Major Retailers Start Charging For Plastic Bags

[Dpolenz]

Good and bad

In Australia shops have starting giving out really flimsy plastic bags, so unless you are careful bags break and shopping goes all over the road... broken glass, oil and worse.

Aldi are a cheap supermarket, they wont give you a bag unless you pay 20 cents each! They say this is to save the environment but its rubbish because they spam your letter box weekly with large catalogs and their deliver people often leave them all over the street. You see Aldi customers wrestling with overfilled cardboard boxes full of groceries because they are too cheap to give you a bag.

7-11 in Thailand are discusting... i really think they need to change. I am surprised 7-11 USA doesnt step in??

Simple,like other countries just buy some shopping bags that arent plastic and you can use them everytime you go shopping.

[Valentine]

Don't forget to ask Starbucks & all those other places to not put the round plastic bit with the straw hole on the top of your plastic cup when buying a frappe or iced coffee etc. The only problem with this is it can easily spill if you have it in your car while driving.

[VBF]

I think that the current plastic bags are to a certain extend degradable.

They do not live forever.

Plastic bags are indeed "to a certain extend degradable", however they take a mighty long time (many years). There is a group of stores in UK (Co-Op) who are now using plastic bags that they CLAIM degrade more quickly. Whether this claim is true, I do not know, neither do I know how expensive they are compared to "normal" plastic bags. Amusingly, last time I, was in Pattaya nearly every time I went to 7-11 to stock the fridge with coffees, juices etc. I had to ASK for straws. Somewhat inconsistent with other people's findings! Must be me!!!

[wasbeer]

we had the same problem in South Africa with plastic every where. We did the same here a few years back and it actualy made a difference. The people started looking after plastic bags. you hardly see any bags lying around any more. great initiative. Go hemp bags.

[Ave]

On the contrary I have noticed that in many 7-11s they don't bother giving me straws anymore and if I buy only a small bottle of water for example they don't bother giving me a bag anymore. In some 7-11s they start saying 'thank you!' when I refuse the plastic bag. I had a dream last night about the content of this post probably because I'm having to move away from near a dump where they burn plastic and rubber all the time, it has made me sick in the long run. I'm so glad to hear this. I agree, if the King or the Queen say somethign about it I'm sure the majority will follow.

[groovyc]

As madmitch pointed out, it would be great if 7-11 did the same. I was in there recently and bought a pack of gum. Before I could stop the guy, he had put my tiny pack of gum in a plastic bag. I often give the bags back, but the salespeople look really confused. I sometimes see them take my bag back and throw it in the trash can. So frustrating!

I could relate to this so much that I had to reply. One of the small day to day things that easily makes a foreigner feel these peaple are really ignorant.

[tmark]

Picture, if you will, a customer buying a couple kilos of loose tomatoes, onions, carrots, potatoes, or a bunch of broccoli or a head of cabbage. Shall we just gently lay them all, loosely into the shopping cart and place them gently on the checkout belt and let the checkout lady decide what to do with them

Mate .. there are "small" plastic bags on a roll inside the supermarket to put you head of broccoli or tomatoes into. You then place them into your own cloth bag or whatever.

If we were to go along with your logic .. we would have to pour the cooking oil out of it's plastic bottle all over the checkout counter and toss the bottle back onto the shelf. 

God help me.

[tmark]

Next, maybe one in 4 billion Asians can figure a way to make a biodegradable substitute for styrofoam. Styrofoam is used much too often for 'take-away'. Banana leaves work well. I will offer $5,000 for anyone who can invent a Styrofoam substitute that's bio-degradable.  

I was just about to mention styrofoam when I stumbled upon your post. Stryofoam food boxes are everywhere. Much more insidious than plastic bags I think. The styrofoam "kratongs" are pretty disgusting too .. go back to the traditional ones, I say.

However. There's someone in Japan waiting for your $5000 because they have already done it .. years ago. They make take away food containers out of rice. It looks like styrofoam .. but it's edible. A lot of Japanese really don't like to eat them .. but they can crumble them in their hand and throw it on the ground. The birds eat the stuff if they are quick enough before it rains.

