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Several hundred supporters of the group teamed up with staff from Ayutthaya province yesterday to collect garbage from the river near Muang Ayutthaya.

Greenpeace also plans to collect garbage out of the river from boats between Nakhon Sawan and Bangkok.

The idea is to raise public awareness about water pollution and get people looking out for all forms of pollution.

Greenpeace coordinator Plai Pirom said the group had studied pollution impacts on the Chao Phraya from Ang Thong downstream to Samut Prakan. It found that many factories released toxins into the river and this contamination affected the ecosystem and food chains.

He said Samut Prakan had the most serious chemical contamination and accumulation from the river due to many factories releasing wastewater and the province's location where the Chao Phraya reaches the Gulf of Thailand.

He urged the government to exercise legal power to get all industrial factories to reveal what toxins they release into the environment and in what quantity. The information could be used in a database to help cut use of dangerous chemicals. Factories should be inspected and closed if they were found to be doing wrong, he said.

The group also wanted the authorities to close all garbage dumps along the banks of the river, and to rehabilitate the Chao Phraya with participation from all sides, he said.