Failed "No plastic bag" policy

[Trujillo]

BigC and Rimping, at least, have instituted a total ban on giving out plastic bags with purchases. 
This is a mistake in that they have left out the option to purchase a plastic bag. 

 

I was in Taiwan years ago when the government instituted a similar program. It was successful; however, this was in tandem with the ability to purchase a plastic bag if you wanted one for (the equivalent of) one baht; three baht for a bigger, stouter bag. 

 

In spite of how militant you might be regarding plastic bags, there are people who are willing to pay extra for bags and in the end, people eventually move toward bringing their own bags or doing without. 

 

I do not enjoy the freedom from choice. Taiwan, as the real model here, saved tons of plastic bag waste while at the same time giving customers options. 

 

Options are good. 

[nausea]

Didn't notice much difference at the 7-11 today. I did notice one guy with a plastic bag in hand, a girl actually. Didn't pay much attention. I'll look closer tomorrow. I have cloth bags and the locals have gotten used to my vagaries, crazy farang.

[4MyEgo]

Cloth bags are the best, plastic bags are and will be seen like cigarettes were when they first came out, great, until all the damage was done.

[Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai]

Been doing that in South Australia for 10years. Forget your cloth bag buy degadable bags for 10cents each. I wouldn't pay 10cents when easy take your own.

Helpful in emergency.

Bottles and cans 10cents deposit and refundable, they hardly hit the ground before someone picks up.

 

[meand]

15 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Cloth bags are the best, plastic bags are and will be seen like cigarettes were when they first came out, great, until all the damage was done.

It is not that simple unfortunately, when you take everything into account. The irony here is the traditional plastic bags everyone is trying to get rid of are actually quite effective due to how thin they are. A cotton bag has to be used over 7,000 times to be as environmentally friendly as a single use plastic bag. I doubt most of us would get to 7k. Hard to argue reusing things is bad but i think the answers are more complex than we think. 

 

https://qz.com/1585027/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-cotton-totes-might-be-worse-than-plastic/

Edited January 4, 2020 by meand

[Samuel Smith]

Thai netizens will soon be throwing a hissy fit, & normal business will be resumed ????

[scubascuba3]

Big C Extra haven't got enough bag options, i looked earlier right the way along the tills and hardly any choice, typical really. I ended up just carrying the one thing i bought

[ukrules]

I did some shopping in Hua Hin today.

 

Not only were there no free plastic bags available but they also had nothing else to sell me - no fabric bags, nothing at all.

 

I told them to go and get me some bags or I'm leaving without the shopping.

 

Miraculously and seemingly out of nowhere a supervisor managed to produce some plastic bags.

 

They 100% need to make sure there are bags available to buy at the checkouts, not having even the more expensive fabric bags available is a major mistake on the part of the major national supermarket chain which will remain nameless

 

[ben2talk]

6 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Cloth bags are the best, plastic bags are and will be seen like cigarettes were when they first came out, great, until all the damage was done.

Cloth bags (mostly cotton) are not the best - for the environment I think the best re-usable bags are the lightweight recycled woven plastic style bags which are not only far cheaper, longer lasting, and much more environmentally friendly to produce.

 

The problem is that most 'single use' plastic is under-used before going in the rubbish. I actually re-used the 'single use' carrier bags quite a lot, but I never re-used the plastic egg cartons, and most of my trash is simply food packing.

 

Plastic is great if you don't throw it away every time you use it.

[sfokevin]

No bag... No problem...

 

[alacrity]

9 minutes ago, ben2talk said:

Plastic is great if you don't throw it away every time you use it.

Plastic is a compulsory purchase for almost all foods and other items in a retail store which goes straight in the bin. Yet we now can't have the convenience of a plastic bag to carry our purchases. Plastic from manufacturers packaging makes up more than 97% of the plastic in our recycle bin

 

Before the stricture we used the bags given as bin liners for refuse. Now we have to buy refuse bags which are actually a higher gauged plastic. A scenario by which retailers save money and then gain further profit.

