plastic bins just thrown next to the big bin. Lazy twots can't even be bothered to open the lid and put it inside. Like it's beneath them. 

As I finished cleaning up the day's dumped rubbish from our small bridge, in our small village, in the midst of torrential rain, I, once again, cursed the locals, most of whom I am very fond, for their ignorance.

Please, someone out there, stop the " bosses " stealing the funds that have been allocated to help Thai people.

I dream on.

[YetAnother]

this is a social thing; might as well ban breathing