[tmark]

Soon this will all be a moot point anyway. You need crude oil to make plastic. Soon that will be exhausted. They'll either have to step up the recycling or find an alternative.

It's ironic that paper bags come from trees .. and so do plastic bags .. trees that were alive 50 million years ago that is.

[richinmt]

Small purchases, I do not accept plastic bags, but the first time they try to charge me for a plastic bag when I've purchased many items, I will ask for my money back for everything, and let them keep it. There has to be some customer service!!!

[zzaa09]

A step in the right direction. Time to buy those cloth shopping bags people.

Agreed. Should have been intergrated years ago. Better now than never...

[tmark]

Sometime the 7-11 staff are beyond belief. Like when my only purchase is a single cigarette lighter and quite often .. not always .. they try to pop it into a little plastic bag. I say "try to" .. because I'm one step ahead of the them and wait to see if they start to reach for a bag .. then quickly say "mai ow tung" and pop it in my pocket where it belongs. They usually have a bit of a sheepish face after that .. so they do realize how crazy it is .. it's just habit for them I suppose.

[sedeflonga]

You would be surprised how fast they will change it back to normal (without charge).

read my words...

[Gold2005]

Good move !

[Geekfreaklover]

Petro-chemical wastes being given out at any available opportunity.

I agree that it should be stopped. One way of stopping it is to make customers pay for it.

Can't see it being enforced though. It disturbs me to say this, but people from the kingdom of Thailand have little regard or understanding of where resources come from or what we are doing by expending them unnecessarily..

[koto]

Very good move. I hope it catches on and spreads throughout the country.

Unfortunately it doesn't include the worst givers of plastic, 7-Eleven, where you get a bag regardless of the size of your purchase, plastic bags inside plastic bags, a plastic straw if you buy a litre of milk etc.

I agree, not only 7-Eleven but all of the food carts and open air markets that put everything into plastic, if they would charge a baht or 2, I'm sure people would also recycle those bags and reuse them or bring something to carry the food home in.

I would think and pray that Jomtien, Pattaya area is a prime place to be the next to start this great eye opener, like The Pollution Solution Group has been saying Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... http://solution2pollution.blogspot.com/

[zzaa09]

Sometime the 7-11 staff are beyond belief. Like when my only purchase is a single cigarette lighter and quite often .. not always .. they try to pop it into a little plastic bag. I say "try to" .. because I'm one step ahead of the them and wait to see if they start to reach for a bag .. then quickly say "mai ow tung" and pop it in my pocket where it belongs. They usually have a bit of a sheepish face after that .. so they do realize how crazy it is .. it's just habit for them I suppose.

Just as the habits have been instilled, they can just as easily reconditioned. The shop clerks as well as the catatonic masses. Wonder if anyone remembers how things were some 20 years ago {not even that long} before this 'introduced' plastic consciousness swept the society. It certainly wasn't the purchaser whom demanded plastic, but instead was the proposed indoctrination of the servicer. This ever increasing consciousness for encasing everything is plastic is surely akin to the growing mentality of unnecessary and mindless consumption - an introduce and forced upon disease.

[tmark]

I remember living in a small village of about 1000 people about 10 years ago up in Nongbualampoo Province. There was hardly any garbage at all. The local shops wrapped everything in newspaper or banana leaves .. not saying that could be expanded to big city level .. but they could put tomatoes and the like into paper bags ... and then into your cloth/string bag.

I'm afraid it's all just too hard though. Let's face it ..

1.Thais ARE basically lazy buggers.

2.They don't give a rats arse about littering. Maybe because they expend all their energy on their own personal hygiene and the cleanliness of their own houses .. there's no energy left to care about the surrounding environment.

The only other Asian country I've lived in was South Korea ... it seemed to be pretty good as far as littering was

concerned. It was like a hospital compared to Thailand. Are other Asian countries as filthy and non caring as Thailand?

