Plastic bags on their way out

Anything and everything about Thailand
Post Reply
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1305 times

Plastic bags on their way out

Post by Gaybutton »

Some stores are selling sturdy fabric shopping bags which people can take with them when shopping. Villa Market sells theirs for 25 baht.

Makro goes further than that. They don't give any bags at all. You either bring your own or carry whatever you bought in your arms.
_____________________________________________________

TESCO LOTUS TO DROP DISPOSABLE PLASTIC BAGS NEXT WEEK

November 26, 2018

While all malls and grocery chain stores will stop offering disposable plastic bags for one day next week, one of the nation’s biggest retailers is taking it a step further.

Starting Dec. 4, Tesco Lotus will replace the plastic bags it offers customers with paper at all of its roughly 2,000 stores. The store will also encourage customers to bring their own cloth bags.

The move coincides with a one-day campaign by several department and convenience store chains on Thailand’s Environment Day in an effort organized by the environmental ministry. The participating firms include 7-Eleven, Central, Makro, Foodland, Robinson, Big C and Tops.

Stories of dying marine life, massive toxic waste dumps and environmental degradation have made plastic bag use a pressing issue this year, with calls for commercial interests to show responsibility.

In the meantime, retailers and malls such as Tops, Robinson, Big C have been urged to offer points and discounts to customers who refuse plastic bags. It was announced in June that all national parks would ban plastic and styrofoam containers, though enforcement appears lacking.

https://pattayaone.news/en/tdisposable-plastic-bags/
windwalker

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by windwalker »

I, for one, like plastic bags. They make it easy to dispose of garbage and I use them to line my garbage bins. As I see it, the problem with plastic in the environment is from people disposing of all sorts of trash into the storm drains which then are flushed into the sea.
In the USA I don't see much of this type of behavior, but here in Thailand the storm sewers are the everyday disposal method.
User avatar
Undaunted
Posts: 2567
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2016 8:47 am
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 368 times

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by Undaunted »

We are supposed to get used to the new visa rules now this too :!:
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1305 times

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by Gaybutton »

Undaunted wrote:We are supposed to get used to the new visa rules now this too :!:
Yes, you might have to bring your own shopping bag, accept paper bags, or otherwise do without plastic bags. Isn't that just terrible?

In the lifetimes of many board members, there was a time when everything was paper bags. Plastic is relatively new. Considering what is happening to the environment, especially the marine environment as a result, I'm all for alternatives to plastic. The problem simply cannot be ignored.

In my opinion, just as scientists are warning that something must be done about global warming and climate change before it is too late, something must also be done about environmental pollution before it is too late. Much more than simply banning plastic bags is going to have to happen.
James the First

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by James the First »

This will create a problem for some because they are certain to have a quantity of reusable bags in no time from forgetting to take them with to the stores. Hopefully we learn or "unlearn" our wasteful habits. Medical plastics are a miracle and we cannot get along any more without them, but other forms are pure destruction. I don't care where you live in this finite world. When only 9% of all of this petroleum based crap (since 1948) has to date been recycled it is in our environment we are fools to do anything less than an outright ban. Biodegradable forms of bin liners are available by the way if you can remember to buy them. Pity pity, someone might have sticky fingers which are fully washable. Well well, the storm drains will flow "freely." We cannot blame how Thais misuse an American invention.
User avatar
Undaunted
Posts: 2567
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2016 8:47 am
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 368 times

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by Undaunted »

Over dinner someone suggested to begin hoarding plastic bags and when the shit hits the fan use the bags you’ve saved.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
fountainhall

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by fountainhall »

windwalker wrote:I, for one, like plastic bags. They make it easy to dispose of garbage and I use them to line my garbage bins. As I see it, the problem with plastic in the environment is from people disposing of all sorts of trash into the storm drains which then are flushed into the sea.
In the USA I don't see much of this type of behavior, but here in Thailand the storm sewers are the everyday disposal method.
I used always to use plastic bags. As windwalker points out, they can be extremely useful. They always lined my bins! Like most, I just got used to them.

I don't know when I started to change. About 4 years ago, I bought a fabric bag and occasionally - very occasionally - used it at the supermarket. Besides, it was not big enough to carry all my purchases. It did get boring having to add bin liners to my shopping cart. But then I got a larger (and surprisingly strong) fabric bag when I bought a couple of shirts in Silom Complex. So I eventually started to take these two bags to the supermarket. As for bin liners, let's face it they're cheap.

The fabric bags are light, take up little space and so are almost always with me when I now go shopping. It's merely a case of getting into the habit - just like other habits. When I see that a whale has died because it had a large amount of plastic in its gut, when I hear the statistics that there will be more plastic on our oceans than fish by mid-century, I worry for future generations. I feel children's education has to ram these facts home.

I agree that those who use fabric bags are in a small minority. But it is not just poorer countries which should be blamed for the excess of these bags. Windwalker may not see plastic bags on the streets or in canals or wherever in the USA. But by using them for trash in the western world, they then go into trash tips where surely most can take hundreds of years to break down.
Up2u

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by Up2u »

Do what they do in California cities. No plastic bags for shopping, bring your own bag, or be charged for a paper bag. My Thailand solution would be, charge 20 baht for a plastic bag..... I can hear the Cheap Charlie's gasp.
lvdkeyes
Posts: 3820
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 6:40 pm
Location: Pattaya
Been thanked: 38 times
Contact:

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by lvdkeyes »

You can buy reusable bags for 25 baht each at the new Villa Market in Little Walk Pattaya, the site where the old Index was.
fountainhall

Re: Plastic bags on their way out

Post by fountainhall »

I am all for a charge being levied for plastic bags, but it has to be a meaningful one - as Up2u suggests. In Hong Kong every plastic bag carries a charge of HK0.50 or around Bt. 2. Not surprisingly, you still see loads of plastic bags around.

This in a city where, when backseat belts were introduced in cars, the public was given just two weeks to start wearing them. If caught without one on, the fines were pretty steep for both passenger and driver.
Post Reply