Gargantuan clean up after Songkran festivities come to an end
Songkran festivities around Bangkok metropolitan area resulted in 51,000 tonnes of waste, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) reported on Tuesday.
This year’s waste statistics were collected from April 12 to 15, and are higher than the same period last year by about 1,000 tonnes, said the BMA.
Revellers on Khao San Road, one of the city’s largest Songkran venues in Phra Nakhon district, generated 58 tonnes of waste during the four-day celebration, while areas near the road were left with another 104 tonnes.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said six water trucks and city officials were deployed to clean up this tourist attraction starting at 4am on Tuesday. He personally visited the cleaning staff on Khao San Road on Tuesday morning to supervise the effort and show support to officials who have been working throughout the holidays.
He urged Phra Nakhon district officials to learn from this year’s problems in organising the water splashing activities on the packed Khao San Road, notably the zoning of hawkers and redirection of the crowd through side sois to avoid congestion.
Chadchart added that next year the city will add more smart poles in the area to facilitate tourists. Smart poles provide lighting with automatic timing control, CCTV surveillance, 5G access points, SOS intercoms, and environmental sensors to detect air and noise pollution.
