change.org petition calls on Phuket locals to take action on construction dump

Locals have launched a petition on Change.org to draw attention to a construction dump operating in central Phuket, in the suburb of Cherng Talay, which adjoins the coastal towns of Bang Tao, Layan and Surin. We print the article verbatim, spelling and all. The article is titled “Close burning dump near Laguna Phuket” and has been penned in English and Russian languages. Click on links to the page to get involved.

“Help us make Phuket’s air safe!

In the city of Cherngtalay in the area of ​​the world-famous resort of Laguna of Phuket Island, close to other resorts, villages and kindergarten a huge construction waste dump has been operating and burning the waste for several years.

Every day, environmental and health legislation is violated with the knowledge of local authorities. Several construction waste trucks are brought from nearby construction sites and are burned mostly at night and in the evening.

Construction waste contains extremely harmful substances whose burning get into the air and make the air around hundreds of meters dangerous. Furniture and toys in the courtyards of nearby houses are covered with black sticky soot. There is a smell of burning in the air outside and you can not open the window.

The scale of air pollution is evidenced by the data of the Air Quality Control device of the worldwide network AirVisual, installed in a residential village within a radius of 500 meters from the garbage. This device is currently used for private monitoring, but in the near future it will be connected to the worldwide network and air condition data in the resort area of ​​Laguna will be publicly available. At night, the pollution indicators in Laguna correspond to the level of the dirtiest cities on the planet and reach 149 µg / cubic meter.

On June 5, 2019, Phuket’s Vice Governor hosted a party at the bottom of the campaign to combat environmental and air pollution. For this, of course, there are many reasons:

1) Phuket is a place where people come to relax in the fresh air and restore health (world sporting events take place in Laguna)

2) lung cancer leads by a large margin among all other types of this disease in Thailand .

If the Phuket administration is really concerned about the resort’s ecology, then why does it allow such crimes against the local population, tourists and the nature of the island to take place?

Public resonance in modern society, puzzled by environmental problems, can make negative affect to the island’s reputation as one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world. We would very much like Phuket to remain as beautiful as nature has created and developed as a world-wide resort.

We ask you to intervene to this issue solution and eliminate this and similar dumps and to oblige land owners and construction companies to dispose of waste in garbage processing factory in a civilized manner. Thus, it will help to preserve the unique nature of the island, and strict adherence to environmental safety will attract more tourists, will help preserve the health of tourists and local residents, which in turn will contribute to the development and prosperity of Thailand.”

Go HERE to sign the petition or get involved.