Tesco introduces paper carry bags

[FolkGuitar]

Being the youngest in the family, it was my household chore to take out the garbage. Of course, we only had paper bags back then, but my mother thought ahead, and put a layer of newspapers under it in the trash can. While I certainly remember the occasional tear-out, it was hardly an every day occurrence, nor even every week or every month. It happened sometimes. Not enough to grieve over then, and certainly not enough to stress over now.

 

[lopburi3]

7 minutes ago, Sparkles said:

Is it that hard, or expensive, to go and buy some nylon or cloth bags and just take them to the supermarket ?

 

We are still using bags we bought 10 years ago.  Just basic common sense.

 

So where does she keep those bags?  We often shop without that intent.  There should be an option to buy bags at point of sale.

[Max69xl]

7 minutes ago, MrBrad said:

As mentioned before, these kinds of concerns can be resolved 100% by taking your own bags--even pre-used plastic bags--with you when you leave home.  It's so easy.

I am lucky to have 2 stores and a market next door. But if I have to bring my own bag,it will be a pre-used plastic bag. Now I use them in my bins.  

[Caldera]

I currently re-use my plastic shopping bags as garbage bags. Once they will stop giving them away, I will need to buy garbage bags instead. Same amount of plastic, ultimately.

 

I think it would be more important and more beneficial to reduce product wrapping to the minimum necessary, often there are at least 1-2 unnecessary layers of plastic.

[sandy102uk]

I agree with the aim to reduce the number of plastic bags but the food suppliers need to do more. Included in my shopping yesterday was 4 yoghurt each in a plastic cup and all wrapped in plastic. Inside were 4 plastic spoons each individually wrapped in plastic. As an aside I ordered a cup of coffee yesterday in macdonalds only to be told there were no cups but I could have it in an environmentally unfriendly take out container. 

[MrBrad]

40 minutes ago, Caldera said:

I currently re-use my plastic shopping bags as garbage bags. Once they will stop giving them away, I will need to buy garbage bags instead. Same amount of plastic, ultimately.

In the whole scheme of things, I don't think it's the "same amount of plastic, ultimately."  In your household, true, but there are lots and lots of plastic bags that are not used by other folks as garbage bags.  Those bags wind up either in the garbage, or thrown by the wayside.

[trainman34014]

Seems to be a lot of people getting all worked up about the loss of plastic bags; guess you were all born in the 70's or later as before that there were almost zero plastic bags available and everyone went shopping with shopping baskets and/or cloth bags.   Back then fruit and Vege's would be weighed and tipped straight into your own bags/baskets, Biscuits would be in huge tins with glass lids and you would ask for them by weight, whereupon the shopkeeper would weigh them and put them in a paper bag, same with sweets from big glass jars and even eggs would be in paper bags long before egg boxes/trays had been thought of.   When you went to the Bakers your bread was put into a paper bag and up to four cakes would be in bags but more than four and you would get a cardboard cake box.

 

None of this was every really an inconvenience and back then most of us travelled to town and back on a bus or even our bikes.   People in modern times quite frankly get it too easy and as a result have become lazy whingers !

[Denim]

3 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

We have them already, but for some reason the big plastic manufacturing companies do not want to make them, Maybe oil money talks louder.......

https://www.core77.com/posts/68988/This-Cassava-Based-Plastic-Bag-Alternative-is-Biodegradable-Even-Edible

 

Absolutely perfect solution. Need to get Greta Thunberg on it.

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by Denim

[HHTel]

6 hours ago, Sparkles said:

Well I guess the 7/11 stores near us are not part of the 137 stores who have got the message.

We have to tell them no plastic bag please even when we purchase just a single product

Well, less than a month to go until the majority of retailers stop giving out single use bags.  Let's see how the other 9,000 7/11 stores cope with it.

[Golden Triangle]

When everyone stops giving plastic bags you can use these, biodegradable from Big C, unfortunately the Mrs can't remember how much, but not a lot of money.

