We had been planning on this trip since January. At first, we were to take a trip to Samed Island for beach cleanup. Due to COVID-19, we had to cancel our plans from time to time. However this month, we decided to take a short trip to Bang Khun Thian for a small cleanup for SEVENSEAS.
When viewed on a map of the Bangkok special administrative area, the district of Bang Khun Thian looks like the hind legs of a leaping elephant. This flat and wet district extends from the southwest corner of the city for some 25 km, finally bumping into a four-km expanse of muddy seacoast threaded by numerous canals, seafood farms and what’s left of a once-sprawling mangrove swamp.
Anyways, we walked around the area before we decided to pick the location for our cleanup. We chose The Kham, the area, which is close to the bikeway where watery domain where houses sit up on stilts, many locals rely on boats to get around and high tide can deliver ankle-deep water several km inland. Nearly all of the coastal forest was cleared last century to make way for rectangular ponds used for farming fish and shrimp. Unfortunately, due to pollution, some of the aquaculture sites are no longer viable for seafood farming.
From afar, the area may look neat and clean but after our observation, we found out that there are many plastic bottles, snack containers, plastic bags, and glass bottles (some of them even have urine in them. Marks threw up once because he was surprised by those…), etc. We manage to pick up around 60 kilograms of all kinds of trash here. We tried to sort out what we had picked up, but unfortunately, there was not a single trash can or garbage area for us. We had to cross the street and walk to the market nearby for that.
We hoped that this COVID situation will get better soon so we could do more for our monthly cleanup events. Please support our work by making a DONATION for SEVENSEAS Media on The Ocean Foundation or join us in a future event, which we will keep you posted on our Facebook page and Weekly Newsletter.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media