A large pile of rubbish on the beach of Jomtien
Last Monday it was literally a complete mess on the Jomtien beach at Soi 10.
Sunday's rubbish that was collected but not removed helped cause a new load of marine debris to overload the beach again. Not only with plastic, but also with pieces of wood with nails in them.
Although local beach managers tried to get the beach clean, a feeling of power came over them because of the amount of dirt that was now washing up again. Heavy rain and flooding were the main cause of this major pollution.
Local boat operators also saw a lot of debris floating near the coast and reported it. A few tourists still tried to find a spot among the rubbish. But the average holidaymaker called it a day.
Hopefully the city hall recognizes the big problem and will take measures to save the face of Pattaya as a seaside resort.
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I don't get the impression that the town hall has any interest in rubbish or tourists.
The people there are too busy with megalomaniac projects, which will put Thailand in debt for years to come.
They would be better off spending the money on a waste treatment plant.
Preferably one including an incinerator and not just four walls and a roof, where you slide in the dirt for two months and then lock the door with the announcement that the incinerator is broken.
Was with Sonkran 2017 first in Huahin and then with the ferry to Pattaya / Jomtien. Been coming to Jomtien for years and this time it was really scary…..The beach was lubricated and untidy, the (sea) water was downright dirty….almost opaque. Some of the old beach chairs stank………………..Have seen this beach deteriorate in 5 to 6 years and decided this was the last time.
Now that the beach chairs / beds in Patong seem to be back, I'll try again the next holiday there.
I wonder why all the rubbish has to be dumped on the beach, put it in a bag and take it with you, all problems solved. That is not only on the beach but everywhere the rubbish is thrown. And not only in Thailand, but also in the Netherlands and all other countries on this earth.
One of the reasons why I never go on a beach in Thailand. Apart from beach belonging to expensive resorts, a Thai beach is one big garbage can.
But it is of course common knowledge that Thailand has little respect for its nature
The sea water quality remains of the same level on a beach of an expensive resort or a free beach.
Take a look at Scheveningen after a day of Dutch baking. You're shocked at what's left behind. A Thai is nothing less than that. A few years ago I cut my foot open on glass just below the pier.
Never got a bucket with my lounger in the Netherlands to throw my waste in. In Thailand on the beach automatically. Most of it is therefore driven from the sea.
The owner of the beach where I usually sit regularly goes along the coastline to remove plastic, wood, rubber, dead fish, etc. to keep it clean.
His neighbor unfortunately not, which is evident, even for Thais themselves, in more occupation at the beach gentleman of 'me' than of his neighbour, besides that he is also just very friendly and has good food.
There are really Thai people who want good in terms of the environment, but it is not in them to just pull the cart forward alone, as this takes time and time is simply precious and should provide money to support the family.
In their eyes, that more environmentally friendly worker spends an hour or more a day on something that does not generate any income.
'My' beach mister knows better by now 🙂
How does an Asian get rid of his waste? He takes it in his hand, stretches out his arm, opens his hand and lets gravity do its work…preferably over a piece of land belonging to the neighbour.
And if the tourists stay away… then some incense sticks are burned in the temple to counteract the bad karma. Own fault.. ? ? No Asian has come up with that yet
Money also plays a role here.
It costs money to have your waste disposed of.
Do you opt for food or have your waste disposed of?
Reason for many Thai to burn their own waste.
not only jomtien soi 10 but the entire dongtan beach was a rubbish dump for days. Last Wednesday a team went to work, but after they left it was just as dirty again. mopping with the tap open …….
Well,
And the Ministry of Tourism, but honk that more and more tourists are coming.
In an earlier piece on Thailand blog I read about an empty beach in Hua Hin and now again, a polluted beach in Jomtien and on the TV near Krabi, a lot of jellyfish in the sea. So going very well in Thailand (in the wrong direction)
Hold on Thailand, you will get there.
Good luck from Gerrit.
Action on dumped/washed-up waste seems more urgent to me than the hunt for cigarette butts….
It is not at all due to the Thai that it sometimes becomes a mess in tourist places, among other places.
Everywhere in the Netherlands where more than two people gather in the street every day, municipal litter collection vehicles are deployed. The costs of this, which are therefore only for the litter and have nothing to do with the regular household waste collection service, amount to about 250 million euros per year, for 17 million inhabitants. And then there are actually hundreds of subsidized foundations and voluntary organisations, schools, unemployed projects, day care consultancy firms and other public benefit institutions that are completely occupied with this. Thailand has about 68 million inhabitants, four times as many, so there should be a budget of the equivalent of 1 billion euros available for the municipalities in Thailand.
Then the town halls will probably want to take a look at it. Only then the taxes have to go up so much that the prices also go up and there are no more tourists to be seen in any fields or roads.
I've never seen a non-Thai dump rubbish. So it depends on 'the Thai'.
In Patong, Pattaya etc. a different kind of people may come, but I expect that - even there - the mess will be made by the Thai.
Then you haven't looked closely. Just pay attention to what not – dump Thai and leave it on the beach or by the side of the road. And don't forget the westerners who live there and also dump their rubbish on vacant lots in the city, village or hamlet.
The costs of litter may cost 250 million in the Netherlands, but the Thai wages cannot be compared to those in the Netherlands.
