Plastic Bags in Thailand

[thasoss]

Would like to congratulate the thai government on banning plastic bags,it'll take a while for people to get used to the idea but it can work.

I would like the government to go a few steps further and next ban plastic bottles.Why not encourage the manufactures to change production to glass?

And if there is a cost factor to give grants to the change over.

And why not change packaging in supermarkets, and go back to  old fashioned cardboard.

Anyone else agree?

[Hans007]

This very morning i bought some stuff in 7/11 close to me....still got 3 plastic bags.

 

<deleted>???

 

Hans

[thasoss]

5 minutes ago, Hans007 said:

This very morning i bought some stuff in 7/11 close to me....still got 3 plastic bags.

 

<deleted>???

 

Hans

takes time i guess,but this decision is way ahead of western countries i think

 

[BobBKK]

But still wrap 2 bananas in plastic.

[kingofthemountain]

25 minutes ago, thasoss said:

takes time i guess,but this decision is way ahead of western countries i think

 

You mean far behind, right?

The ban on one use plastic bags is effective since years

in most of the western countries, along with the selective sorting of waste

and the recycling programs.

Thailand is really very late (At least 10 years) on the ecology subject 

Edited January 8, 2020 by kingofthemountain

[allane]

I used to use 7-11/Tesco-Lotus bags for household garbage. Now, as soon as my accumulated supply runs out, I am going to have to buy garbage bags at the supermarket. I am not precisely sure how this will help the environment.

"Single use" plastic bags ? They weren't single use here. But they soon will be.

[kingofthemountain]

6 hours ago, allane said:

I am going to have to buy garbage bags at the supermarket. I am not precisely sure how this will help the environment.

I was initially thinking the same

but at my recent visit in the garbage bags department

in big C i saw that ecofriendly biodegradable garbage bags are available 

[impulse]

9 hours ago, thasoss said:

Would like to congratulate the thai government on banning plastic bags,it'll take a while for people to get used to the idea but it can work.

I would like the government to go a few steps further and next ban plastic bottles.Why not encourage the manufactures to change production to glass?

And if there is a cost factor to give grants to the change over.

And why not change packaging in supermarkets, and go back to  old fashioned cardboard.

Anyone else agree?

 

I'd rather see them do something about their solid waste disposal problem, which is the root of the issue.

 

[fishtank]

Just means we now have to buy bin bags instead of using the free checkout ones.

[legend49]

Maybe the next phase is plastic wrapping needs to go?  Yesterday I tried opening a well known razor blade package, the strong plastic type. Needed some heavy duty scissors took 5 minutes of hacking, why cant they put these things in a cardboard box wrap with the anti theft tracker?

[thasoss]

We just bought hemp carrier bag and that's what we take to 711 tops and macro.Disposing of plastic bottles is a pain,take to recycling plant....anyway i just thought it was a good start.

[Moonlover]

17 hours ago, BobBKK said:

But still wrap 2 bananas in plastic.

You can always 'say no thank you'. I always politely refuse plastic bags when I shop at the local stores. And they're always appreciative of the gesture.

 

Reducing the use of plastic bags is a 2 way thing that doesn't just involve the vendor. The customers have to play their part as well.

[HHTel]

16 hours ago, allane said:

"Single use" plastic bags ? They weren't single use here.

A name given for plastic bags less than 36 microns thick which can't be recycled, at least not in Thailand.  Doesn't really matter how many times they're used as they will still be 'thin' and unrecyclable.

[4MyEgo]

2 hours ago, fishtank said:

Just means we now have to buy bin bags instead of using the free checkout ones.

As Kingofthemountain mentioned in #7

 

Big C have eco friendly biodegradable garbage bags and I am sure if we shop around they can be found elsewhere.

 

We all have to do our part if we give a rat$ a$$ and personally, I do, after all we are handing down the planet to future generations.

 

The next steps the Thai government can make are to ban them from street vendors, customers can bring their own plastic containers for all I care, while at the same time get serious about enforcing a total ban on burning.

[Jaxxper]

16 hours ago, allane said:

I used to use 7-11/Tesco-Lotus bags for household garbage. Now, as soon as my accumulated supply runs out, I am going to have to buy garbage bags at the supermarket. I am not precisely sure how this will help the environment.

"Single use" plastic bags ? They weren't single use here. But they soon will be.

Buy biodegradable bags for your rubbish. Simples.

[Jaxxper]

19 hours ago, Hans007 said:

This very morning i bought some stuff in 7/11 close to me....still got 3 plastic bags.

 

<deleted>???

 

Hans

You can always tell them you don’t need a bag !!!

[recom273]

It’s a start, but a real long way to go before the government are to be congratulated. 
 