Every country in the world has a plastic bag/ garbage problem .. but a lot of them don't toss it out the car window or just drop it on the street or into a klong.

Don't tell me about Singapore .. haven't been there ... but I know of it. Chewing Gum is illegal for God's sake! I'm thinking of getting into a black market chewing gum business there. (Pssssst ... wanna buy some gum man? .. it's really goooood shit dude !)

EDIT .. Hmmm .. how come the word hel_l gets altered by the censors but shit doesn't?

Edited November 16, 2009 by tmark

[koto]

Petro-chemical wastes being given out at any available opportunity.

I agree that it should be stopped. One way of stopping it is to make customers pay for it.

Can't see it being enforced though. It disturbs me to say this, but people from the kingdom of Thailand have little regard or understanding of where resources come from or what we are doing by expending them unnecessarily..

Education, Education, Education, you can't take a person out of the rice patties and expect them to understand garbage can or storm drain, it is up to all of us to set examples by walking the walk, Farang and the Thais, that know better and there are many Thais and Farangs that do.

We should stat The Nifty Over Fifty Club (Waister-Sizig) Bending at the waist to pick up the waste and getting rid of both.

The powers above know that most of us need the exercise and mother nature sure could use the help, We don't need no stinkin Gym, the best exercise in the world is reaching out for the voiceless, the children, wildlife and natural waterways, by removing things that are dangers to the unknowing.

The Pollution Solution Group hears a whole bunch of talking the talk, we need to get off of our bums and walk the walk.

As we always say...We are all in this neighborhood together, One random act of kindness at a time.

http://solution2pollution.blogspot.com/ What we learn from one, might help us with another, NOW is the only time there is.

Carpe Diem and Mahalo Nui Loa

[backsoon]

Lets see how long this "crackdown" on plastic bags will last..

They will get thousands of complains of the local Thai people who don't share the same view about this as you rich & strange farang.

In a few weeks everything will be back to normal and if ever ask then initiators of this idea will admit that western style living is not for thais....

If you think that Thailand ever will be like you home country better stop dreaming and go home because this will never happen

GOOD MOVE IN A RIGHT DIRECTION. BUT I SEE THIS AS A NO HOPE MOVE. JUST LIKE IN MANY OTHER COUNTRIES. IT WILL DO VERY LITTLE TO POLLUTION.

AND FOR ONCE ONLY STOP THAIBASHING ON THIS ISSUE. BETTER ASK QUESTIONS AND START THINKING.

1. Why any good initiative takes off only as a MONEY grabbing exercise?

2. Why Singapore is the cleanest best smelling least polluted place on earth?

3. Why use half-measures to fix a real big problem?

4. Why not BAN PLASTIC BAGS totally? At the manufacturing point. Will it stop people from shopping? NO. But having to provide the bags for shopping, people will keep them and buy a long lasting solution.

5. This will keep our bays, beaches, roadsides, etc. CLEAN. And cut down wastedumps, rubbish bins and waste collection efforts.

UNTIL RADICAL EFFORT IS MADE BY THE STATE, THE HALFMEASURES WILL ONLY LEAD TO BEING MONEY GRABBING EXERCISE. AND NOT IN THAILAND ONLY.

[tmark]

In Oz we have "Clean up Australia Day" every year. Whole communities get out there with their rubber gloves and garbage bags cleaning up all the trash. Even the police and fire brigades get into it .. dredging rivers, creeks and lakes of all sorts of crap. Dumped cars, refrigerators, murdered backpackers etc etc.

What are the chances of the BIB here volunteering themselves for that kind of thing here ... for free? ... bugger all I think.

[JetsetBkk]

I can't believe the proportion of "Great news!" posts on the first page to "Useless idea" posts - I think it's 100% to zero. I haven't read the other pages.

Has everybody gone "green" or something? I want my stuff in strong bags and for free. Anyway, I've got about a years supply of Big C bags under my sink and will continue to take them to Makro - who never gave bags anyway - and will now take them to Big C also.

