Phu Tub Berk acts over garbage problems

Wanchai Chayarom, the head of Phu Tub Berk preservation group and Phu Tub Berk chief village, said tourists were very cooperative from the very first day that the garbage bags were handed out on October 28.
When tourists get down from Phu Tub Berk, which sits atop a mountain, with full garbage bags, they can exchange those bags with either free eggs and tamarind.
“These are among the measures we have planned to fight garbage problems,” Sukit Rattanaviboon said in his capacity as the head of Phetchabun Natural Resources and Environment Office.
Authorities sat down with resort operators and related entrepreneurs to plan better garbage management ahead of the peak season, which started yesterday.
Additional measures have become necessary because Phu Tub Berk is expected to attract more tourists this year, a fact that in turn will generate higher amounts of waste in the area.
Entrepreneurs in local tourism have promised to separate garbage from their sites too.
At least two more garbage trucks will be used to transport waste from Phu Tub Berk down to a landfill below.
Wanchai said 50 resort owners had arranged pushcarts for garbage collection themselves because normal garbage trucks could not use small roads leading to their sites.
“They pay a Bt300 annual fee per room for waste management,” he said, “The money they have pooled for the purpose is also used for road maintenance, which benefits locals.”
Speaking on condition of anony-mity, an environment officer disclosed that a Bt2.75-million project was now in the pipeline to install a garbage incinerator.
“This incinerator should start working next year. It will be able to accommodate six tonnes of waste a year,” he said.
Another source said tourists to Phu Tub Berk had generated about 10 tonnes of waste each day. It added that the garbage problem had become a big deal partly because the Phetchabun Natural Resources and Environment Office closed down a landfill on a nearby mountain nine months ago.
“That landfill was closed because it sits near a water source,” the source added.