A local points out what a
mess Sattahip beaches have become. It has gotten so bad, the Thai Navy had
to be called in to send recruits to clean up the garbage.
Patcharapol Panrak
More than 300 naval personnel picked up more than 1
million pieces of garbage from three chronically filthy Sattahip beaches.
Sailors from the Royal Thai Fleet, Air and Coastal
Defense Command and Recruit Training Center spread out over five kilometers
of Najomtien beachfront in an emergency cleanup prompted by bitter
complaints from residents and Sattahip government officials.
Dongtan, Navy and Thien Talay beaches - which all fall
under the jurisdiction of the Royal Thai Navy - have become a dumping ground
for plastic bags, foam food boxes and rubbish tossed aside by Thai tourists,
dumped overboard by fishermen and swept down from Bangkok’s putrid canals on
the tide.
Sattahip Mayor Narong Bunbancherdsri said the litter has
destroyed what used to be a beautiful beachfront and that the volume of
garbage has grown so large, the government alone doesn’t have the resources
to remove it.
Capt. Noppadol Supakorn, commander of the Naval Recruit
Training Center, organized the cleaning expedition Sept. 5, saying that
while the center isn’t legally responsible for the beach’s condition, he
could “no longer stand by and watch the destructive effect on the beach by
garbage.”
He has ordered local troops to clean the beach regularly
and advised local and naval officials to take concrete steps to crack down
on litterbugs.
