Thai shoppers refused 1.5 bn plastic bags over past year

By The Nation

 

 

The Pollution Control Department reported that the government’s waste-management policy has successfully reduced the use of 1.5 billion plastic bags since August 17 last year, and that the department aims to eliminate seven types of plastic by 2022.

 

Pralong Damrongthai, PCD’s director-general, said the government’s waste-management policy “focuses on waste separation, cutting down on the use of plastic bags and Styrofoam containers and urging officials at seaside national parks to prevent the dumping of waste into the ocean.

 

“As for the private sector, we have urged convenience stores and department stores to launch plastic-reducing campaigns such as no-plastic bag day or giving discounts to customers who bring their own bags.”

 

Pralong added that this has resulted in the reduction of approximately 4,385 tonnes of plastic. To add to this success, the PCD is preparing a 2019-2027 roadmap to reduce or stop the use of seven kids of plastic by 2022.

 

“We plan to stop the use of three kinds of plastic products by the end of this year, namely cap seals for water bottles, oxo-biodegradable plastic packaging and microbeads in cosmetics, face creams and toothpaste etc,” he said. “The remaining four types of plastic that will be eliminated by 2022 are plastic bags thicker than 36 microns, Styrofoam food containers, single-use plastic drinking cups and plastic straws.”

 

He said the final aim is to recycle or reuse 100 per cent of plastic waste and containers by 2027.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30374977

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-08-19

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Yea, yea... Tell shops like Rimping that having one day a week 'no bag day' is pathetic if 6 days are 'have as many as you want'.

EVERY day should be no bag day then we would remember to bring our hessian bags every time! 

38 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Yea, yea... Tell shops like Rimping that having one day a week 'no bag day' is pathetic if 6 days are 'have as many as you want'.

EVERY day should be no bag day then we would remember to bring our hessian bags every time! 

Agreed. Wont give you a bag on Wednesday but will pretty much individually bag your other items every other day of the week, and double bag anything over 1kg. 

That's insane, they have refused a whopping 1.5 billion bags. A welcome step in the right direction.

But what's the 'turn down' rate, say 1 in 10 situations ?

If so, they are still potentially using over 10 billion bags a year ????

 

How many Roadmaps are they are actual PLANNING 2019-2027, 2018-2036,2018-2030 ?


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How many of those shoppers were farang, how many Thais?


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Well I think they have eliminated plastic cap seals. That's a tiny step and an easy one as well. Item produced in Thailand should be there first priority. If tooth paste is made in Thailand then I would expect to see oversea brands disappear off the shelves

Good luck will your road map

I must have saved that many my self, mai sai toong. 

“We plan to stop the use of three kinds of plastic products by the end of this year, namely cap seals for water bottles, oxo-biodegradable plastic packaging and microbeads in cosmetics, face creams and toothpaste etc,” he said. “The remaining four types of plastic that will be eliminated by 2022 are plastic bags thicker than 36 microns, Styrofoam food containers, single-use plastic drinking cups and plastic straws.” He said the final aim is to recycle or reuse 100 per cent of plastic waste and containers by 2027.

 

I applaud that ! Well done, its has to start somewhere.

17 hours ago, webfact said:

The Pollution Control Department reported that the government’s waste-management policy has successfully reduced the use of 1.5 billion plastic bags since August 17 last year,

 

okay agree its a step in the right direction Malls shops ect  cutting back 

but its the people who need educating  on how to dispose of them properly 

Hence  streets sides of roads  drains beaches ect  still in dated with them l

Never been to Thai talat (market)????? At least 3  plastic bags everything. How are you going to stop that?

18 hours ago, webfact said:

stop the use of seven kids of plastic by 2022.

Now making children out of plastic!  Whatever next?

The Hub of idiotic statements and self delusion, 

Pure fiction......

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?

Lies, damned lies, and statistics..........

3 minutes ago, Grusa said:

Lies, damned lies, and statistics..........

 

 

The figures obviously exclude 7-11 and Family Mart.....

One major problem will be the large Thai companies who make the plastic bags. Do you really think they will give up their lucrative business without a fight and a few brown envelopes?

What plastic bag did they pull these nonsensical numbers from? Really.

reduction of 10%? Like saying "We'll only shoot your with 9 bullets instead of 10. You should be just fine."

20 hours ago, wobalt said:

How many of those shoppers were farang, how many Thais?

What is that supposed to mean , everyone are refused a plastic bag once a week . Doesn't matter if your Thai or Farang. Just bring your own bag.  

34 minutes ago, DavetheGreek said:

One major problem will be the large Thai companies who make the plastic bags. Do you really think they will give up their lucrative business without a fight and a few brown envelopes?

Yes they will when we have an alternative to plastic, so they can sell biodegradable plastic bags instead. 

1 hour ago, DavetheGreek said:

One major problem will be the large Thai companies who make the plastic bags. Do you really think they will give up their lucrative business without a fight and a few brown envelopes?

That is a major problem but one that can be solved by moving to hemp based products either hemp plastic or hemp paper or hemp cloth bags the quicker the Thais jump on the hemp bandwagon the better,being a supplier of these product will be a boon for the Thai economy.

1 hour ago, DavetheGreek said:

One major problem will be the large Thai companies who make the plastic bags. Do you really think they will give up their lucrative business without a fight and a few brown envelopes?

They will make up for it with all the extra plastic bin liners everyone will need and the supermarkets will save millions by selling "reusable" plastic bags and get the profit on the bin liners.

On 8/19/2019 at 6:44 PM, BobBKK said:

Yea, yea... Tell shops like Rimping that having one day a week 'no bag day' is pathetic if 6 days are 'have as many as you want'.

EVERY day should be no bag day then we would remember to bring our hessian bags every time! 

Right on man ????

Take your own coffee cup everywhere

take a cooler cup for you iced cafe American or iced latte.

refuse plastic bags when you buy take out food, carry your own reusable bag in your shoulder bag. Don’t have an organic fibre shoulder bag ... get one they’re cool ???? 

carry your own bamboo chopstick n refuse those horrible plastic cutlery offered by food stalls.

Thai shoppers refused 1.5 bn plastic bags over past year.

 

Not according to the piles of garbage on the roadsides.

Government should just ban them, the "market" will find an answer.

 

I am old enough to remember when we did not have plastic bags and we all survived OK.