Thread: Massive Black Mountain of Waste Causes Mild Panic at Sattahip

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2012/07/07/massive-black-mountain-of-waste-causes-mild-panic-at-sattahip/

Published : July 07, 2012 :: 1145

Massive Black Mountain of Waste Causes Mild Panic at Sattahip


People became alarmed when they saw several tons of unknown black material being dumped in the back of 700 rais market fair. However, the owner of the black sludge later insisted that it was just “Sambust” (a firing material for steel boat rust removal), and not toxic in any way.

SATTAHIP – July 5, 2012 [PDN]; At 5 p.m., Mr. Pawat Lertmukda, Sattahip Sheriff, was informed that large amounts of toxic waste were being dumped in the back of 700 rais market. The waste was in an empty area next to a house at 91/2 Moo 3, Sattahip Sattahip, Chonburi. So he instructed the Permanent Secretary of Sattahip, Mr.Chawat Teptup, to bring special officers from the National Command Center to check the dumped material for drugs or other toxins.

The scene was on the south side of the market, about 500 meters from Sukhumvit Road. Several tons of the black, sand-like material were packed in many big bags. The bags were being dumped in a huge pile, with a backhoe loader hauling the bags from the containers of 10-wheel trucks. Nearly 10 trucks were carrying the waste.

When the officers arrived, the owner of the house, Ms. Narissara Juajamsai, 37, emerged. She explained to the officers that the dumped material was not a toxin. It was a steel boat rust-remover called “Sambust.” She had been given the material from her friend, who owned a rock-crushing plant. He had first decided to bury it in the ground, but she knew that the black waste could be recycled into steel. So she decided to keep the bags of waste at her house and later sell them to the steel industry. She intended to unload all the waste by that evening.

Mr.Chawat Teptap, Sheriff of Sattahip, said that an examinination conducted by the specialist found that it was as the owner had claimed; the material was not a toxin. People had been panicked because its color was black and it was a huge amount, so they thought it was toxic chemicals that some industry was dumping illegally.