Central Phuket pledges to ban free plastic bags

[webfact]

Central Phuket pledges to ban free plastic bags

By The Phuket News

 

The news was announced at an event at Central Festival Phuket today (Sept 6). Photo: Supplied

 

PHUKET: The Central Group, Thailand’s largest retailer, has pledged to abolish the practice of giving away free plastic bags to its customers on Phuket.

 

The news was announced at an event at Central Festival Phuket today (Sept 6).

 

“As it prepares to host the inaugural edition of PHIST (Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism Forum 2018), the Phuket Hotels Association has achieved a major victory in its drive to secure a more sustainable future for Thailand’s most popular resort destination,” the Phuket Hotels Association announced in a release handed out at the event.

Read more at https://www.thephuketnews.com/central-phuket-pledges-to-ban-free-plastic-bags-68542.php#TfWQoIHZrYRpkSOr.99 

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2018-09-07

[bluesofa]

"The pledge for Central Phuket to stop giving plastic bags to customers will initially be limited to the company’s department stores in Phuket, but if successful it could be rolled out further afield – including to Central’s large network of supermarkets.

“The company has already committed to stop giving plastic bags to its supermarket customers on every third day of every month,” said the release."

 

That's good news, but I can't help but wonder why only Phuket? Is it perhaps because they realise there are a lot of foreign tourists more aware and with an interest in the issue?

This idea of not handing plastic bags out once a month seems like a PR stunt, while trying to test the water at the same time. I hope it happens nationwide very soon.

 

[Hayduke]

 

Sounds wonderful and very environmentally correct. But...the key words here are 'giving' and 'free'. It would appear that there will still be plastic bags aplenty, but they intend to make customers to pay for them. Nonetheless, it's hopefully a step in a positive direction.

[Phuketshrew]

Would that be pronounced "pissed" or "fist" ?

[mok199]

Yawn..another photo opp...Thailands Moto '' why do anything, if it wont get you noticed''...try this,'' Don't litter .respect your enviorment and make an effort to reduce your plastic and foam use'',its not that difficult.Why do you need a free( logo) t-shirt to do what every other country on the planet has been doing for years....this is getting redicurous...

Edited September 7, 2018 by mok199
s

[inThailand]

I am calling BS. The Chinese will not pay for bags for their Tops shopping. 

[schlog]

Hand out no plastic bags. Good.

But then hand out free paper bags.

No free bags no more shopping for me there. No support for PR nonsense.

[spidermike007]

This is a good, first baby step in the right direction. 

 

A change in consciousness must start at the most basic level. Most Thais think plastic is the best thing ever invented, and the percentage of Thais that even consider the negative ramifications of plastic is incredibly small. This requires some education. I always do two things to avoid the consumption of plastic.

 

1. I bring re-usable bags with me every time I go shopping. I use the larger shopping bags I buy in the US, which are made of recycled materials. Most of the clerks have to be dealt with. Even when they see my bag, they still start putting the stuff in plastic. I always mai sai toom. No plastic! Then they start loading up my bag. Most look at me like I am from Mars. Do I care? Not one iota. About 1% thank me, and get it. Not many do. My Thai wife does not like bringing the bags to the store. I force her to. By now, she expects it, and sometimes even asks if I have any bags in the car, or on the motorbike. Same with the water bottles. It used to embarrass her. Now, it is second nature, as I have been doing this for so long, she expects it. So, if a Thai can be conditioned to follow these simple principals, then anyone can. 

 

2. I bring a bottle of water with me, every time I go to a restaurant. I refill my plastic bottles from the 20 liter bottles at home. It is easy. I never buy bottled water at a restaurant. This saves 300-600 bottles a year. I use a plastic bottle dozens of times. I never get any flack from the restaurants. Only once did someone say something to me. She said you cannot bring you own water. My response was if you serve the water in a glass bottle, and I do not have to consume a plastic bottle, I am happy to pay for that. She was lost. I told her to leave and get me my food. She went away. 

We simply cannot say we are concerned about the environment, and then do nothing about it. Action demonstrates commitment. Lack of action demonstrates nothing. 

