"We need our plastic bags!": After a brief honeymoon Thais strike back at bag ban

 

Image: Thai Rath

 

Thai Rath went to a fresh food market in Prajuab Khiri Khan where they found traders and customers who hated the ban on plastic bags that came in on January 1st.

 

Going without plastic bags was "inconvenient" for all concerned and cloth bags were a waste of space with liquids and sticky stuff. 

 

And the ban only served to benefit big retailers and convenience store chains. 

 

With their packaged products they would grab the trade, it was intimated.

 

Thai Rath spoke to a coconut milk seller at her stall who moaned that banning plastic bags was terrible for her business. 

 

Sunisa Boriboonnukoonkit, 28, said the very nature of selling the different constituents of the milk meant the need for many plastic bags. She doubted any of her customers would be able to adapt by bringing their own receptacles. 

 

 

It was also decidedly tricky to package her other wares such as sugar, nuts and curry paste.

 

What was she expected to do - home delivery? She could see her business going down the pan.

 

 

Sophon Uaysin,50, also chimed in with his complaints. The pork ball seller said "No way Jose" to the ban. 

 

He has to buy 10 kilos of merchandise a day at the market and carry it 40 kilometers. What if the stuff seeped out and was damaged on the journey back?, he asked foreseeing losses.

 

He felt resigned to the fact that a hessian sack might be his only option. 

 

 

The media commented that for the traders and customers at a fresh food market the plastic bag ban was a non-starter.

 

And they said that the only people who would benefit would be big shops and retailers like convenience stores.

 

Thaivisa notes that most stories about the ban this week have been positive - but in some respects and in some locations Thais will take some time to adjust - or even attempt to adjust - to the changing landscape.

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-01-04

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As far as I know modern plastic bags are biodegradable. 

Obviously in Thailand, and not only in Thailand, people use too many plastic bags and often one plastic bag in another plastic bag.

How about reducing how many plastic bags are used?

Maybe charge 5 or 10B per bag. I am sure that will reduce the usage significantly but if necessary people can still get a bag when they need one. 

Perhaps markets can be exempt. 

Personally speaking they should ban generals before plastic bags at least they have a single use???? 

Ya gotta love this country. Even the market trader girls are cute. Give her a dress and some high heel shoes and she would look like Miss Universe...... Now, what was this thread about?

I don’t know what they’re made of, but in France( reste of EU) they have a bag for veg, meat, fish, that is not plastic and conform to the law. These are free. So why hasn’t Thailand got them ? 
Bad management. 

In india they use tiffin carrier boxes. Inconvenience or not, these idiots bleating should tell their customers to invest in a flask or tiffin carrier.

 

No sympathy at all from me

Of course another ill conceived Thai directive but with a good intent.  Hey how about mandating paper bags or telling retailers one plastic bag per customer and how about actually putting out some garbage bins so bags are not strewn across the land?  And how about using paper bags as a possible replacement?

 

It's easy for us to make comparisons with other countries that manage well without the use of plastic bags, for the average Thai, they can't make this comparison as all they have ever known is plastics! Going back to the seventies they were serving soft drinks in plastic bags, to suddenly expect them to embrace a world without plastic is a step too far for most without a lot more education - the present "government" isn't going to give them that is it!

Expect a lot more (justifiable?) complaints! 

Providing  a mandate without offering alternatives for its implementation is unwise to say the least, and is destined to fail.

If you want merchants not to use plastic bags, offer them a viable alternative.

1 hour ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Ya gotta love this country. Even the market trader girls are cute. Give her a dress and some high heel shoes and she would look like Miss Universe...... Now, what was this thread about?

I found one in the clothing market in Loei 40+ years ago.  She's a bit wrinkled now, but serviceable.

Again, this directive is another clumsy and ill thought out ‘crack-down’ by decision makers who have not intelligent evaluated the impact of such decisions other than a ‘media slack on the back’ and a 'feel good photo’.... 

 

If decision makers truly cared they could implement genuine effective change and not just an unintelligent knee-jerk reaction. 

1 hour ago, geisha said:

I don’t know what they’re made of, but in France( reste of EU) they have a bag for veg, meat, fish, that is not plastic and conform to the law. These are free. So why hasn’t Thailand got them ? 
Bad management. 

 

What's the GDP per capita in France vs Thailand?  Solutions that work quite well where people can afford them often fail miserably in countries where people can barely afford what's in the bags, much less more expensive bags.

 

Besides, the biggest problem isn't the bags themselves.   It's the lack of solid waste management to handle bags, bottles and all the other waste.

1 hour ago, madmen said:

Perhaps markets can be exempt. 

They are !! At the moment this is just a voluntary agreement by members of the Thai Retail traders association, nothing to do with market traders or street vendors. Even then wet foods are exempt.

I like the ban but I had one issue at Tesco which I can attribute to lack of forethought.  I filled up a basket, brought to the very small counter.  There was no room to place my own bag anywhere.  I had bag my items on the floor.

23 minutes ago, MikeN said:

They are !! At the moment this is just a voluntary agreement by members of the Thai Retail traders association, nothing to do with market traders or street vendors. Even then wet foods are exempt.

 

What you say seems to be the case....which kinda raises the question, why are all these Thai market traders wetting their panties on the subject?

 

Quote

 

The Cabinet in November last year gave the nod to the proposal of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's no-plastic campaign, which started on January 1.
 

