Pattaya unprepared for plastic-bag ban

[Johnboxer]

On 12/26/2019 at 11:24 AM, jacko45k said:

I'm ready, got a few cloth bags, just have to get the brain used to taking them with me to the shops. I am a bit concerned for the locals, who may die of starvation without plastic bags. 

Yes how will street vendors cope, may have to take your own plastic containers with you at all times????

[Don Mega]

3 minutes ago, Johnboxer said:

Yes how will street vendors cope, may have to take your own plastic containers with you at all times????

They will just scoop the rice and fish head soup straight into your hands.

 

Or maybe they will accept the change and adapt, in saying that if read the article it is about retailer providing single use bags... nothing to do with a food vendor putting their slop in a small plastic baggie.

Edited December 27, 2019 by Don Mega

[BobBKK]

Rimping are pathetic. No bags ONE day a week but who cares 6 days.

[LetsCleanUpTHAILAND]

On 12/26/2019 at 11:24 AM, jacko45k said:

I'm ready, got a few cloth bags, just have to get the brain used to taking them with me to the shops. I am a bit concerned for the locals, who may die of starvation without plastic bags. 

True! Luckily, Decathalon sells ULTRA-COMPACT WATERPROOF 20-LITRE BACKPACK which collapese into a baseball-sized pouch that can be stored away under a motorbike seat, backpack or attached to a keychain. Cost: 300THB. There is a 10 Liter version for 90THB. The good news is that we will see a rise in reusable bag shops on LINE and Facebook from locals. 

[Naamblar2014]

8 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

Yeah shame on him for taking a holiday with his family, Such a terrible human being.

Yeah such a selfless leader.  Wait, a good leaders qualities include accountability, empathy and humility. Choosing to take his holiday when people are loosing their homes,  wildlife is being killed and volunteer firefighters are dying sounds like a poor decision at best.

[LetsCleanUpTHAILAND]

5 minutes ago, Johnboxer said:

Yes how will street vendors cope, may have to take your own plastic containers with you at all times????

unfortunately, street vendors are exempt from this ban. It's only a ban on major retailers. Thais will still have their PP plastic shops selling bags to street vendors ????

[Don Mega]

1 minute ago, Naamblar2014 said:

Yeah such a selfless leader.  Wait, a good leaders qualities include accountability, empathy and humility. Choosing to take his holiday when people are loosing their homes,  wildlife is being killed and volunteer firefighters are dying sounds like a poor decision at best.

Hahahaha, I love the outrage, you must be Australian !!

[Millcx]

23 hours ago, baansgr said:

Both Tesco and 7/11 have had cloth bags for sale on their counters for past few weeks, only 15 baht also, at least they are doing their bit, if somchai hasn't taken notice he will have to fork out for one soon

Someone should tell Tesco to show them at the checkouts then coz you go with no bag in Samui then there is nothing ... Total joke

[Benmart]

22 hours ago, Don Mega said:

Hahahahahaha, yep when they did the bag ban in Aus last year there was massive public butthurt and outrage too !!

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.  LOL.

[bellhui1b]

here's an idea how about using paper bags instead of plastic !  

Edited December 27, 2019 by bellhui1b

[CygnusX1]

2 hours ago, USMC RETIRED 2015 said:

Plastic bags are still available to buy...you can buy like a thousand bags for 100 baht

I like that. Whenever I’m at a supermarket and have forgotten to take bags with me, I’ll just buy a packet of a thousand, should have accumulated around 20,000 bags by year’s end.

[CygnusX1]

1 hour ago, Jane Dough said:

I shall just send Jeeves round to the shops in the Bentley.

That does seem to be the attitude of several posters here, who assume that everyone has a car.

Like my sister back home, who’s proud of her car boot crammed full of cloth bags, but who would never dream of walking 500 yards to the supermarket.

[emptypockets]

1 hour ago, Naamblar2014 said:

Yeah such a selfless leader.  Wait, a good leaders qualities include accountability, empathy and humility. Choosing to take his holiday when people are loosing their homes,  wildlife is being killed and volunteer firefighters are dying sounds like a poor decision at best.

very off topic but it is interesting to note that the firies are a state responsibility. Where was Gladys whatsherface? You know - that state premier - on holidays!!

[bluesofa]

2 hours ago, Pdavies99 said:

22 hours ago, bluesofa said:

That's interesting. Big C in Udon Thani haven't been giving out plastic bags at the cashier for over a month now.

Afer scanning, all the goods go back into shopping trolley unbagged, then I push the trolley to the car park and put everything loose in the car boot.

 

We have some large plastic storage boxes about 2 feet square (and the same deep). I suppose it would be a good idea to put one in the boot, just to keep the shopping together.

 

Well they were giving them out as usual 27th December!

Well that's weird!

I go in every two weeks. I didn't ask, the cashiers told me up front they don't have any plastic bags now and I needed to put my shopping back in the trolley loose. Both times I said good, and it was the right thing too do.

[billd766]

4 hours ago, MaxLee said:

The 7-11 clerk still grab for the plastic bags and plastic forks and spoons, even if you put your bag right in front of them, tells you a lot, and next day and next day and the following day, they make the same mistake again.

Not in the nearest one to me nearly 6 km away. They are used to me now.

