Municipalities clear Phuket’s beaches of monsoon trash

Trash has been found on almost every beach along the west coast with the onset of this year’s monsoon. On Kata and Karon beaches a huge municipal beach clean has taken place over the past two days. More than 200 tonnes of trash were collected on just these two beaches alone.

A team of Karon Municipal staff members cleared up trash, including plastic and logs swept onto the two beaches, yesterday and today.

Karon Municipality Deputy Mayor Ittipohn Sangkaew says, “This trash is normal during the annual monsoon season. Wind and waves from the south west bring trash from the ocean onto the west coast beaches. We cleared at least 100 tonnes yesterday and today we have cleared about the same.”

“We don’t have enough man power and machinery to quickly clear the beaches. We started to clean the beaches since early morning on both days. We also don’t have enough space to store all the trash.”

“We have to transfer it to the incinerator in Phuket Town which is costs around 550 baht per tonne. We already have 100 tonne of normal trash each day being sent to the Saphan Hin facility.”

“We want other levels of government to help us because we need to do this very quickly in order to allow beachgoers enjoy the beach during the day. We want to keep the beaches clean as Phuket is one of the popular islands in the world.”

Rawai Mayor Aroon Solos says, “Trash has been found on Nai Harn and Yanui Beaches. Red flag have been set up on those beaches to prevent swimmers from going into the sea. About 6 tonnes of trash was found washed up to those beaches.”