 

[HHTel]

10 hours ago, Estrada said:

"Sparkles Said "Home Pro no longer providing plastic bags". Please note that I was in HomePro wednesday and they offered me a plastic bag, which I refused because the product was already encapsulated in plastic. However, I will have to but the same amount of plastic bin bags in order that I can separate my waste into wet waste, recyclables, paper/cardboard and plastic wrappings for incineration. Most of my neighbours use shopping bags to separate their wet waste from their other waste. If there are no longer waterproof plastic bags for waste separation in the garbage and rubbish bins provided, there is going to be a nasty mess in the bins and it makes it harder for the recyclables and compostables to be separated at the waste transfer stations. 

HomePro in Hua Hin certainly don't supply plastic bags.

[FolkGuitar]

3 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

When everyone stops giving plastic bags you can use these, biodegradable from Big C, unfortunately the Mrs can't remember how much, but not a lot of money.

 

 

With all due respect, there is no such thing as biodegradable plastic.

There are plastic bags that fall apart into micro-plastic beads, so you no longer see the bags, but the plastic is still there.  They call them 'biodegradable' but they are really just  'bio-fall-apart-able.'  Unless the bags are made COMPLETELY of plant or animal fiber with no plastic added, they aren't going to biodegrade.

[FolkGuitar]

1 minute ago, HHTel said:

HomePro in Hua Hin certainly don't supply plastic bags.

 

Ask.  Most of the HomePros will sell you a regular plastic bag for 1 or 2 baht. But you have to ask to buy one.

[rech]

On 12/4/2019 at 5:28 PM, richard_smith237 said:

Agreed - Plastic Bags are extremely useful. 

 

The irony was not lost on me in the UK when in my 'bag for life' I was carrying 100 small plastic bin-bags to use for the rubbish bin in the kitchen. In Thailand I use the plastic bags as bin-bags... thus making these dual use, not single use plastics. 

 

More attention should be paid the the packaging of goods - its simply not necessary to have 'that amount' of plastic packaging on the majority of items. 

 

 

True ! and nowhere to buy bulk in Thailand, so we have to live with stupid useless packaging.

 

 

[HHTel]

2 hours ago, rech said:

True ! and nowhere to buy bulk in Thailand

Really??!!

[bbudd]

Tesko has multi-use bags for sale in most stores-some as cheap as Bt19

So there ready for stopping the plastic

Been using these bags for years,they fold up small enough to be easy to carry

Sure I reuse the plastic bags now as bin liners but is still ends up in landfill or burnt

Time for a change

[FolkGuitar]

8 hours ago, rech said:

 

True ! and nowhere to buy bulk in Thailand, so we have to live with stupid useless packaging.

 

I've been buying many items in bulk for years in Thailand, bringing my own nylon shopping bags.

There are local fresh markets close to every neighborhood in Thailand and they ALL sell in bulk. If you bring your own containers, they will even sell you prepared foods without resorting to plastic bags. Perhaps it's time to experience local culture and stop doing all your shopping at the supermarket.

[sirineou]

1 minute ago, FolkGuitar said:

 

I've been buying many items in bulk for years in Thailand, bringing my own nylon shopping bags.

There are local fresh markets close to every neighborhood in Thailand and they ALL sell in bulk. If you bring your own containers, they will even sell you prepared foods without resorting to plastic bags. Perhaps it's time to experience local culture and stop doing all your shopping at the supermarket.

We always like to go to the morning market, we keep very little in the refrigerator, Like you we bring our reusable plastic bags and a folding shopping cart. 

There is a great morning Market in Khon Kaen. everything fresh. 

The tupperware type containers for buying prepared food is a very good Idea that I confess I had not thought off.  Thank you for that suggestion I will start using it. 

