Pristine white sandy beaches and clear blue waters have been littered with discarded beer cans, plastic bottles and take away food containers – as 1,000 tonnes of waste is hauled out daily
Workers struggle with the giant stinking pile of waste(Image: Bangkok Post)
The beautiful beaches of Phuket have been enthralling British tourists to their clear blue waters and white sandy beaches for generations. But a giant stinking tidal wave of rubbish could be about to trash the Southeast Asian city’s tourist friendly image.
The once pristine shores are now littered with empty beer cans, plastic bottles and discarded food containers as the Thai island groans under the weight of growing rubbish mountains. More than 1,000 tonnes of garbage is hauled to an ever-expanding landfill everyday from the island city.
The amount of daily waste produced by the island – thanks to a flourishing tourism economy – has been growing year on year with an average of 742 tonnes of rubbish hauled out every day in 2022. Locals say the views of serene mountains have been replaced by giant mounds of rubbish.
Phuket has 13 million visitors in 2024(Image: Bangkok Post)
Vassana Toyou said: “There is no life outside the house; we just stay at home.” The furious resident added that the “overpowering stench” forces her to constantly run air conditioners and purifiers which has doubled her electricity bill.
Devastating photos of workers struggling with the giant mound of rubbish at Saphan Hill landfill in Phuket demonstrate the true scale of the problem faced by the Thai tourist hot spot.
Pristine beaches are littered with rubbish(Image: Bangkok Post)
Deputy Mayor Suppachoke Laongphet said Phuket is struggling under the pressure of rapid development and a tourism boom that saw the island welcome 13 million of Thailand’s 35.5 million foreign visitors, reports Thaiger. “The growth of [Phuket] city has been much more rapid than it should be,” he added.
There is also no sign of an end to the growing waste problem as predictions indicate the daily waste figure could shoot up to 1,400 tonnes by the end of 2025. Phuket officials are in a race against time to find a solution with plans to cut trash by 15% within six months, expand landfill capacity and add a new incinerator.
The island’s flourishing tourism economy has been blamed for increases in waste production(Image: Bangkok Post)
Assistant Professor in Waste Management at Burapha University Panate Manomaivibool suggested the plans do not go far enough. He said: “If you just keep expanding more waste incinerators, I don’t think that would be just the solution.”
The boffin added that the waste problem needs long-term solutions rather than short-term fixes.
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