They check through everything at View Talay 6 adjacent to Central Festival Mall Pattaya. They are probably looking for more than recyclables, some people probably lose jewelry etc. I thought that maybe they should wear some gloves with whatever else is might be in there?
Garbage pickers are neither new nor uncommon in Pattaya. They go through my trash nearly every day. Plastic bottles, especially, are sure to be taken. If I put out anything large, such as a broken piece of furniture, an old appliance, or whatever, it will be gone within an hour.
I don't know what they do with these things or where they sell whatever they salvage, but if they want what I'm throwing away, they're certainly welcome to it.
Seeing aussie's photo reminded me of the huge mountains of trash - and mountain is a pretty accurate decription - I used to see every time I visited Manila in the 1980s and 90s. The pickers there, though, were young kids. It was a revolting sight.
When I lived in Tokyo 25 years ago, there were very strict rules about garbage disposal in the condo I rented. There was a trash room in the basement with six large containers - one for newspapers, one for plastic waste, one for glass etc. I can't recall ever seeing the wrong trash in the wrong container. Here in Bangkok my condo has four containers on each floor. Yet it continues to amaze and depress me that some residents simply can't be bothered sorting their trash. And on my floor, sadly it is the westerners who seem to be most at fault.
Drives me absolutely bugs when the neighbours use my bin. Wouldn't mind if they put stuff in the appropriate bin and bagged the stuff for the rubbish bin but they don't. It all just gets dumped as is into the bin unbagged.
I have been on my condo management committee for more than a decade ... with over 1600 units, it has a population larger than many small towns in Thailand ... certainly one of the largest in Jomtien/Pattaya ... the topic of garbage/trash/waste is a frequent one at our monthly committee meetings ... in today's consumer, plastic-oriented society one can imagine the volume collected in a month's time ... committee discussions include everything from buying new bins to encouraging responsible disposal to the appearance and cleanliness of the central collection point and onward ad infinitum ... to the point of this thread, the cleaning staff spends considerable salaried time each day dividing the gathered refuse into that which has value and that which does not ... the issue is not, 'is it recyclable?', but 'does it have value?' ... after sorting and packing, the valued booty is stored in a specially built structure at the rear of the compound ... several times per month, a song taew-size pickup arrives and drives off overloaded with the accumulated treasure ... the actual waste/garbage is collected regularly by one of those large, smelly, mechanical monsters seen frequently around town ... the resulting income does not go into the condominium receipts, but into a kitty to be divided monthly amongst the staff ... any time the committee has the temerity to even suggest altering this process to possibly divert the income to the condo's general resources ...'do not touch -- that's the way it is done in Thailand' ... importantly, the residents are content that their garbage/trash disappears on a daily basis.
My condo rubbish is collected at about 03:30 daily. The collectors on the truck go through the bags whilst going to their next pickup point.
When I lived in London ---- a half full container (dumpster) would be filled overnight.
In Amsterdam it would be empty by morning.