[MyTHaiMyKe]

I see garbage all over the streets, more than now, with no bags to put the trash in! It will be blowing everywhere. What are the Thais going to put their food in from all the carts on the street? Brown paper bag or styrofoam? I think styrofoam is worse than plastic bags.

Edited December 7, 2019 by MyTHaiMyKe

[Chazar]

great theyll  burn much better

[Dante99]

12 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

 

I've been buying many items in bulk for years in Thailand, bringing my own nylon shopping bags.

There are local fresh markets close to every neighborhood in Thailand and they ALL sell in bulk. If you bring your own containers, they will even sell you prepared foods without resorting to plastic bags. Perhaps it's time to experience local culture and stop doing all your shopping at the supermarket.

Shopping at a local fresh market I would be compelled to buy at a very low price, have to talk with smiling laughing sales ladies, get to see, touch and smell before buying because it is not wrapped in plastic, get fresh fresh picked yesterday or this morning, enjoy free samples of many things, support small sellers, oh lord how could I endure all that.  Plus it is much closer to home so I would not get to enjoy frustrating myself about traffic and driving.

 

 

 

 

[Bill97]

23 minutes ago, MyTHaiMyKe said:

I see garbage all over the streets, more than now, with no bags to put the trash in! It will be blowing everywhere. 

At first I wondered then noticed your location is Mexico so what you report seeing is understandable.  
 

We do not have garbage all over the streets in Chiang Mai as all blessed with sight know.

[Tonyt00]

The plastic bag is not the problem, its the idiot that throws the bag on the street. Proper garbage disposal is the problem. Now the paper bags will soon be littering the streets.

[FolkGuitar]

10 hours ago, Tonyt00 said:

The plastic bag is not the problem, its the idiot that throws the bag on the street. Proper garbage disposal is the problem. Now the paper bags will soon be littering the streets.

 

Sorry, Tony, but the problem IS the plastic bag. There is no way to properly dispose of them. You can't burn them. That pollutes the atmosphere. You can't dump them at sea. That pollutes the oceans. There are already miles and miles of floating plastic debris 'islands' in EVERY ocean. Taking them to the dump doesn't work, not with 50 million of them being thrown away every day around the world. They don't break down in the dumps. They just build mountains of garbage that will remain in place until the next Ice Age buries them. At least a paper bag will bio-degrade in a matter of months, and if managed correctly, be reused to nourish the soil for crops. And speaking of crops, Pulp Tree cultivation is a renewable cash crop, and that's where 97% of the paper for bags comes from. And even THAT does double-duty as the trees help reduce the CO2 levels and increase the O2 levels in the atmosphere. It's a win-win no matter how you look at it... unless one wants to be selfish and whine about their wet garbage bags breaking. Use old newspapers like we did 60 years ago. That worked for us.  Oh... no newspapers? Subscribe and read them. It won't break your bank.

[sirineou]

11 hours ago, Dante99 said:

Shopping at a local fresh market I would be compelled to buy at a very low price, have to talk with smiling laughing sales ladies, get to see, touch and smell before buying because it is not wrapped in plastic, get fresh fresh picked yesterday or this morning, enjoy free samples of many things, support small sellers, oh lord how could I endure all that.  Plus it is much closer to home so I would not get to enjoy frustrating myself about traffic and driving.

 

 

 

 

I love going to the morning market , It's a great start of my day. Sad to say, sometimes the highlight. 

I agree with you. much more fun than going to the SuperMarket, and better for the community.

[rickudon]

Although in an ideal world it would be nice to ban plastic bags (i know some countries have, but usually those who have no way of disposing of them), not totally necessary. Just make people pay for them. 99% of people soon take there own bags.

 

I agree the big problem is the wrappers on everything and the disposable cups, straws and spoons. But there are answers. just need incentives to make it work. Have to remember one reason for the heavy packaging is vermin. Ants and other creatures get everywhere.

 

Personally, every time i say 'mai tung' in 7-11 or tesco express the staff smile and say 'good'.