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

[mickey rat]

16 hours ago, rooster59 said:

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

True, the big chains sell everything prepackaged in disposable plastic containers. Ready to be thrown on the roadside directly after consumption. ????

[MasterBaker]

i saw how many items people buy in Tops now...obviously, retailers will make money on the bags they sell and those bags are as bad as plastic, but my guess sales will go down because of that and this idiocy will stop pretty soon.

[Chassa]

Usually shop at Makro, just push the cart to the car and unload!

[Nyezhov]

15 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

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

That is a beautiful post.

 

Thays why I read all of these whinging topics...to find the single post that makes my day brighter becasue of its simplistic and basic..... goodness!

[poohy]

1 hour ago, mickey rat said:

True, the big chains sell everything prepackaged in disposable plastic containers. Ready to be thrown on the roadside directly after consumption. ????

Thats where most of Prachuap plastic bags go i know i live just outside the town even the smallest roads are strewn with rubbish

They do have fads of trying to  keep the beach clean but that's about it

[Just Weird]

Plastic bags have not yet been banned!

[Jane Dough]

17 hours ago, z42 said:

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

Thais have them - referred to as "pinto" here. Maybe they will make a resurgence. 

 

Rooster

[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, rooster59 said:

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

I've packaged my nuts in cotton for decades without any hassle !

[kensisaket]

It's kind of funny that the land of ingenuity with the ability to copy pretty much anything in the world can't figure out what to do without plastic bags.  

[Paul Henry]

Poor excuse and self pity because they have to think and plan. Many COUNTRIES HAVE INTRODUCED THE BAN. Not too much drama reusable plastic bags are available at low cost.The USA have used strong paper bags for years. How did they manage before plastic? There will be many more bans to come so they had better get use to it and adjust their mind set. When we go to the market we have silver lined cooler bag and an ESKY (ice cooler box). We have found fresh meat,fish,vegetables and dairy type products travel better and stay cool on hot days.  

[Cake Monster]

As one of the biggest polluting Nations on the Planet, Thailand should start to take some responsibility for its previous actions.

This includes the usage of Plastic bags, so suck it up.

[allenberg]

19 hours ago, tlandtday said:

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?

 

Great ideas, but the real problem is disposal. The disposal is the only thing that needs fixing...

[RichardColeman]

They will re-introduce the bags when they see the explosion of trash left everywhere as they have nothing to cart home the dirty stuff in rather than dirty their cotton bag

[Khun Paul]

Charge all Customers 10 baht for each and every plastic bag used, they will soon change their attitude , the only way to effect change is to make it expensive from them NOT TO CHANGE THERIR IGNORANT ATTITUDE

[Letseng]

21 hours ago, sirineou said:

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.

They sold coconut milk before plastic bags were invented. What container did they use then? Customers brought their own container. What's wrong with bringing your own?

 

[brokenbone]

38 minutes ago, Letseng said:

They sold coconut milk before plastic bags were invented. What container did they use then? Customers brought their own container. What's wrong with bringing your own?

 

no, lets not look at pre-industrial solutions heere,

what is needed is fully de-composable bags,

able to hold hot soup for 24 hours,

sold or given at the counter

[hotchilli]

23 hours ago, rooster59 said:

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

The Thai mentality kicks in as usual... we want our plastic life style & we want to die on the roads every day!!

Evolution is not in the Thai language.

[Ventenio]

Most countries have powerful lobbyists and they fight this for 100-years, while saying they will save the environment and the plastic companies are following all the proper protocols.   The world would burn for 1000-years if it meant the richest 100 people on Earth made more money.  

[sirineou]

34 minutes ago, Letseng said:

They sold coconut milk before plastic bags were invented. What container did they use then? Customers brought their own container. What's wrong with bringing your own?

 

Don't get me wrong I am a strong proponent of the elimination of plastic bags, and because I am such I an also a believer for the existence of a pragmatic system. for their elimination.

Here in Khon Kaen , we go to the morning Market almost every day , Do you go to these markets? It is full of subsistence vendors, displaying and distributing their food products in clear plastic bags . You can't realistically expect them to to spend money they don't have and develop a different system. We buy dozens of different things, You can't expect as to bring  dozens of different containers.  In the villages there are hundreds of Mom and Pop stores selling convenience items and food. what are they going to do. Hope that people come with their own containers? 

It is not going to happen. If you think it is you are not familiar with life in rural Thailand.

