Bring your own bag shopping, starting today

[meand]

24 minutes ago, inThailand said:

A couple years ago the local express Tesco stopped giving bags. People stopped shopping there and they went back to giving bags.

 

They make sense where most are on motorbikes. And use them to dispose of their household garbage.

 

Companies like the cost savings, the customers could care less about the environment. Plastic bags are here to stay.

 

Exactly right. Many of the plastic bags are reused. 

 

Places don't give them, and now what? A person has to go buy what!? Plastic bags for their trash bins etc. lol. So what the F is the difference as far as the environment was concerned?! 

Edited July 4, 2019 by meand

[bronzedude]

Simply charge 10 baht per bag and people will bring their used plastic bags or cloth bags. I save my large plastic bags and reuse them. They're generally easy to fold into a small size and can fit in a back pocket, motorbike storage, or car boot. Easy Peasy. Raise the tax on the manufacture or sale of plastic bags like they did on wine (??which only really hurt faring pockets) and stores will pass on the increase. Doing this pretend attempt to go green is third world mentally, but there you go, that's where we are.

[fondue zoo]

Who produces the plastic bags supplied to Thailand retail?

[Bangkok Barry]

18 hours ago, luk AJ said:

make it biodegradable

 

My experience is that the Thai supermarket plastic bags are of such low quality that they self-destruct. I have used them to store stuff, and six months later I try to retrieve something and the bag crumbles to dust. It is other plastic that is the problem, so they are targeting the wrong thing.

[wotsdermatter]

17 hours ago, Moonlover said:

It's an automatic reflex for the vendor to reach for the plastic bag and an equally automatic reflex for the customer to accept it without question.

Correction.  It is not an "...automatic reflex.." but a conditioned response.  The cashiers are taught/conditioned to ask and the respondent reacts to such behaviour by accepting the bag without thought due to the cashier just doing their job as told to.

'nuf sed.

[cheshiremusicman]

14 hours ago, Moonlover said:

 

Sorry, but that's not really a fair comparison. Supermarket chains worldwide have, for quite some time been supplying bags that break down quickly in the environment. Kept in the home, away from sunlight and the elements and they will survive longer of course.

 

But none the less. kudos to you for keeping and reusing them. ???? 

 

 

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong; but refuse bags get dumped into landfill sites so no sunlight (or very little) ever reaches them within a short space of time as they are normally covered by more rubbish and hence a very very slow degradation of the plastic will occur.

[Humpy]

Just buy a roll of 20 bin liners in the same supermarket ....job done ! Supermarket wins again.

[Dexlowe]

2 hours ago, luk AJ said:

Your approach is very sound and hopefully will encourage others.
One remark about the alu straws, difficult to carry them with you all the time and how you clean them on the inside?


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

We bought steel ones off Ali...... - they came in a special pouch with wire brushes. No problem at all to clean. I'm very happy with them.

 

There are some you can carry around with you - but I've yet to check them out.

[Moonlover]

39 minutes ago, wotsdermatter said:

It's an automatic reflex for the vendor to reach for the plastic bag and an equally automatic reflex for the customer to accept it without question.

 

40 minutes ago, wotsdermatter said:

Correction.  It is not an "...automatic reflex.." but a conditioned response.  The cashiers are taught/conditioned to ask and the respondent reacts to such behaviour by accepting the bag without thought due to the cashier just doing their job as told to.

'nuf sed.

Correction. You're using that paragraph out of context. I was referring to small shops and market stalls. There's no training there and no asking. They just do it that way and have done ever since the plastic bag arrived.

[Krataiboy]

18 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

What about using bamboo for disposable plates, cutlery, bags, clothing , towels, plenty of it.

Create a new industry.

I have always taken my own bags to shops here, they used to grin, used to look at me strangely when I would say "no plastic" for everything, some still laugh and just say "farang"  

 

Be the change you want to see happen

I've always used my old hiking back-pack (the large variety with shoulder straps and waist belt) for short-distance shop and supermarket safaris here or in the UK. Leaves my hands free for riding the bicycle, which overcomes any parking problems while also giving me some much-needed exercise.