[UTH001]

1 hour ago, HHTel said:

Many African countries for more than a year.  Rwanda, for example, banned them in 2008.

Of the 127 countries worldwide that have restrictions/bans on single use plastic, 34 of them are in Africa.

South Africa has 'banned' them too, they are still available, just not for free. The amazing thing though? MORE plastic bags than ever are being used, go figure...

[billd766]

3 hours ago, robblok said:

Not when walking, but a bag in my motorcycle and one in the car is enough. 

 

You don't seem to get that the optional approach did not work. Most people will not carry a bag unless they have too. So its an all or nothing kind of thing.

 

I get what your saying but something needs to be done. 

Some of us have been doing it here in Thailand for years.

[Jane Dough]

44 minutes ago, CygnusX1 said:

That does seem to be the attitude of several posters here, who assume that everyone has a car.

Like my sister back home, who’s proud of her car boot crammed full of cloth bags, but who would never dream of walking 500 yards to the supermarket.

Indeed. Not to mention all those products packed in plastic.....in the cloth bags. 

 

I'll buy potatoes, onions, tomatoes etc on a trip to Big C...but they will all be in plastic to be weighed. The mink in a plastic bottle. The kids may have cardboard cartons of milk...with a plastic straw attached to each. I want to do my bit, but I feel like the plastic bags themselves it is 'a drop in the ocean'. 

 

Rooster

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Oxx said:

I predict that incidents of food poisoning will increase.

 

Cloth bags are absorbent, so any juices will be absorbed and go bad.

 

And with reusable plastic bags, people are going to take far fewer than the half dozen or so bags that used to be given for free with the goods well segregated.  Now raw meat will be put next to cooked food.

 

Result:  copious vomiting and diarrhea all around.

 

I just wonder whether the politicians behind this ludicrous scheme have shares in hospitals.

One of the great things about cloth bags is that you can actually wash then if they get wet or dirty. Then you hang them outside to dry. Easy peasy.

[bluesofa]

10 minutes ago, Jane Dough said:

Indeed. Not to mention all those products packed in plastic.....in the cloth bags. 

 

I'll buy potatoes, onions, tomatoes etc on a trip to Big C...but they will all be in plastic to be weighed. The mink in a plastic bottle. The kids may have cardboard cartons of milk...with a plastic straw attached to each. I want to do my bit, but I feel like the plastic bags themselves it is 'a drop in the ocean'. 

 

Rooster

I agree entirely with that, but at least what's happening right now is a start. I would have thought there has been reluctance from the petro-chemical groups to this, not to mention the plastic bag manufacturers.

 

Hopefully in time retailers and their suppliers will hopefully be pressurised to find a better method.

Then there might be a smaller 'drop in the ocean' coming from Thailand.

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by bluesofa
grammar

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, LetsCleanUpTHAILAND said:

True! Luckily, Decathalon sells ULTRA-COMPACT WATERPROOF 20-LITRE BACKPACK which collapese into a baseball-sized pouch that can be stored away under a motorbike seat, backpack or attached to a keychain. Cost: 300THB. There is a 10 Liter version for 90THB. The good news is that we will see a rise in reusable bag shops on LINE and Facebook from locals. 

I seem to remember Decathlon started this malarkey some time ago, I recall them charging for bags, a paltry amount like 1 baht, about a year ago, then next visit no bags. Now I have to buy a 300 baht backpack! I will take a look at these backpacks.... I will need one, as I will have no room left under the seat.....????

[whaleboneman]

5 hours ago, MaxLee said:

The 7-11 clerk still grab for the plastic bags and plastic forks and spoons, even if you put your bag right in front of them, tells you a lot, and next day and next day and the following day, they make the same mistake again.

The average 7/11 clerk deals with so many customers each day and they have become machine like in their movements. You are probably one in ten thousand not wanting plastic and just have to make it clear.

The clerks will still be grabbing for bags long after they’re gone. There is a learning curve for all of us and it’s probably best if we try and help each other learn.

[Oxx]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

One of the great things about cloth bags is that you can actually wash then if they get wet or dirty. Then you hang them outside to dry. Easy peasy.

And how much harm does the water and detergent do to the environment?

[VBF]

24 minutes ago, Oxx said:

And how much harm does the water and detergent do to the environment?

Good point, but you can include the cloth bags in with your other "heavy" laundry, towels, etc so net effect minimal.

[HHTel]

Why are people bringing up other pollution issues.  This is about one issue, single use plastic.  Of course there are many other issues but 'one at a time'.

[DJ54]

Maybe its the fear of not being able to see what bought.......

I laugh when they look thinking it’s not for you why bother looking..

 

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Oxx said:

And how much harm does the water and detergent do to the environment?

So you never shower or wash your clothes, in case you harm the environment?

 

I am glad that I don't live near you.

[jastheace]

10 hours ago, Oxx said:

Why don't they ban plastic chairs, plastic bottles, plastic storage boxes too? Replace them with wood, and it'll feel like we've gone back to mediaeval times.

ban all plastic and wait for honda to produce these. end of life use to make charcoal.

way to go?

[cardinalblue]

Only thing I put in my boot is my foot...

 

discovered Decathalon - majority of customers are non Thais....

Edited December 27, 2019 by cardinalblue

[30la]

We must not speak only of Pattaya, all of Thailand is not ready for this step and never will be!