Plastic bag ban: Forgetful Thais taking supermarket baskets home! Social media meltdown!

[tyga]

My position is you wouldn't walk into a supermarket without your wallet now would you? And if you were dumb enough to forget it, you don't really have a right to steal or complain to the checkout do you?. Now you just have to remember two things, wallet+ bags. How hard is that to understand and remember!

[tyga]

Once upon a time, in small communities, no doubt, people would barter fish for bread etc. Some might even get credit from another person and pay them with goods later for something that they received earlier but it relied on trust and memory who owed what etc. Then one day, they invented money and you just had to remember to bring your money when you went shopping. Wonder how much cursing was done then by the ancestors of this thread who just can't understand how the modern world should work? Now we have moved another step forward (after taking a step back with the ludicrously short term attitude of the throw away society) Take a bag with you when you go shopping. It ain't difficult!

 

[fforest1]

42 minutes ago, robblok said:

Right says the guy with the tinfoil hat thinking its all a big scam to have retailers make more money. 

 

Those plastic bags were not breaking the bank one bit, this came purely from environmental rules same as in the more civilized western countries like my own. Then you got crackpots like you who refuse to bring a bag. Its so easy i got multiple nylon bags smaller as the palm of my fist so easy put one in a car one in my bike and one in my jeans and done. 

 

Its not that had and no need to resist just to plan ahead and think a bit. 

 

Sure more can be done but its a nice first step. 

 

 

 

Darth Vader says taking your own bag is giving in to the dark side....

 

[johng]

28 minutes ago, tyga said:

Now you just have to remember two things, wallet+ bags. How hard is that to understand and remember!

Testicles,spectacles,wallet and watch..ohh hold on that's for somewhere else ????

Edited January 15, 2020 by johng

[new2here]

4 hours ago, darksidedog said:

While I applaud the initiative to reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic bags being used, this does kind of suggest that the replacement options should have received significantly more consideration before the ban was implemented in such a rush.

I agree 100%..... I think that there should have been better, more comprehensive pre-planning such as issuing all customers one or two of the reusable bags (either for free in lieu of the businesses saved cost of plastic bags, or “at cost” perhaps)... that way, when they did cut over on Jan 1, I think perhaps it would have been less of a shock.

 

True, no amount of preplanning will avoid X percentage of people still being unprepared on Jan 1.... but perhaps I think there’s be less push-back 

what I wonder is why I don’t see more paper bags (with attached handles) as options?  Yes, they cost more on the initial acquisition side, but are (in most cases) fully recyclable with traditional paper products like newsprint.... so I’d guess the recovery rate would be quite high.

 

im not talking about virgin pulp whereby a tree has to be toppled to creat it, rather a 100% post-consumer product style bag 

 

 

 

[david555]

The supermarkets can easily track back those who took their basket if the cashier is witty enough which person is just passed the cashier area leaving with one , by the Clubcard  (Tesco example ) as address is on the history 

So all those "resistance shoppers" be warned ...Behave ..!

[essox essox]

4 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

So far I remember I read about the ban months before it started at January 1st. 

Me too

[samsensam]

2 minutes ago, new2here said:

I agree 100%..... I think that there should have been better, more comprehensive pre-planning such as issuing all customers one or two of the reusable bags (either for free in lieu of the businesses saved cost of plastic bags, or “at cost” perhaps)... that way, when they did cut over on Jan 1, I think perhaps it would have been less of a shock.

 

True, no amount of preplanning will avoid X percentage of people still being unprepared on Jan 1.... but perhaps I think there’s be less push-back 

what I wonder is why I don’t see more paper bags (with attached handles) as options?  Yes, they cost more on the initial acquisition side, but are (in most cases) fully recyclable with traditional paper products like newsprint.... so I’d guess the recovery rate would be quite high.

