How about banishing Bangkok’s litterbugs?

With the rainy season upon us, Bangkok’s residents and administrators alike are once again sharing that uneasy feeling. It’s time to brace for more flooding. The threat – not one that a major, modern metropolis should have to face – has found a permanent place in our collective psyche. 
The city’s previous governor, MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra, was much derided when he declared urban flooding unavoidable because we happen to sprawl so close to sea level. His solution to waterlogged residents unwilling to tolerate more: move north to higher ground. Sukhumband’s lack of determination to tackle the recurring flood problem was surely one reason the ruling junta replaced him.
Flooding in the city is certainly partially the result of torrential rains brought by the monsoon. But countless studies and probes have shown and confirmed that the main reason we get swamped is because the drainage network is clogged with refuse. There are tonnes of trash choking the sewers and canals by which rainwater gets to the Chao Phraya River. And most of that garbage – plastic bags, Styrofoam containers, discarded furniture, even mattresses – has been carelessly tossed aside by citizens who should know better.
Bangkok’s 13 million residents generate 13,000 tonnes of waste every day, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration reckons. Of that amount, a mere 3,000 tonnes is recycled. The rest needs to be disposed of, and much of it is illegally dumped in the open, where it can pose health hazards and cause harm to the environment. It’s an untenable situation for a city whose streets are generally clean, if messy in patches due to a chronic shortage of rubbish bins. The junk that’s not collected by city workers – including a lot of discarded construction material – ends up in the sewers and waterways. Bangkok’s remaining canals seem to be regarded as large, wet trash disposals that will, eventually at least, carry our unwanted food wrappers out of sight. When the rains come, drainage pipes, no matter how much they’re enlarged, are overwhelmed, as are the pumping stations.
In recent days we’ve had severe flooding as a result of an early monsoon. The Phra Khanong pumping station couldn’t cope with the amount of water diverted from canals in eastern Bangkok because it was carrying so much refuse – 15 tonnes a day according to the BMA Department of Drainage and Sewerage. People living along canals complained of dirty drinking water and large amounts of trash floating past.
The authorities continually implore residents to not dump rubbish into canals and have even threatened to take legal action against violators. Deputy Governor Chakkaphan Piew-ngam wielded the threat of fines up to Bt10,000 against anyone caught littering in a public place or waterway. Turn in a litterbug and you get half the collected fine, he promised civic-minded citizens.
Will this be the big stick that changes irresponsible people’s attitudes where softly spoken words have failed? Perhaps an even bigger stick is needed – more than mere fines – but our prevailing mood of desperation suggests we should be optimistic. If legal punishment is the key to instilling common sense in careless citizens, go ahead and threaten them with expulsion from the city.