 

Can't help thinking the whole thing is derived from a Saul Alinsky playbook.

 

Pollution from plastics is an environmental disaster and all that happens is a repainting of the deck chairs before re-arranging their position on the decks of the Titanic on that fateful night. 

 

[Mapguy]

Buying bags would reduce usage, certainly, but the world managed to get along for eons without single-use plastic bags, a very recent technological development.

 

There are reusable, compostable, recyclable paper bags. Not good for all purposes, but usable for many.  For some information try: www.sfiprogram.org.  Seems I saw a 7/Eleven model somewhere.

 

While there was some warning of the change --- which is environmentally sound (and why not plastic straws and cups, etc, as well?) --- there doesn't seem to have been much government action to stimulate timely development and marketing of alternatives.

 

By the way, paper bags are made of soft wood which is not a problem environmentally.  It is HARD woods, which take much longer to mature, that are really scarce. Last I checked, more softwood was being planted than actually needed (in a worldwide sense; local shortages obviously still a problem in some areas).

 

Strong paper bags are excellent for many, many uses albeit not for coconut milk, but cups developed from wood pulp would be.  Also, waxed-coated paper can be used for many thing, such as wrapping fish or meats.

 

Another common and egregious use of plastic is in milk and other drink containers in which there have been perfectly satisfactory alternatives previously made out of, for example, waxed paper cartons, or glass.

 

The government has clearly done a poor job working with manufacturers and food and drink producers first.

[CGW]

3 minutes ago, Mapguy said:

The world managed to get along for eons without single-use plastic bags, a very recent technological development.

Problem is the majority here were not alive then! its fine for us to say it can be done, for them - not so easy!

[jonwilly]

The liners for my small rubbish bin. Fill up and place in the big black bin liners, 2 uses one holding items purchased the second shifting waste from room to big black bin liner.

 

john

[White Christmas13]

4 hours ago, ben2talk said:

Cloth bags (mostly cotton) are not the best - for the environment I think the best re-usable bags are the lightweight recycled woven plastic style bags which are not only far cheaper, longer lasting, and much more environmentally friendly to produce.

 

The problem is that most 'single use' plastic is under-used before going in the rubbish. I actually re-used the 'single use' carrier bags quite a lot, but I never re-used the plastic egg cartons, and most of my trash is simply food packing.

 

Plastic is great if you don't throw it away every time you use it.

What a heap of nonsense I bought cloth bags about 5 years ago before plastic got banned,

I still use them today.

[EL159]

11 hours ago, ukrules said:

I did some shopping in Hua Hin today.

 

Not only were there no free plastic bags available but they also had nothing else to sell me - no fabric bags, nothing at all.

 

I told them to go and get me some bags or I'm leaving without the shopping.

 

Miraculously and seemingly out of nowhere a supervisor managed to produce some plastic bags.

 

They 100% need to make sure there are bags available to buy at the checkouts, not having even the more expensive fabric bags available is a major mistake on the part of the major national supermarket chain which will remain nameless

 

"UKRules". "I told them to go and get me some bags". And in that small statement we see why some people get the rest of us a bad reputation.

[alacrity]

12 hours ago, EL159 said:

"UKRules". "I told them to go and get me some bags". And in that small statement we see why some people get the rest of us a bad reputation.

Maybe they should've worn the all inclusive cargo shorts with their expansive pockets and a strong belt to hold them up when loaded.

 

Saw an entrepreneurial  young fellow outside one of the local 7/11's earlier today. Selling plastic bags purchased from Makro. One bag 1 Baht, 3 bags 2 Baht. Hardly high end products, but was getting an ROI over 250%.

 

Perhaps this will become more commonplace. Especially if these incidences get posted on social media. Thais aren't the self apologetic drones you encounter in the 1st world nowadays.

[Trujillo]

7-Eleven did not even have a bag to sell me. 

 

This will only alienate customers. 

