A million 'rafts' won't unclog our trash-hit klongs

A million 'rafts' won't unclog our trash-hit klongs

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) seems to take pride in its newly built bamboo "rafts" that can trap rubbish flowing in city canals.

The BMA rafts, called phair luk buab, are an adaptation of traditional local wisdom for the public. The rafts will be used in four spots, 3 kilometres each or 12km in total, along Klong Prem Prachakorn, one of Bangkok's main canals, that runs through five districts.

The agency said this kind of raft has been used by many people who live along river or canal banks to trap rubbish and hyacinth that block waterways. The rafts are quite popular among locals.

Certainly, we should be glad the city has turned to a practical, low-budget solution for the capital's rubbish problem, instead of investing in irrelevant gadgets or technology.

While it's clear that phair luk buab work well in community-level waste-collection initiatives, they are not a cure-all solution to the waste problems of the city's more than 10 million residents. Not to mention that four BMA rafts would hardly make a difference as there are more than 900 canals in Bangkok.

At one point, we had many more canals that once earned Bangkok the nickname "The Venice of the East".

With rubbish now littered in our waters, this "Venice" is always ugly.

Every year at the beginning of the rainy season, the BMA tries to discourage Bangkok residents, through social media, from discarding rubbish in the city's canals. It does so by showing photos and video clips featuring large piles of rubbish fished out of the city's waterways. Amazingly, it could be any item imaginable, from a toilet bowl to a compressed-wood cabinet, to a large couch.

I remember one picture featured a king-size mattress being lifted from a canal by a backhoe! And, I remember all sorts of rubbish shown clogged in waterways, making the flow of water impossible and forcing it to swell up onto roads. Imagine facing that problem while simultaneously sitting in traffic.

Interestingly, the BMA said it collected 46,507 tonnes of waste from all of the city's 1,319-km long canals last year.

Every time the agency shared those pictures, netizens could not wait to condemn those who dumped such things into canals or waterways. I would say I'd scold them, too, if I hadn't had first-hand experience of getting rid of large-sized items of rubbish.

Last year, I had a major house renovation, which forced me to deal with piles of over-sized rubbish, ranging from worn-out furniture to old earthenware. There were also broken tiles as well as excess construction materials. I searched the BMA website, which said the agency sends a large truck to collect waste in my district every weekend.

However, luck was not on my side as the district office in my area did not have a fixed schedule for when a truck would come to collect rubbish. Some of my friends said they had never seen such a service in their areas.

I then called the district office to ask for advice. People on the other end of the line said a collection truck can come to my house outside of the schedule, but I'd have to pay a collection fee of 6,000 baht (the monthly fee for a regular household waste pickup is 20 baht).

Fine, I thought. I told a BMA official speaking with me on the phone I was willing to pay the fee -- although I thought it was quite high. I set one condition: they must give me a receipt.

The man replied saying the receipt would only state I paid 1,500 baht for the vehicle and petrol, while the rest of the amount would be regarded as namjai -- a Thai way to show one's generosity -- to the driver and collectors who would help move all of the rubbish away to a landfill on the city's outskirts.

We have heard and seen the BMA's campaigns discouraging city residents from dumping large items of rubbish into waterways and boasting of its Sunday service, which has never been available (I back-checked the dates) in my neighbourhood.

After the phone discussion with its officials, I was enlightened. I finally realised why the king-size mattress and all the other unwanted large items had ended up in our waterways. Most of the time, desperate people place rubbish near collection spots, and the waste flows into waterways during floods.

My story tells you why those big items of rubbish are still in the canals. And as long as the BMA does not change its ethos and methods regarding waste collection to focus on the end process, I'm sure a million BMA rafts will be useless.

Sirinya Wattanasukchai

Columnist

Sirinya Wattanasukchai is a columnist for the Bangkok Post.

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