In the US there are those paper foldable containers used at Chinese restaurants.  

perhaps id the government made those or something similar available t a subsidised cost, once vendors got familiar with them and comfortable using them, a demand would be created , a market for them would develop . and there there would be people filling the demand and selling them . The price of the food might go up by a couple of baht to cover the extra cost to the vendor, But the problem would be solved. 

If not this the some other better more viable system .

 But the government can't come up with these good ideas without providing some sort of system and assistanse  of how to get there.

 

 

[impulse]

10 hours ago, Chassa said:

Usually shop at Makro, just push the cart to the car and unload!

 

You have noticed that the vast majority of vehicles on Thai road have 2 wheels and no trunk?  And that most Thais shop for today's meals at small markets as opposed to a weekly excursion to a Makro?

 

Solutions that work for the minority of the people fail miserably for the rest.

 

I'd also point out that banning plastic bags does nothing for Thailand's (and all of SEA's)  bigger problem, which is solid waste management.  Usually, after a trip to the grocery store, I used half of the "single use" plastic bags just to bin all the hard plastic blisters, plastic jars, and other wrappings.  Not to mention throwing away more plastic when the buckets, brushes, lawn chairs and other implements failed because they were so cheaply made.  That waste far outweighed the few grams of plastic bags I binned each week. 

 

So even if they banned plastic bags, the plastic problem remains.

 

[balo]

On 1/4/2020 at 3:27 PM, CGW said:

for the average Thai, they can't make this comparison as all they have ever known is plastics!

So what did they do in the 1930's, before the invention of plastic ?  I am sure they still got their daily bowl of rice and noodles.  

This picture from Bangkok before WW2. 
 

 

[BobBKK]

Typical Thainess me,me,me

[BobBKK]

On 1/4/2020 at 8:23 PM, 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. 

biodegradable lor  LOL

DYOR

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/10/stark-truth-long-plastic-footprint-will-last-planet/

[Scott Tracy]

The big stores and franchises have 'banned' single use plastic bags at The checkout.

The guy that gets his pork from the market is unaffected, as are we who buy wet fish or meat from the big stores, Even the big stores realise they have to continue to put such items in a plastic bag.

For goodness sake. A little common sense in reporting, rather than asking idiots.

[Damrongsak]

The excessive plastic stuff has to stop, unless they have a way to recycle it properly.  I lived in Thailand in the era when there wasn't much plastic.  Glass bottles, banana leaf wraps, little paper sacks hand-made from old newspapers, etc. 

 

Thai "YAM" shoulder bags were common.  Kids carried their books to school in them. This sort of thing:

 

[CGW]

4 hours ago, balo said:

So what did they do in the 1930's, before the invention of plastic ?  I am sure they still got their daily bowl of rice and noodles.  

Average age of Thai person is now 40.1 years, I am sure back in the thirties they did indeed get their bowl of rice with little variation as plastic packaging wasn't used, neither was mass transportation?

[MikeN]

20 hours ago, sirineou said:

Don't get me wrong I am a strong proponent of the elimination of plastic bags, and because I am such I an also a believer for the existence of a pragmatic system. for their elimination.

Here in Khon Kaen , we go to the morning Market almost every day , Do you go to these markets? It is full of subsistence vendors, displaying and distributing their food products in clear plastic bags . You can't realistically expect them to to spend money they don't have and develop a different system.

 

 

Ho-hum, here we go again, more disinformation......once again, this ban does NOT apply to your morning market. It does NOT apply to street vendors. It does NOT apply to wet foods. It does NOT apply to fresh meat.

It DOES apply to members of the Thai retailers Association, ie CP, Central Group,Tesco, Big C, The Mall group, etc etc. for other goods.

[saengd]

I foresee a big uptick in the theft of supermarket baskets and trolleys, I'm seeing trolleys all over the place now. I guess something's going to have to change before long.

[balo]

15 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

I lived in Thailand in the era when there wasn't much plastic.  Glass bottles, banana leaf wraps, little paper sacks hand-made from old newspapers, etc. 

 

Thai "YAM" shoulder bags were common.  Kids carried their books to school in them. This sort of thing:

Yes, good examples and this was probably back in the 1960's and 70's. Plenty of alternatives to plastic.  

[sikishrory]

On 1/4/2020 at 8:23 PM, 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. 

That (biodegradable) is misleading. They still take years to break down and require special conditions that are not really normal environmental conditions. High temperature is one.