7 hours ago, flyingtlger said:

Ban plastic bags and charge for paper bags then people will start to use their own recyclable bags.

I'd rather use paper bags than recyclable ones, unless the recycled ones are made of biodegradable materials.

 

For me it's about reducing our dependence on plastic materials than do not biodegrade [as far as possible].

 

Re-using and recycling are important, but until we reduce our usage of plastics, the problem will not go away.

 

 

Edited June 5, 20188 yr by Bluespunk

We bring our own shopping bag to the supermarket and receive no plastic bags at all.

Whatever happened to those waxy striped paper straws  we used as kids...long before plastic straws were invented??

They used to degrade while you used them if you were too slow!

1 minute ago, orchidfan said:

Whatever happened to those waxy striped paper straws  we used as kids...long before plastic straws were invented??

They used to degrade while you used them if you were too slow!

 

I remember those too.  They still exist; and the technology has improved and they don't flatten when sucked on.

 

https://www.aardvarkstraws.com/

 

13 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

I remember those too.  They still exist; and the technology has improved and they don't flatten when sucked on.

 

https://www.aardvarkstraws.com/

 

Thanks for the link to these paper straws . Wonder why these haven't been tried in Thailand? Too costly?

My guess is because they're not made in China, and nobody in Thailand has the entrepreneurial drive to form a startup.

17 hours ago, Thunder26 said:

It should start from the shops by not giving plastic bags to customers.

In a perfect world. I would agree with you. I take my own canvas shopping bag with me to the 7/11 shop most days. (Despite the staff laughing and giggles) BUT my apartment requires me to dispose of my daily rubbish in a sealed disposable container into the bin in a cupboard outside my apartment. Consequently some days I don't take my canvas bag to the 7 and aquire plastic bags for disposal of my daily rubbish. Catch 22 really. I guess with Takeaways one should take a reusable container. Plastic bags are a wonderful commodity. We need a worldwide system of safe disposal. 

Easy, after use plastic, just change from

"put out by the window of the car"

to

"put in the trash".

 

(but this is a very big change for almost thai people, not sure they can start to do it...)

21 hours ago, attrayant said:

My guess is because they're not made in China, and nobody in Thailand has the entrepreneurial drive to form a startup.

Quick check shows dozens of Chinese companies producing bio degradable paper straws. About 1c USD each FOB China.

I have started using this. The missis is very happy about it.

 

5 hours ago, orchidfan said:

Quick check shows dozens of Chinese companies producing bio degradable paper straws. About 1c USD each FOB China.

 

Then it must be the lazy thing.