Lastly, restaurants can demonstrate their commitment, by serving drinking water from the 20 liter bottles. It saves alot of plastic. They lose a small amount of revenue, by not selling thousands of bottles of water. But, their operation is still profitable, and they are making a real difference. 

There really is not need to be consuming water in plastic bottles. At least not often. There are alternatives. Those damn bottles are a real culprit, when it comes to fouling the environment. What can we do, if we say we care?

 

What many refer to as toxic, in plastic bottles is BPA, and other toxic chemicals that leach from the plastic, if the bottle sits in the sun, or has been sitting for too long, or is re-used a few times. This can easily be avoided by purchasing these bottles shown here. They are on ebay, and shipping to Thailand is either free or less than $1. The bottles are one liter, and a half liter. Only $2-3 each. Worth it. I use them daily. 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by spidermike007

[hanssna]

The banning of plastic bags ( and replacing them with paper bags ) would be just a beginning, what about the endless amount of plastic bottles here ( not only water ) ? Milk in bottles, yoghurt in plastic cups in the supermarket, the plastic having even more weight than the content..  Lots of changes needed here. 

[merijn]

I heard this kind of announcements a few times over the last years, (7/11 announced this also a while back)

But during all of my shopping i had not one time that they didn't gave me a free plastic bag.

Personally i like the free plastic bags as i recycle them in my waste bin so i don't have to buy special waste bin plastic bags.

 

The rest i keep for later use.

[merijn]

20 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

This is a good, first baby step in the right direction. 

 

A change in consciousness must start at the most basic level. Most Thais think plastic is the best thing ever invented, and the percentage of Thais that even consider the negative ramifications of plastic is incredibly small. This requires some education. I always do two things to avoid the consumption of plastic.

 

1. I bring re-usable bags with me every time I go shopping. I use the larger shopping bags I buy in the US, which are made of recycled materials. Most of the clerks have to be dealt with. Even when they see my bag, they still start putting the stuff in plastic. I always mai sai toom. No plastic! Then they start loading up my bag. Most look at me like I am from Mars. Do I care? Not one iota. About 1% thank me, and get it. Not many do. My Thai wife does not like bringing the bags to the store. I force her to. By now, she expects it, and sometimes even asks if I have any bags in the car, or on the motorbike. Same with the water bottles. It used to embarrass her. Now, it is second nature, as I have been doing this for so long, she expects it. So, if a Thai can be conditioned to follow these simple principals, then anyone can. 

 

2. I bring a bottle of water with me, every time I go to a restaurant. I refill my plastic bottles from the 20 liter bottles at home. It is easy. I never buy bottled water at a restaurant. This saves 300-600 bottles a year. I use a plastic bottle dozens of times. I never get any flack from the restaurants. Only once did someone say something to me. She said you cannot bring you own water. My response was if you serve the water in a glass bottle, and I do not have to consume a plastic bottle, I am happy to pay for that. She was lost. I told her to leave and get me my food. She went away. 

We simply cannot say we are concerned about the environment, and then do nothing about it. Action demonstrates commitment. Lack of action demonstrates nothing. 

Lastly, restaurants can demonstrate their commitment, by serving drinking water from the 20 liter bottles. It saves alot of plastic. They lose a small amount of revenue, by not selling thousands of bottles of water. But, their operation is still profitable, and they are making a real difference. 

There really is not need to be consuming water in plastic bottles. At least not often. There are alternatives. Those damn bottles are a real culprit, when it comes to fouling the environment. What can we do, if we say we care?

 

What many refer to as toxic, in plastic bottles is BPA, and other toxic chemicals that leach from the plastic, if the bottle sits in the sun, or has been sitting for too long, or is re-used a few times. This can easily be avoided by purchasing these bottles shown here. They are on ebay, and shipping to Thailand is either free or less than $1. The bottles are one liter, and a half liter. Only $2-3 each. Worth it. I use them daily. 

 

 

I think one of the reasons that many people use plastic water bottles in restaurants is that they are afraid that the restaurant fill the 20 ltr bottles with tap water instead of buying new ones.

Personally i also ask for a sailed water bottle so i know for sure that it is not filled with tap water behind the counter.

I know from experience that this happens a lot.

If I could trust that they would buy clean water and not use the tap water i would fully agree with you but unfortunately this is not the case.