 

If the Government is serious about reducing plastic pollution it should make the use of plastic bags by stores and supermarkets unlawful and give everyone due notice to arm themselves with something else for their shopping trips.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by Krataiboy

[Russell17au]

Everyone is carrying on about the plastic bags to carry your groceries home in but what about the rubbish that your actual goods are packed in? Ice cream in plastic containers, frozen vegetables packed in plastic bags, milk in plastic bottles, meat in poly trays covered with plastic wrap, fruit and vegetables packed in plastic bags, your meat weighed and packed in a plastic bag, goods in plastic bottles and plastic jars at the same supermarkets that will not give you a plastic bag to carry those goods that are packed in plastic home. The whole thing is a load of hypocrisy. Like one of the other posters says that now instead of using the plastic carry bag as a rubbish bin liner to place all his plastic food packaging in he will now have to buy new plastic rubbish bin liners to put it in. It is about time that many countries including Australia look at what is being done in India with the waste plastic, they have worked out a way of making a material for making roads with it. What is really needed is to stop the people from just dumping the rubbish on the side of the roads or in the canals, that is where the problem is.

Edited July 4, 2019 by Russell17au

[DanielS]

The big problem in the sea here in Pattaya is not plastic bags, but used condoms.

Why not wash your condom and use it again?

 

Or is it time for organic condoms made from paper or textils?

[justin case]

haha... no more free bags, now you have to pay... ecology my ...

[FarFlungFalang]

5 hours ago, Artisi said:

not if you use dedicated farmed tree's from where most paper comes from today.

Or even industrial Hemp.

Hemp, or industrial hemp, typically found in the northern hemisphere, is a strain of the Cannabis sativa plant species that is grown specifically for the industrial uses of its derived products. It is one of the fastest growing plants and was one of the first plants to be spun into usable fiber 10,000 years ago. Wikipedia

 

Protein: 31.56 g (per 100 g)

Energy: 585.8 Calories (per 100 g)

Iron: 7.95 mg (per 100 g)

Calcium: 70 mg (per 100 g)

Other constituents: Quantity

Did you know: One acre of hemp could produce as much paper as 4.1 acres of trees. wellnesstoday.com

[Artisi]

1 hour ago, FarFlungFalang said:

Or even industrial Hemp.

Hemp, or industrial hemp, typically found in the northern hemisphere, is a strain of the Cannabis sativa plant species that is grown specifically for the industrial uses of its derived products. It is one of the fastest growing plants and was one of the first plants to be spun into usable fiber 10,000 years ago. Wikipedia

 

Protein: 31.56 g (per 100 g)

Energy: 585.8 Calories (per 100 g)

Iron: 7.95 mg (per 100 g)

Calcium: 70 mg (per 100 g)

Other constituents: Quantity

Did you know: One acre of hemp could produce as much paper as 4.1 acres of trees. wellnesstoday.com

Plus you can smoke it if so inclined????

[Letseng]

On 7/3/2019 at 12:13 PM, Curt1591 said:

Change to paper? What about deforestation? 

Counter it with reforestation.

[sabyedee]

On 7/3/2019 at 4:53 PM, zydeco said:

Danger in reusable grocery bags.

We always wash our reusable bags. We have some Trash Hero nylon bags that 4 pieces roll up into the palm of your hand and they fit in a convenient pouch built into the big bag. Been using some of them for 4 years and they are still good. You can put 6 bottles of wine into one of them and they won’t break.

[josephbloggs]

12 hours ago, 30la said:

The plastic bag business is absolutely a big business, I suppose as I have already said and written several times that cashiers in department stores are paid by plastic bag factories to give away as much as possible!

Would love to see your evidence for that.  Cashiers paid by plastic bag companies?  Ok.

 

So the companies send someone to count how many each cashier has given away to calculate their bonus?  How does this scheme work exactly?  I'm all ears.