 

im not talking about virgin pulp whereby a tree has to be toppled to creat it, rather a 100% post-consumer product style bag 

 

 

 

 

I agree 100%..... I think that there should have been better, more comprehensive pre-planning such as issuing all customers one or two of the reusable bags

 

i knew the ban was coming, it was fairly common knowledge. it was not hard to pre-empt the ban and start collecting plastic bags in the run up to the ban. i see plenty of shops and vendors selling re-useable plastic and cotton bags. with a little fore-thought and planning i have, going by some of responses here seemingly amazingly, managed to continue my life completely unaffected by the plastic bag ban.

[Jane Dough]

4 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

They are simply recycling them to save the environment...............

That is very irresponsible of you giving me ideas like that.

 

Thx ????

 

Rooster

[RichardColeman]

I put the half the blame here on the actual people working at the shop.

A. The security letting a customer walk out with what appears to be a full basket of shopping. and B. Re-packaging the shopping after paying for it into the same shopping basket for the customer

[Cake Monster]

6 hours ago, zydeco said:

Store owners thought they were going to scam their customers. They thought they would make a windfall not giving out plastic bags while turning around and charging money for same. Instead, they're getting a big hit to their bottom line. Good. Getting what they deserved.

You really think they will take a hit 

Prepare for the price rises.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

The thing is the supermarkets have prepared badly for this, yesterday in FamilyMart no bags at all, can't buy any

And you prepared by doing what?

nothing!

[scubascuba3]

29 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

And you prepared by doing what?

nothing!

Aha you took the bait. I had a bag on me but i wanted one of their 3 baht material bags

[Thian]

In our moobaan we had collection points for refuse, one for glass, one for cans, one for paper....but they just filled them up with anything, so now they are all gone....

 

That's how recycling goes in Thailand, and i smell burned plastic from outside the moobaan every evening.

[KhunFred]

I noticed that FoodMart was still using plastic bags. What is the story here??  Are they exempt from the new rules??

[impulse]

5 hours ago, tyga said:

My position is you wouldn't walk into a supermarket without your wallet now would you? And if you were dumb enough to forget it, you don't really have a right to steal or complain to the checkout do you?. Now you just have to remember two things, wallet+ bags. How hard is that to understand and remember!

 

My wallet stays in my pocket all day, every day.  I never have to consider how many wallets I'm going to carry around.  It's one.  I never have to think about whether to put my wallet in my pocket in the morning.  I do.  I never have to wonder if the chicken I bought last week has leaked into my wallet and started stinking.  It hasn't.  If I'm on my way home from a day of fun and decide I need to stop at the store, I know my wallet is in my pocket.  My stinking reusable bags?  Probably not.

 

If I lived a linear life and always go from home to the store and back, sure.  Carrying stinky reusable bags around with me is fine.  But most of us don't live like that, or want stinky bags in our pockets while we're on the MRT.  That's just rude to the others around us.  Especially since those stinky reusable bags have a greater effect on the environment than the disposables (look it up), and the real root of the problem is the lack of a solid waste disposal system, not the bags. 

 

Know how I know that?  I'm currently living in Texas, the Land of Conspicuous Consumption.  I get more plastic bags in a week here than I'd get in a month in BKK.  Yet I rarely ever see a plastic bag on the beach or the side of the road here.  So the number of bags isn't the issue.  It's what happens to them after we bin them.  Banning the bags is just a band-aid, and a short sighted one.  Feels good, but that's not going to save Thailand from being buried under mountains of trash.  Hell, I used half my BigC plastic bags just to bin the other plastic packaging material my stuff came in.

 

So pass all the judgement you want on us disposable bag fans.  I loved the fact that I never had to buy a plastic garbage bag in BKK.  Or carry a stinky reusable bag.  (Or, to head off the next guy who's going to bash me- laundering reusable bags)

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by impulse

[richard_smith237]

22 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

My wallet stays in my pocket all day, every day.  I never have to consider how many wallets I'm going to carry around.  It's one.  I never have to think about whether to put my wallet in my pocket in the morning.  I do.  I never have to wonder if the chicken I bought last week has leaked into my wallet and started stinking.  It hasn't.  If I'm on my way home from a day of fun and decide I need to stop at the store, I know my wallet is in my pocket.  My stinking reusable bags?  Probably not.

