Visitors flock to Jomtien each year for its long stretch of beach and quieter atmosphere compared to the neighbouring Pattaya Beach. Behind that image, however, another issue has become increasingly difficult to ignore: rubbish.
A reader, Mark Pearson, recently contacted our newsroom to describe what they said is a worsening problem in parts of Jomtien, where piles of construction debris, household rubbish and food waste are regularly dumped illegally.
According to Pearson, it is often left for days, creating foul odours and blocking drainage channels that eventually discharge into the sea.
The latest complaint is far from an isolated incident. Environmental concerns have surfaced repeatedly across Jomtien over the past year.
In February, a foreign resident shared footage appearing to show wastewater being pumped during construction work. Officials later said a contractor had pumped wastewater from a drainage system that was obstructing a landscaping project before discharging it into the sea.
Around the same time, separate videos showed dark, foul-smelling wastewater flowing from a large drainage outlet at the southern end of Jomtien Beach.
Days later, beachgoers reported large amounts of rubbish stretching for kilometres along Jomtien Beach after debris washed ashore. The waste included timber, plastic bottles, foam containers and other discarded materials. Some beachgoers also reported nails mixed among the debris.
Although each incident had different causes, together they highlight recurring issues over waste management and pollution in Jomtien.
The issues are not unique to Jomtien. Similar complaints have surfaced across Pattaya over the years, particularly during periods of heavy rain when flooding can carry rubbish through streets, drainage systems and waterways before it reaches the coastline.
Construction debris not properly disposed of, household rubbish left outside designated collection points, and other illegally dumped materials all contribute to the problem. Once rubbish enters drainage channels, it could eventually be carried into canals and the sea.
Pattaya City regularly carries out rubbish collection and environmental inspections, and officials have investigated several pollution incidents over the past year. Yet complaints about rubbish continue to emerge in Jomtien and elsewhere in Pattaya, suggesting the underlying issues have yet to be fully resolved.
The challenge also reflects a wider issue facing Thailand’s coastal provinces. According to the United Nations Ocean Conference, an estimated 2.83 million tonnes of waste were left uncollected or improperly disposed of in Thailand’s coastal provinces in 2016.
Around 12% of that waste was plastic, with an estimated 51,000 tonnes of mismanaged plastic entering Thai waters each year.
While the figures highlight the scale of the challenge nationwide, for people living in Jomtien, the issue is measured not in tonnes, but in the rubbish left on roadsides that have become an increasingly familiar part of everyday life.
The rubbish problem is likely to remain an unwelcome feature of one of Pattaya’s best-known neighbourhoods if waste management cannot keep pace with Jomtien’s continued development.
The story Jomtien’s rubbish problem refuses to go away as seen on Thaiger News.