Attitudes are changing, but it’s still at its novelty stage, there is still needless amounts of excess packaging, be it plastic or card that still uses energy to produce and dispose of. As mentioned before they are at least a decade behind the rest of the world in terms of waste limitation and management but It seems like a few posters here are living in the last century “but I will have to buy bin bags ..” 

 

 

[theonetrueaussie]

19 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

You mean far behind, right?

The ban on one use plastic bags is effective since years

in most of the western countries, along with the selective sorting of waste

and the recycling programs.

Thailand is really very late (At least 10 years) on the ecology subject 

Ban on single use plastic bags HAHAHAHAHAHAHA....No there is NO ban on single use plastic bags the supermarkets just stopped giving them out for free....you can still BUY them in the supermarkets though a pack of 30 large or 50 medium SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS costs 34thb at BIG C!!!!

As for changing all the plastic bottles to glass....that is just going to result in more broken glass on the streets / beaches etc etc.....

[recom273]

19 minutes ago, Jaxxper said:

You can always tell them you don’t need a bag !!!

The poster may have done that, it’s not so much the act, it’s the mentality behind it. 
 

Returning a bag in Thailand often results in that bag being thrown in the bin, rather than given to the next customer. Then you are back to square one. 

[sensei]

19 hours ago, BobBKK said:

But still wrap 2 bananas in plastic.

7-Eleven here wraps EACH banana in plastic

[Moonlover]

20 hours ago, thasoss said:

takes time i guess,but this decision is way ahead of western countries i think

 

I don't think so! But laudable none the less.

 

https://study.com/blog/which-countries-have-banned-plastic-bags.html

[thasoss]

35 minutes ago, theonetrueaussie said:

s for changing all the plastic bottles to glass....that is just going to result in more broken glass on the streets / beaches etc etc.....

yes true,education and disposal bins everywhere could help and glass is easily recyclable.The biggest problem most people just dont seem to care,if you live in an isaan village you'll see litter everywhere in some people's land and around the house,no pride in keeping things clean.Not every house i might add.But still you'd think villages with a small population everywhere would be clean and tidy...but it's not so.

[Burma Bill]

20 hours ago, BobBKK said:

But still wrap 2 bananas in plastic.

Yes indeed, and also millions of single use plastic bags still being issued throughout the country to carry food, drinks and other products from local shops and markets, also from street vendors. The number of plastic carrier bags now banned is only the very small tip of an iceberg!

[Burma Bill]

20 hours ago, Hans007 said:

This very morning i bought some stuff in 7/11 close to me....still got 3 plastic bags.

 

<deleted>???

 

Hans

Great news - yippee!

[allenberg]

11 hours ago, impulse said:

 

I'd rather see them do something about their solid waste disposal problem, which is the root of the issue.

 

+1

[sead]

They are not. 7eleven gave me paper bags 2 days in a row.  From Yesterday plastic bags as usual

[Estrada]

12 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

I was initially thinking the same

but at my recent visit in the garbage bags department

in big C i saw that ecofriendly biodegradable garbage bags are available 

Not really ecofriendly. The purpose of banning plastic shopping bags was to prevent them getting into the rivers and seas. Biodegradable bags take up to 6 months to biodegrade and only under the right conditions. However it gives off the CO2 greenhouse gas that is locked into the plastic! If a biodegradable bag goes into the sea during floods they will still float around for years before being possibly swallowed by marine life. Thailand is installing waste to energy plants that will incinerate plastic bags and use them as fuel under environmently friendly conditions.

 

[Estrada]

On the first day at Tesco Lotus Seacon Square there were no plastic bags and chaos. The next day there were no plastic bags and people had stolen all the green hand baskets used when you do your shopping!. Now you can buy a plastic shopping bag from Tesco for 1 Baht or a longer life recycled plastic bag for 3 Baht. I seperate all my waste using the plastic shopping bags into wet waste for composting, Plastic Waste for recycle, paper waste for recycle, metal waste and hazardous waste. Most of my 300 or so neighbours were doing the same. Now all the recyclable materials are tipped unseparated into an smelly mess because the wet waste is mixed in.

[Scott Tracy]

The Thai government hasn't banned them yet. I understand that will come in next January...

[30la]

22 hours ago, thasoss said:

Would like to congratulate the thai government on banning plastic bags,it'll take a while for people to get used to the idea but it can work.

Go slowly with the congratulations, I'm afraid that the government will step back very soon under the pressure of the shops!
For the other topics I agree!
Unfortunately the big companies start packing biscuits, candies and other things one by one in plastic.
On the one hand you stop on the other you increase, it seems that someone very high has a great interest in the use of plastic.
Look at the attached photo, I bought it from Makro ...