 

If I lived a linear life and always go from home to the store and back, sure.  Carrying stinky reusable bags around with me is fine.  But most of us don't live like that, or want stinky bags in our pockets while we're on the MRT.  That's just rude to the others around us.  Especially since those stinky reusable bags have a greater effect on the environment than the disposables (look it up), and the real root of the problem is the lack of a solid waste disposal system, not the bags. 

 

Know how I know that?  I'm currently living in Texas, the Land of Conspicuous Consumption.  I get more plastic bags in a week here than I'd get in a month in BKK.  Yet I rarely ever see a plastic bag on the beach or the side of the road here.  So the number of bags isn't the issue.  It's what happens to them after we bin them.  Banning the bags is just a band-aid, and a short sighted one.  Feels good, but that's not going to save Thailand from being buried under mountains of trash.  Hell, I used half my BigC plastic bags just to bin the other plastic packaging material my stuff came in.

 

So pass all the judgement you want on us disposable bag fans.  I loved the fact that I never had to buy a plastic garbage bag in BKK.  Or carry a stinky reusable bag.  (Or, to head off the next guy who's going to bash me- laundering reusable bags)

 

 

Many of your points are valid but are weakened by your exaggeration... 

 

My folks have been using the ‘re-usable’ bags for years in the UK, none of them stinky, we use them on our biannual visits to the UK. The usually stay in the car, and there’s nothing wrong with keeping reusable bags in your car. 

 

The issue is the lack of alternative when you forget your reusable bag or want to do unplanned shopping. 

 

Another facet is the use of garbage bags. I will now have buy ’single use plastic garbage bags’ and place them in my reusable bag, when I would have otherwise used the shopping bags a second time as garbage bags - the answer, don’t use plastic bags for waste - fine, collect my garbage on a daily basis so it doesn’t stink in the tropical climate. 

 

I also agree that the banning of plastic bags is a band aid, it doesn’t solve the 'refuse problem' in Thailand. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by richard_smith237

[Peterphuket]

7 hours ago, fforest1 said:

Folks if your not buying a whole cart full of stuff you can use the plastic bags for fruit and vegetables as your carry home bags,,,,,,100% free......

In the Makro for meat, are bigger.

[impulse]

22 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Many of your points are valid but are weakened by your exaggeration... 

 

My folks have been using the ‘re-usable’ bags for years in the UK, none of them stinky, we use them on our biannual visits to the UK. The usually stay in the car, and there’s nothing wrong with keeping reusable bags in your car.

 

It's hyperbole...  Just getting tired of guys hopping on their soapbox and making the discussion about character and intelligence.  Like we're somehow tainted or clueless if we don't agree with the ban or think it's going to solve the problem.  There are valid arguments on both sides, and name calling isn't appropriate.

 

Most Thai folks don't have a car.  Shopping is very different where you can't go to a store, buy some stuff, toss it in the boot and go onto another store.  What works in the UK and Texas and the NL doesn't necessarily work in LOS.

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by impulse

[allenberg]

8 hours ago, johng said:

But its not a simple request...its an imposed inconvenient collusion between the biggest retailers to stop giving out bags and in many cases with absolutely no alternative ways for the shopper to get their stuff home..if the retailers are worried about the environment  they should look to reduce plastic packaging in the many other areas of their supply chain before doing away with plastic bags at the cashier  which are very convenient for the customer.

 

The whole thing is ass backwards its not the plastic bags themself that are "the problem"  its the incorrect disposal of them and other "rubbish" that needs to be addressed by a huge publicity campaign  "Keep Thailand tidy"

+1  Waste disposal systems work well in many parts of the world.

