The chief of Karon Municipality’s Public Health division has told The Phuket News that her office is fed up with the constant stream of rubbish being dumped in the area, specifically on the backroad of Patak Soi 14.
“We don’t know what else to do about it. We are already trying to send trucks to clean up the area every evening, Monday to Saturday,” Karon health chief Satitha Jitmet told The Phuket News today.
“It is difficult to patrol because it is a secluded area and away from the main road,” she added.
The saga began earlier this month when local residents grew weary of the growing pile of rubbish dumped at the site, in the hills away from the beach.
After receiving complaints directly from The Phuket News, officers moved quickly and the next day arrived en masse to clean the area.
Yet, within days, the growing pile of rubbish was back.
The rubbish pile kept growing and by Thursday this week, The Phuket News sent more photos to the Karon health office showing the increasing mound of refuse. This time, within 90 minutes council workers returned and cleaned the area.
And this time the officials posted a sign expressly prohibiting people dumping rubbish at the site, but within hours another garbage bag had been dumped – right beside the sign.
“We have already gone to the area to speak to the residents on Patak Soi 14. There are about four or five rental homes there. We offered to move a bin closer to them, but they refused,” Ms Sititha explained.
Ms Satitha did not give comment on what ideas, if any, the municipality has in order to solve the problem in the long-term.
“I really am not sure what to do about it. We are discussing it now. The only way for now is for people in the community to continue help us look out for it,” she said.
“We will continue to send people to clean it ideally every day (except Sundays),” she added.
Piles of rubbish dumped in public areas made headlines this week with three tons of trash being cleared from Nai Yang beach, in Mai Khao, on Tuesday with the help of 300 staff from Phuket International Airport and officers from Mai Khao Municipality.
The mass clean-up operation was staged after Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong ordered for the rubbish to be cleared in the wake of heavy criticism of the eyesore starting to go viral online.
Story: The Phuket News