[FolkGuitar]

Once every 6-8 weeks I do a 'big shop' at Tops or Rimping. Large or heavy items that I wouldn't want to transport on my motorbike, so I use the 'Home Delivery' option these places offer. Yesterday I did an especially large and heavy shop, filling almost two shopping trolleys; kitchen towels, toilet paper, several boxes of tissues, a couple of bags of cat sand, plus laundry products, cleaning supplies, etc., and foods.

 

When the cashier asked me for my shopping bags, I said I'll be happy to buy the ones you sell. I normally do have my own nylon bags that I've been using all along, but they don't fit the things I was buying... and neither did the ones that they were selling.

 

... but I told the cashier that as I wanted 'Home Delivery,'  it was OK to put the items in boxes... but there weren't ANY boxes at the counter area. She had to go into the back room to get some. Obviously they hadn't planned for Home Delivery even though it's an option that gets used every day.

[muffy]

I don't care about the environment????

[ramrod711]

On 1/7/2020 at 11:21 PM, Trujillo said:

7-Eleven did not even have a bag to sell me. 

 

This will only alienate customers. 

Good,I'm tired of having all those customers in front of me when I go in once a month to pay my electric bill anyway.????

[scubascuba3]

My local 7 Eleven doesn't seem to have the secret supply of bags under the counter now, i asked, they said no. Maybe were told not to or they showed leniency..for a few days

Edited January 9, 2020 by scubascuba3

[dcnx]

There are still a few 7-11s who have not changed over yet. That’s where I’m going for now.

[ukrules]

On 1/8/2020 at 8:37 AM, Victornoir said:

Take advantage, it will not last.

All over the world there are people who refuse to change their habits for the common good. There are therefore small temporary arrangements to avoid conflicts.

But sooner or later you will have to forget the non-reusable plastic bags.
Later, this will concern other disposable products such as straws, goblets, bottles etc ... You will also have to accept it after protesting for a while.

The population of the planet doubles every 50 years. This requires a minimum of common sense to adapt.

I don't mind buying a reusable bag, the problem I had was that there were none of the usual type of reusable bag available at the checkout or anywhere else in the store - nothing at all.

 

They have since started selling a 160 Baht cotton bag at the checkouts in Gourmet Market.

 

Yesterday I spent about 3000 Baht shopping at Villa where they have plenty of cheap reusable bags stacked at the end of each checkout for 5 Baht each - that's a reasonable approach.

 

I will be doing nearly all of my shopping at Villa from now on. It doesn't really matter to me which one I go to.

 

I only spend about 4000-6000 per week while shopping so I'm sure Gourmet Market won't miss me too much as a lowly customer with no say in how things work there.

 

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by ukrules

[Deli]

Shopped at a shop belonging to central, purchase was about 4 k, car far away.

They didn't want to give my any bag or box. When I said I cancel the purchase, a big bag was available.

Sometimes need to push a bit harder to get what you want.

[Wiggy]

I have a reusable bag, but my wife doesn't like me referring to her like that.

[jesimps]

I'm not against issuing plastic bags per se, something has to be done about the garbage problem here. They should however have bags for sale at every checkout for people such as me who have a faulty "Save" button on their brain. There's more chance of me winning the jackpot on the lottery than remembering to take along shopping bags.

[Chassa]

On 1/4/2020 at 9:57 PM, CGW said:

The world managed to get along for eons without........................?

Lots of things!

[inThailand]

About 90% of the products in 7 are in plastic. All of which is a one time use. I like many re-use the plastic bags. This ban on bags is nothing more than big corporations lining their pockets at the customers expense and inconvenience.

Bring back the bags.

[Dazinoz]

On 1/4/2020 at 5:50 PM, scubascuba3 said:

Big C Extra haven't got enough bag options, i looked earlier right the way along the tills and hardly any choice, typical really. I ended up just carrying the one thing i bought

Went grocery shopping at Big C yesterday, first time since bag ban. Luckily I remembered and took cloth bags but did see a few people trying to juggle arms full of stuff. I would have taken the trolley to the car park.