[allenberg]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

My wallet stays in my pocket all day, every day.  I never have to consider how many wallets I'm going to carry around.  It's one.  I never have to think about whether to put my wallet in my pocket in the morning.  I do.  I never have to wonder if the chicken I bought last week has leaked into my wallet and started stinking.  It hasn't.  If I'm on my way home from a day of fun and decide I need to stop at the store, I know my wallet is in my pocket.  My stinking reusable bags?  Probably not.

 

If I lived a linear life and always go from home to the store and back, sure.  Carrying stinky reusable bags around with me is fine.  But most of us don't live like that, or want stinky bags in our pockets while we're on the MRT.  That's just rude to the others around us.  Especially since those stinky reusable bags have a greater effect on the environment than the disposables (look it up), and the real root of the problem is the lack of a solid waste disposal system, not the bags. 

 

Know how I know that?  I'm currently living in Texas, the Land of Conspicuous Consumption.  I get more plastic bags in a week here than I'd get in a month in BKK.  Yet I rarely ever see a plastic bag on the beach or the side of the road here.  So the number of bags isn't the issue.  It's what happens to them after we bin them.  Banning the bags is just a band-aid, and a short sighted one.  Feels good, but that's not going to save Thailand from being buried under mountains of trash.  Hell, I used half my BigC plastic bags just to bin the other plastic packaging material my stuff came in.

 

So pass all the judgement you want on us disposable bag fans.  I loved the fact that I never had to buy a plastic garbage bag in BKK.  Or carry a stinky reusable bag.  (Or, to head off the next guy who's going to bash me- laundering reusable bags)

 

Well put...

[fforest1]

 I see today Big C Extra has now put big fat security tags on their green bags they sell for 3 baht.....I think people were putting the green bags in the cart and walking out with out paying...I guess one to many people figured they were owed free shopping bags....

[samsensam]

11 hours ago, impulse said:

 

My wallet stays in my pocket all day, every day.  I never have to consider how many wallets I'm going to carry around.  It's one.  I never have to think about whether to put my wallet in my pocket in the morning.  I do.  I never have to wonder if the chicken I bought last week has leaked into my wallet and started stinking.  It hasn't.  If I'm on my way home from a day of fun and decide I need to stop at the store, I know my wallet is in my pocket.  My stinking reusable bags?  Probably not.

 

If I lived a linear life and always go from home to the store and back, sure.  Carrying stinky reusable bags around with me is fine.  But most of us don't live like that, or want stinky bags in our pockets while we're on the MRT.  That's just rude to the others around us.  Especially since those stinky reusable bags have a greater effect on the environment than the disposables (look it up), and the real root of the problem is the lack of a solid waste disposal system, not the bags. 

 

Know how I know that?  I'm currently living in Texas, the Land of Conspicuous Consumption.  I get more plastic bags in a week here than I'd get in a month in BKK.  Yet I rarely ever see a plastic bag on the beach or the side of the road here.  So the number of bags isn't the issue.  It's what happens to them after we bin them.  Banning the bags is just a band-aid, and a short sighted one.  Feels good, but that's not going to save Thailand from being buried under mountains of trash.  Hell, I used half my BigC plastic bags just to bin the other plastic packaging material my stuff came in.

 

So pass all the judgement you want on us disposable bag fans.  I loved the fact that I never had to buy a plastic garbage bag in BKK.  Or carry a stinky reusable bag.  (Or, to head off the next guy who's going to bash me- laundering reusable bags)

 

 

been using re-useable bags for years in the uk, non are stinky, the move to not providing free plastic bags worked, and continues to work, extremely well. it's not difficult, customers and retailers need to use their common sense.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by samsensam

[impulse]

23 minutes ago, samsensam said:

been using re-useable bags for years in the uk, non are stinky, the move to not providing free plastic bags worked, and continues to work, extremely well. it's not difficult, customers and retailers need to use their common sense.

 

And we've been using disposable plastic bags in Texas ever since they got away from paper.  Works great.  Has for decades.

 

 

[mojaco]

I bought 5 BigC reusable bags.  Now they try to charge me again for them at checkout.

