Dear Editor,
During the number of years that I have lived in this country I have ‘dog-walked’ miles as part of my regular daily routine and I never cease to be amazed at the amount of fly-tipped rubbish that I encounter on open land, scenic areas, beaches and road verges. Thailand would be a beautiful country if it wasn’t for all this mess. It is not only unsightly and putrid, but dangerous (broken glass, tiles etc.) and a potential health risk (waste food, rats, etc.).
Yes, tourists are partly to blame – but only for a minute proportion. The main culprits – and this was touched upon briefly by Keith in the July 4th issue of Pattaya Mail – are the Thais. I have witnessed police officers watching pick-ups loaded with waste material pulling onto open land, with the obvious intention of discarding their load there. I have also seen police officers witnessing a truck mixer discharge its load of unwanted concrete onto someone’s land and do nothing. Only today, whilst travelling along Beach Road, I followed a Thai man in a pick-up who threw out an empty cigarette packet onto the road without a care. Thais love to sit around a fire by areas of water – Lake Mabprachan, for instance. But what a mess they leave behind – not only the charcoal remains of the fire, but also plastic bags, paper, waste food, bottles, cans, etc., although the last two items are usually removed later by scavengers. There are often far worse categories of waste, but I won’t expand on this.
In my view, the authorities need to clamp down on this problem if they wish to attract more genuine tourists. After all, sightseers don’t want to view endless examples of fly-tipped builders’ waste, garden waste and domestic refuse along their chosen route, do they? The waste needs to be cleared up and the police instructed to act as policemen for a change. I know that it is more lucrative for them to stop a farang for speeding, or not wearing a crash helmet, but this problem is already getting out of hand. I don’t know what the penalty is for fly-tipping, but it needs to be steep, as in other countries, to act as a deterrent. More landfill sites should be made accessible – and affordable, and more rubbish bins should be provided in scenic areas and public places – and emptied regularly.
Hopefully someone may take heed and apportion a suitable sum from the excessive budget available to tackle this problem.
Phil
