Thailand saying "NO!" to plastic bags: End in sight as January 1st "D-Day" looms

[jvs]

1 minute ago, ZAKY said:

How will these thousand and thousand working people going to manage carrying their lunch at work? Tom yam in paper bags?

How did they carry their food 60 years ago?

[sawadee1947]

5 hours ago, marcusb said:

This is what gets me.  I am always on my motorbike, so I always have my backpack on. I haven't used store bags for a couple years. When I empty my backpack out at home I am dismayed by all the plastic on the table. 

 Plastic bags are a start but we need to get the manufacturers cutting out the packaging or using plastic alternatives. 

 In Europe they started already. The big 2 (Aldi, Lidl)  are promoting veggies and fruits without plastic covers. ????

[bluejets]

 

So, will it "work" like in Aus where one can have as many as one likes so long as one pays 15c each......some <deleted> attempt , never works when all boils down.

Anyone seen the "recycle storage" delima currently faced in Aus?

[dcnx]

Sure. Mom and pops and all the venders on the street will still be in full plastic mode. Bags for your bags.

[jvs]

15 minutes ago, ukrules said:

I don't see what the problem is with plastic, it wasn't a problem for the last 40 or so years. What's changed recently?

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by jvs
decided it is better to delete my answer,worldpeace and all that.

[HHTel]

I think something's been lost in translation here.  The 3 types of plastic banned by the end of this year and announced some time ago are:

 

Quote

By the end of 2019 Thailand will be free from three types of plastic – microbeads, cap seals and oxo-degradable plastics.

Single use plastic bags will become illegal by 2021 with a campaign starting in January 2020.

 

However, most major retailers including CP All (7/11's) have signed an agreement to stop issuing plastic bags from January next year (2020)

[korkenzieher]

Most people forget that most of the 'double-wrapped, and in plastic not paper' was all government mandated in the first place - so a lot of shops are effectively under regulatory obligation to use plastic wrapping. The bags issue is in essence, a sop to the environmentalists and is being successful because it allows supermarkets to turn a cost (free check-out bags which we then use for garbage) into a profit centre, because we now all need to buy bags for garbage. Just wait until the councils have to start emptying bins with un-bagged trash, to see where the 'money shot' truly is.

[natway09]

I am confused now.

The green bags we use for our wet rubbish for CORRECT disposal.  (recycled) as I am sure that thousands do,,,,, so now I go & buy bags for my wet rubbish or just throw it in the big black bucket at the end of the corridor.

This is not being thought through at all.

It is about correct disposal of plastics NOT the plastic itself

 

[Liverpudlian]

6 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

How about those kids in Isarn that like to use 7-Eleven bags instead of condoms?

The correct term for this neck of the woods is Isaan & most kids here bareback ????

[Swede65]

Here in Sweden we're going to get tax on plastic grocery bags, like 80cents US$. All to reduce plastic waste. What we didn't know was that our plastics end up in the Oceans! We thought it was taken care of by either landfills or recycling! ????

[PEE TEE]

Good idea. also no more Plastic boobs as they could come under plastic bags   The unmentioned  other bag ban

[Gandtee]

7 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

How about those kids in Isarn that like to use 7-Eleven bags instead of condoms?

That would liven things up if it had been used for a spicy sausage.????

[IssanMichael]

8 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

How about those kids in Isarn that like to use 7-Eleven bags instead of condoms?

pity your parents didn't

[Jimbo2014]

Like they said no to diesel emissions in Bangkok and crop burning rurally ????

[sambum]

7 hours ago, marcusb said:

This is what gets me.  I am always on my motorbike, so I always have my backpack on. I haven't used store bags for a couple years. When I empty my backpack out at home I am dismayed by all the plastic on the table. 

 Plastic bags are a start but we need to get the manufacturers cutting out the packaging or using plastic alternatives. 