[Damrongsak]

On 7/3/2019 at 6:33 AM, DrTuner said:

Never needed a bag at all at Makro. Just roll the cart with the goods to the back of the car and load up.

I just roll the cart home.

 

[plfomylo]

On 7/3/2019 at 4:37 PM, luk AJ said:

I don’t get it, which bags you use to dump your garbage? Plastic garbage bags right? I use ALL plastic shopping bags for garbage. If tomorrow supermarkets stop giving plastic shopping bags, I will be forced to buy garbage bags. Where is the win?
On the contrary, why supermarkets don’t use a plastic bags more resembling to garbage bags to ensure double use and make it biodegradable.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

I agree with you, but I have seen in my life hundreds of idiots who throw away plastics bags without even using them, but buy trash plastic bags. So weird and idiots.

 

 

 

[HHTel]

20 hours ago, DanielS said:

The big problem in the sea here in Pattaya is not plastic bags, but used condoms.

Why not wash your condom and use it again?

 

Or is it time for organic condoms made from paper or textils?

Just use latex condoms instead of plastic ones.  They've always worked up to now.

[wayned]

If all of the big grocery stores stop giving customers bags on checkout they will have to reinstate the guards at the parking lot exits just like Tesco.  The reason that they are there is to keep the Thais from loading the grocery cart in the back of their trucks and driving home.  I have three large reusable bags that I bought near checkout in Tesco.  They actually make shopping easier as I put the groceries in the bag that I want as I shop, cold in one, fragile in another, etc. , and on checkout the clerk unloads one bag at a time and hands me the goods and I put them back in the bag.  That way I don't have a bag of potato chips under 4 kilos of cold meat!

[MikeN]

On 7/4/2019 at 8:13 AM, Beggar said:

In addition Tops at least here in the Central Mall does not give you plastic bags every Tuesday. I still need plastic bags for my waste. And perhaps better recycling could solve the problem. Also there is the question who throws them into the sea. Garbage removal companies that want to save money? And for me such plastic bag free days might be just the days I avoid for shopping. And honestly - I never ever threw a plastic bag into a river or into the sea. So who does it! 

Who does it? Well once, after visiting the Jim Thomson house I went down to the klong behind it and on the other side was a woman throwing plastic bags from the back of her pickup into the water. Garbage bags and shopping bags ....

 I went shopping at my local Tesco Express yesterday with my canvas bags, saw they were using paper bags in the express lane.

 A couple of women in front of me had bought several large multi-packs of Lays and similar, insisted they be squeezed into the bags, one pack per bag. I am standing there thinking, <deleted> ?, they are already wrapped in plastic ! Must just be a compulsion to use as many bags as possible. Certainly slowed down the “express” lane while they tried to fit the packs into bags !

[wayned]

38 minutes ago, MikeN said:

Who does it? Well once, after visiting the Jim Thomson house I went down to the klong behind it and on the other side was a woman throwing plastic bags from the back of her pickup into the water. Garbage bags and shopping bags ....

 I went shopping at my local Tesco Express yesterday with my canvas bags, saw they were using paper bags in the express lane.

 A couple of women in front of me had bought several large multi-packs of Lays and similar, insisted they be squeezed into the bags, one pack per bag. I am standing there thinking, <deleted> ?, they are already wrapped in plastic ! Must just be a compulsion to use as many bags as possible. Certainly slowed down the “express” lane while they tried to fit the packs into bags !

They would have fit a lot easier if they had first put them on the floor and stomp on them.   I never buy ant chips in 7-11 from the lower racks as the little  children have a habit of squeezing the bags as the mother shops.  eating chips with a spoon is just not my thing!

[DrTuner]

12 minutes ago, wayned said:

They would have fit a lot easier if they had first put them on the floor and stomp on them.   I never buy ant chips in 7-11 from the lower racks as the little  children have a habit of squeezing the bags as the mother shops.  eating chips with a spoon is just not my thing!

It amazing really how they manage to break every single chip even when the nuclear attack proof bag that needs a small army to open is inflated to 5000bar with a dozen chips or so inside.