Bangkok hotel fined for canal full of used condoms

Imagine walking along the street along a well-used and familiar canal in your neighborhood. You know that the water’s dirty and that trash is expected to be there in the form of paper bags or plastic items. Then you notice it’s dirtier than usual, and that the plastic rubbish in it are numerous, floating and funny-shaped–wait!

Why are there tons of condoms floating in this canal?

According to a Facebook post, a canal in Bangkok was seen to have innumerable floating condoms and condom wrappers in a canal. The post was made by Facebook user Nai Pan, who says that he noticed the used condoms on the way home.

From the post above, you can see that the length of the canal is practically teeming with used rubbers and their wrappers. Here are photos of the canal:

This is not simply a case of one or two contraceptives floating to the surface after being disposed of guiltily.

They actually line most of the canal!

A closer look reveals really disgusting details that we’re sure you didn’t want to see.

It’s still good to know that a lot of people know how to use contraceptives, even if they don’t know how to dispose of them.

If you think about it, whoever cleaned this mess up did it without the payment from the hotel. Poor cleaners.

Where did they come from?

According to a report, the condoms came from a cleaned-out septic tank from one of the nearby hotels in the Yai District. Usually, the contents of the septic tank would have been disposed of properly as these are considered biological waste, and the hotel said that they had never encountered this problem before, with their biological waste being disposed of in a different manner before this.

The hotel in question would allegedly most likely be the West Inn on Charan Sanitwong Road. Hotel officials said, though, that the disposal of the stuff in their septic tanks aren’t their responsibility, as the pumping is outsourced. So if these used contraceptives came from the septic tanks, then used condoms are just one of the nasty thing in that canal water.

The hotel officials also said that the cleaning company was tasked to remove plastic waste from the septic tanks every few months. There were five septic tanks, and the hotel was usually charged around $800 every six months to do the task.

“We’ve never had this issue before, but the hotel will take responsibility and be charged for this, for the evidence very clearly points to them,” Bangkok Yai district office director Karuna told the media.

How are you supposed to throw away used condoms?

Since the used contraceptives came from a septic tank, these must have been flushed down many of the hotel’s toilets. According to Columbia University, flushing rubber contraceptives down a toilet can clog plumbing and even finally make its way into our water supply.

Experts say that the best way to get rid of rubbers is to wrap them in toilet paper and throw them in the proper trash receptacle. From the looks of the canal, not a lot of people know how to dispose of their used contraceptives.

Further reports say that as of June 16, the canal has been cleared of the debris and the fine has been paid.