Around 75 brands under the Thai Retailers Association have stopped providing plastic bags from January 1 in a bid to reduce the whopping 13.5 billion, or 30 per cent, of plastic bags used in Thailand annually.

 

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30380150

41 minutes ago, impulse said:

Besides, the biggest problem isn't the bags themselves.   It's the lack of solid waste management to handle bags, bottles and all the other waste.

Indeed, the bigger issue with plastic is what Thais do with it after use!

 

Education in proper disposal, and local authorities implementing measures to recycle should be as much a part of any attempt to reduce the use of plastic bags.

 

There also needs to be some element of common sense. Whilst getting the supermarkets and 7-Elevens to stop handing out endless numbers of bags is doable. Little bags for sauces and liquids at foodstalls, or bags for raw meat and fish, they are not easily replaced.

9 minutes ago, Stocky said:

Indeed, the bigger issue with plastic is what Thais do with it after use!

 

Education in proper disposal, and local authorities implementing measures to recycle should be as much a part of any attempt to reduce the use of plastic bags.

 

I'm currently staying on the beach in Galveston, Texas.  Texas.  Land of conspicuous consumption and all things disposable.  Yet I rarely see a bag or water bottle or beer can in miles and miles of walking and bicycling on the beach.  And on the rare occasions I see one, I generally pick it up and put it in a nearby bin.  Which I rarely saw on beaches in Thailand- bins.

 

So it's not how many bags.  It's what happens to them.

 

Edit:  And the huge fines they hand out in Texas for people (and passing ships) that do litter.

 

32 minutes ago, AAArdvark said:

I like the ban but I had one issue at Tesco which I can attribute to lack of forethought.  I filled up a basket, brought to the very small counter.  There was no room to place my own bag anywhere.  I had bag my items on the floor.

I have always just placed my bags on top of the shopping, the staff take it, put it where the plastic bags are/were, and fill it. None of them have ever realised that my bags (from an Aussie supermarket) can be hooked up like the plastic ones though, so i often have to hold them open.

i need the bags large enough to fit my trash cans, period.

all this does is i gotta ask the maids for even more extra

trash can bags then i already do.

 

however, i usually, especially at 7/11, get a bunch of

tiny bags that do not fit my trash can,

this is pure waste, i cant reuse them a 2nd time to carry out

the trash, instead i drop it inside a larger bag in the trash can,

as trash.

 

i wouldnt mind paying a bit extra at big c & 7/11 for large decomposable bags.

 

either way, i need large bags, a lot of them,

to carry out the trash, much more then i generate when i go to supermarkets

 

10 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

I found one in the clothing market in Loei 40+ years ago.  She's a bit wrinkled now, but serviceable.

Why would you keep a plastic bag for 40 plus years???? ????

58 minutes ago, Jessi said:

Why would you keep a plastic bag for 40 plus years???? ????

I'm still taller, but she is meaner and now outweighs me.  I keep a low profile and just pay the bills.  ????

 

On a good day, she is cute.  Don't let her fool you. 

 

 

13 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

As far as I know modern plastic bags are biodegradable. 

Obviously in Thailand, and not only in Thailand, people use too many plastic bags and often one plastic bag in another plastic bag.

How about reducing how many plastic bags are used?

Maybe charge 5 or 10B per bag. I am sure that will reduce the usage significantly but if necessary people can still get a bag when they need one. 

Its  not the amount or use its THAIS disposal of them .ie chuck em where you  like when you  like an <deleted> anyone or anything else that might suffer in other words they are selfish f**********s

1 hour ago, Jessi said:

Why would you keep a plastic bag for 40 plus years???? ????

hes  waiting for it to biodegrade

14 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Personally speaking they should ban generals before plastic bags at least they have a single use???? 

Thais cannot sustain change for more than a week. Doesnt matter what happens now.

We wait when even this rule will be postponed or eliminated ... soon ...

14 hours ago, geisha said:

I don’t know what they’re made of, but in France( reste of EU) they have a bag for veg, meat, fish, that is not plastic and conform to the law. These are free. So why hasn’t Thailand got them ? 
Bad management. 

And that is the point. Usually made originally from wood and that means cut the trees. Not a good solution. And we still have cans, cups etc thrown into the environment.

 

Teach people to live responsible. Put garbage in the bin and not into the nature or even burn it.

This is the very embodiment of pure, unadulterated sloth. The government finally does something to benefit the nation, and the lazy ninnies complain. Plastic is bad. Very, very bad. We just do not need as much of it as we consume. There are so many ways to cut back on consumption. 

 

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 toong. 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 compel her to. By now, she expects it, and sometimes even asks if I have any bags in the car, or on the motorbike, and sometimes takes the initiative. 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 BPA free plastic bottles, or double walled stainless steel 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 good 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. This is not about the money. 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. Those same restaurant owners will go on and on and on about how much they love their country, and how amazing a place this is. I agree. I really like Thailand. But, I will ask them, if this place is so great, is it not worth taking care of?

 

There really is no 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. Where do we start? Do we really care about the environment? 

How dumb are these people, barrier bags are not part of the ban <deleted>.

It's only been less than a week. "Stay the course, full steam ahead".

Implementation was poorly administered but the concept is right.

Everybody will find a "work-around" given a little time.

 

Next! Figure out how to reduce packaging on new products from China. Blister-packaging probably contributes more to waste than shopping bags do. China don't care about the waste, but somebody has to.