The government needs to teach people not to burn plastic and not to litter - much more important than this idea which simply means that the retailers will make even more money.

[Grey13]

Sometime the 7-11 staff are beyond belief. Like when my only purchase is a single cigarette lighter and quite often .. not always .. they try to pop it into a little plastic bag. I say "try to" .. because I'm one step ahead of the twits and wait to see if they start to reach for a bag .. then quickly say "mai ow tung" and pop it in my pocket where it belongs. They usually have a bit of a sheepish face after that .. so they do realize how crazy it is .. it's just habit for them I suppose.

Just as the habits have been instilled, they can just as easily reconditioned. The shop clerks as well as the catatonic masses. Wonder if anyone remembers how things were some 20 years ago {not even that long} before this 'introduced' plastic consciousness swept the society. It certainly wasn't the purchaser whom demanded plastic, but instead was the proposed indoctrination of the servicer. This ever increasing consciousness for encasing everything is plastic is surely akin to the growing mentality of unnecessary and mindless consumption - an introduce and forced upon disease.

I'll have to ask my wife about that one. Yesterday, after almost 4 months in Thailand she said, "I left here 30 years ago, come back and nothing has changed." Perhaps that is a broad statement and maybe she was talking about politics. I know she was also talking about the widespread corruption.

[jbhh]

Just wanted to complain about 7/11 wasting plastic too, but about 10 people already said the same thing.

They usually get those straws in my bag before I think to stop them, so I just put in on the counter. I know it get's thrown away, but at least they might start to ask (foreigners at least) if we want a straw for our half gallon of milk and liter of coke.

Never going to happen... 7-11 staff is in full auto pilot mode, only if they know you (and you have previously made them look stupid for giving you straws and plastic bags for everything) they might remember not to do so...

There should be a petition to tell 7-11 to stop telling their staff to give out plastic bags for advertising purpose, anything else is a drop in the ocean.

[Phuket_Brad]

It is a small step in the right direction, but small steps still get you where you want to go! I wonder if the sale of the plastic bags by toughs that still want to buy them goes into some sort of educational fund to spread the word as why the stores are doing it?

[tmark]

I hear they are thinking of introducing "non air conditioned areas" of the supermarkets also. You will have to pay extra to shop in the air con sections.

After that they will be phasing out the "checkout chicks" and replacing them "Self Service"

conveyor belt counters that automatically scan your purchases and send them into a locked box. You then need to swipe your credit/debit card to redeem your goods. (They'll also have handy vending machines to dispense bags if you need them)

The whole operation will be overlooked by a solitary Thai security guard to make sure you put everything on the belt .. and not in your pocket. I think this is the only weak link in the system .. as we all know about Thai security guards propensity to sleep on the job.

[zzaa09]

I can't believe the proportion of "Great news!" posts on the first page to "Useless idea" posts - I think it's 100% to zero. I haven't read the other pages.

Has everybody gone "green" or something? I want my stuff in strong bags and for free. Anyway, I've got about a years supply of Big C bags under my sink and will continue to take them to Makro - who never gave bags anyway - and will now take them to Big C also.

The government needs to teach people not to burn plastic and not to litter - much more important than this idea which simply means that the retailers will make even more money.

Government. Good teacher.

[Mitker]

Excellent news. Hope will spread quickly!

[DickFarang]

IMHO it would make much more sense to replace plastic bottles and tins (cans).

Back in Belgium, we always bought mineral water and beer in returnable glass bottles and milk in returnable hard plastic bottles (which replaced the once thick glass bottles).

It is not only better for the environment, but also for health and taste.

[wasbeer]

Small purchases, I do not accept plastic bags, but the first time they try to charge me for a plastic bag when I've purchased many items, I will ask for my money back for everything, and let them keep it. There has to be some customer service!!!

Seriously will it kill you to pay the minimum for a plastic bag if it means that plastic bags are almost entirely eradicated from sight? Every one benifits from a cleaner environment. Stop being so selfish and think of everyone around you. It won't bankrupt you.