So you should not multiply that amount by 4, but rather divide it by 4.
It is a fact that there are also people in the Netherlands / Europe who do not take things very precisely with their waste.
Only the average European, with exceptions, is much more aware of his waste than most Asians.
Dealing with waste starts with taking responsibility, thinking differently, and providing the public with good information. As far as I know, in Europe every customer in a supermarket pays money for its packaging, and alternatives are offered everywhere instead of plastic bags.
Many people already refuse plastic bags, use paper or fabric bags, or provide an environmentally friendly solution themselves.
In Thailand they throw the customer half to death with plastic packaging, and no one cares where it will end up being dumped.
Moreover, unlike in Europe, drinking water is almost exclusively supplied in plastic bottles, whereby the word recycling is completely foreign.
Most Asians who come to Europe immediately notice that in terms of waste, it is much cleaner in most places.
It is a fact that all this requires a lot of rethinking, and also has its price tag here and there.
But just continuing with this packaging frenzy will eventually come at a much higher price.
It's not just on the coast of Thailand this is the general rule throughout the country, if they can't burn it they dump it somewhere on the side, recently drove behind a school bus it was a treat to look at all the plastic cups and bags looking through the window. I live in Sakon Nakhon the day after the flood all the rubbish was gone with the current to god knows where, everything was clean for a week after that you couldn't cycle 20 m. without a piece of plastic to see, it is a waste of effort, I have no illusion you also have unsuspecting holidaymakers who act just like most Thais. That is why the saying the Animal Kingdom and the Human DOM, we will destroy our own in the short or long term or there must be worldwide a change of mentality is coming, and with the ever-growing population I never see that happening, so sweep in front of your own door and show how it should be done and start in your own neighbourhood, at first they laughed at me but now I see in my neighborhood some Thais also sort their waste for the garbage truck and are gradually starting to maintain their garden, I see waste in front of my door, I pick it up and put it with my waste, our street is starting to get clean, you see, sometimes they want take over something from a Falang. Have fun in Thailand and keep it clean.
As stated in the introduction: due to the heavy rains and floods, in addition to the wind direction and the sea current, a combination of circumstances… has nothing to do with the pollution of the beach by tourists or locals.
I have lived in Jomtien for 10 years and come to the beach 2-3x a week. And it's always clean!
And comparing with NL is completely nonsense: look at how much sewage, household waste and council tax people pay there. Thais can't afford that and if tourists or expats have to pay that "the world is too small"!!!
At all the pavilions where I always lie, each has its own trash can, ashtray, etc. So always clean!
And look at the North Sea, ... that water is so dirty and black, you can no longer see the bottom 10 cm from the coast ...
Last week, cleaning crews were busy cleaning the beach, and where they had just cleaned it, 10 minutes later it washed up again. And we never experience such a situation.
Force majeur!
You make a mistake about the “pollution and black North Sea”. It has been proven that the North Sea is one of the cleanest in the world. The cloudy water is caused by harmless algae and other microorganisms.
When I think back to the article about the smoking ban, those few butts are the smallest problem.
And this problem unfortunately does not only concern the beach………….
Hmm I live on the second road near soi10. Fortunately, we have our own saltwater swimming pool at the two complexes. I don't have to go to the beach. They have two sand sieving machines in pattaya to clean the beach. Seems like no one knows how those machines work. So they stand idle.
By the way, it is also much more important to enforce the butt ban. Can they fine the unsuspecting farang 100.000 bath.
Let them start better by having students clean a piece of the beach every day and make them environmentally aware. Or give 10 baht to anyone who hands in a bag of rubbish. Another solution is to oblige the chair owners to keep a piece of beach clean of at least 50 meters on the left and right.
When I walk from my home along the road to the immigration office and I see all the rubbish on the side of the road, I get a pointy head.
A bypass runs behind and next to our complex. Last night between 1.30 and 4.00 am 6 trucks that came to unload construction waste there.
By the way, the Chinese and Russians can also do something about it. Also drop everything where they stand or walk.
But yes, if the current government's interest lies in buying aircraft carriers, submarines, then it won't make any progress either.
Here on Samui we had those green wheelie bins everywhere along the road and all new ones
garbage trucks.
Now, after a year, those cars no longer look good and all of the wheelie bins have suddenly disappeared. it is now
the intention is that you put the garbage in plastic bags next to the road (at certain points) and not in front
17.00 p.m. so that in the evening the birds rats and dogs can tear them open and you have one big
get stinky.
I have mentioned here before that the waste incineration has been broken for years, people have been complaining for years
and the dirt is now buried here and there in the woods and suffocates like the plague in a wrong wind.
Have a look on You Tube “KOh Samui Garbage”
This is certainly also a / d foreigners, yes of course because if they had not been there we would have
didn't have that much waste, logical right?
They hung a big banner in our village,
where it says you can't stomach burn your garbage anymore
because of the environment!
But what you should do with your garbage is not mentioned .
In the other villages in the area a garbage truck comes by,
but not with us, because it costs 20 baht per month
and our village chief is an ass…k and that's why
the rubbish is simply incinerated.
And what doesn't burn , I take me to the Big C and throw it
right there in the garbage can.