[law ling]

1. Have observed (in Tops) a store's basket being walked out with a shopper's purchases (as per the OP). Good solution I thought.

2. Have observed angry/frustrated customers (in 7-11). Many folk here in Pattaya are 2 or 4 week tourists with 'shopping bags' not necessarily being on their packing list. The old bags should be available for a few baht.

3. 7-11 staff do stoically endure their long shifts, but will not for long endure being berated on a half-hourly basis. Things will have to change (soon).

4. Staff no longer pack your purchases (except Friendship - thanks guys), and it will soon be observed by management that current staffing levels are too high - and staff cut-backs may be on the table.

5. Staff have not been trained properly. I asked (supermarket not named) for a small plastic bag, that they keep at check-out, for a liquid-leaking tray of meat, and had "No bag!" barked back at me. Had to strongly insist.

6. Bigger pollution and garbage disposal issues exist here - which don't appear to being tackled. Bangkok's air unbreathable? - solution: irritate Pattaya's tourists over bags.
 

[tinca tinca]

Yesterday I bought some fruit from  A CART.....pineapple, water melon, papaya, and some cantlope melon....

ALL WERE PUT IN PLASTIC BAGS.....!!!

Others on here must have had the same done to them when buying fruit or Thai food surely.......

[fforest1]

37 minutes ago, law ling said:

1. Have observed (in Tops) a store's basket being walked out with a shopper's purchases (as per the OP). Good solution I thought.

2. Have observed angry/frustrated customers (in 7-11). Many folk here in Pattaya are 2 or 4 week tourists with 'shopping bags' not necessarily being on their packing list. The old bags should be available for a few baht.

3. 7-11 staff do stoically endure their long shifts, but will not for long endure being berated on a half-hourly basis. Things will have to change (soon).

4. Staff no longer pack your purchases (except Friendship - thanks guys), and it will soon be observed by management that current staffing levels are too high - and staff cut-backs may be on the table.

5. Staff have not been trained properly. I asked (supermarket not named) for a small plastic bag, that they keep at check-out, for a liquid-leaking tray of meat, and had "No bag!" barked back at me. Had to strongly insist.

6. Bigger pollution and garbage disposal issues exist here - which don't appear to being tackled. Bangkok's air unbreathable? - solution: irritate Pattaya's tourists over bags.
 

I agree I also suspect the job satisfaction level of the check out clerks has fallen off a cliff ever since the bag ban.....The smiles are less and less......

 

Yea Big C has really gone to the dogs now.....

The clerks before were pleasant and they packed what you bought into bags for you.....They were fast too....

Now they dont lift a finger to help you at all.....They just seem to be stoically manning the till waiting for the next big confrontation with the next unhappy customer I guess...    

[Number 6]

22 hours ago, zydeco said:

Store owners thought they were going to scam their customers. They thought they would make a windfall not giving out plastic bags while turning around and charging money for same. Instead, they're getting a big hit to their bottom line. Good. Getting what they deserved.

Yeah...don't have to buy plastic bags but can sell plastic bags and reusable carry-all bags. Winning haha.

 

I think the solution is to limit the bags. One or two per visit no matter number of items. If you are going to make a big purchase you'll come prepared.

 

Went to 711 late last night but popped in unplanned and no bag. I wasn't going to pay for a reusable bag and almost left the items at checkout. They pulled out a bag.

[sucit]

23 hours ago, impulse said:

Seems like a good idea to offer them for sale, maybe a different color so they know which ones are stolen...

 

As much as Thais love those loyalty stamps at 7/11, it may be a great gimmick to give them away for X number of stamps...

 

At Home Depot in the USA, the first thing I usually pick up is a 5 gallon bucket for a few $$$.  I fill the bucket with tools and hardware, and it goes home with me in lieu of a plastic bag.  I always have use for one more 5 gallon bucket...  Or give it to the neighbors.

 

When those buckets hit the landfill, how many light plastic bags do you think they are worth?

 

I really don't know but I bet the answer is in the thousands.