Capital leads the nation in pollution complaints

Capital leads the nation in pollution complaints

Bangkok is leading the nation in terms of pollution-related complaints, followed by the industrial provinces of Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon, according to the Pollution Control Department (PCD).

PCD director-general, Pinsak Suraswadi, said the department received 718 complaints this year, down from 766 last year.

Bangkok topped the list of complaints with 189 reports, followed by Samut Prakan with 54, and Samut Sakhon with 44, Mr Pinsak said.

Out of the 718 reports received, 527 were complaints about nasty odours, 315 concerned air pollution, while 215 were about noise pollution, Mr Pinsak noted.

The PCD's findings followed a report issued by Greenpeace last year, "The Burden of Air Pollution in Thailand", which found air pollution was responsible for up to 4,400 premature deaths in the capital last year.

Mr Pinsak said that the study showed that 41% of pollution problems are caused by industrial plants while 33% are caused by enterprises.

"The PCD has launched the Environmental Protection Unit to proactively handle the adverse impact of pollution. Anyone can make a report through the department's hotline at 1650," added Mr Pinsak.

In early October, the PCD said that it was working extensively with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to mitigate the city's pollution problems.

The cooperation was a follow-up to previous evaluations of air pollution mitigation efforts and smog forecasts for 2023.

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