Correct! I got "slagged off" a while ago for buying cheese slices where all the slices are separated by thin sheets of plastic. There are types of cheese slices available without, but almost impossible to separate, and I don't like the brand anyway. Could they not use some kind of greaseproof paper instead?

[kevinmartyn]

I find it funny to read this as I'm on Kenya East Africa right now where all "Plastic Bags" have already been banned! Thailand is a follower and NOT a leader with these affairs!

 

I guess they should ALSO be looking at diesel cars etc.

 

[PlastikbinLina]

I can see now garbagw spread all over the road side bin areas and a metoric rise in the price of black plastic bin bags.

Edited November 13, 2019 by PlastikbinLina
minor spelling error

[mrfill]

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

I don't see what the problem is with plastic, it wasn't a problem for the last 40 or so years. What's changed recently?

40 years build up of waste plastic I suspect

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, Denim said:

No more rubber condoms either. The ecologically friendly prophylactic is now a hollowed out aubergine or cucumber.

 

Soon to be on sale in green supermarkets.

I hope they push the pesticide ban through fast!

[4675636b596f75]

35 minutes ago, sambum said:

Correct! I got "slagged off" a while ago for buying cheese slices where all the slices are separated by thin sheets of plastic. There are types of cheese slices available without, but almost impossible to separate, and I don't like the brand anyway. Could they not use some kind of greaseproof paper instead?

It depends on the cheese. A very soft cheese would need a sheet of paper in between to keep the cheese from melding together.

[4675636b596f75]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

I hope they push the pesticide ban through fast!

I take the skin off most vegetables here and soak everything else in vinegar and dishwashing liquid.  Then I throw the peels in ... oh ..... wait for it ... a plastic bag I got at the stupidmarket.

[KhaoYai]

Let's see what actually happens. Despite claims from Tesco and 7/11 that they have reduced plastic carrier bag use by millions - 7/11 also stating that they give a chunk of the money they save to charities, I've noticed no difference. I always have to tell 7/11 staff that I don't need a bag for my single bottle of milk - nor do I need a straw and Tesco cashiers still try to put every different type of item in a separate bag - crazy!

[Chazar]

5 hours ago, zydeco said:

Realize that the hysteria over plastic bags is a matter of religion. Many Westerners in Thailand have spiritually empty lives and need something to fasten on to. The plastic bag hysteria is an easy answer. They want to be missionaries, spreading the gospel of hating plastic. One hundred years ago, these same people would have been all over Southeast Asia trying to bring Jesus to Thailand.

Plastics  have transformed our  lives its a  valuable and useful resource, the problem is the people who  just  bin it everywhere and for that the Thai public  are to blame

[Chazar]

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

I don't see what the problem is with plastic, it wasn't a problem for the last 40 or so years. What's changed recently?

Stupidity like that Thunberg child and the publics  gullibility, its a  simple  matter of recycling and keeping things clean not  just dumping it where you  fancy......

[Chazar]

5 hours ago, Garybaldy said:

hopefully biodegradable

still no  good  apparently

 

Biodegradable plastics are very rarely recyclable, and biodegradable does not mean compostable–so they often up in the landfill. Compostable and bioplastic goods can be a better choice than biodegradable ones, but often still end up in landfills unless you can compost appropriately.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Chazar

[PEE TEE]

5 hours ago, MrMo said:

I am so bored with "Government Action" that I'm not bothering the give my thought on this report

Thanks for the Info

[justin case]

and in what will people throw away their trash ? paper bags ?

[4675636b596f75]

3 minutes ago, justin case said:

and in what will people throw away their trash ? paper bags ?

How will I toss my cat <deleted>!  I can't very well toss it from the balcony!

 

I swim in that pool.

[theonetrueaussie]

Stuff like this just makes me laugh....So instead of throwing out a small single use plastic bag with my rubbish every night I will instead be throwing out a Thick Garbage bag with a few items in.....Using 10x more plastic then I was before ????????????????

[4675636b596f75]

I just checked the stash and we are getting low.  Perhaps some of you do gooders out there will send me your plastic bags.