Phuket Bag Charge Postponed To Next Year

[webfact]

Phuket bag charge delayed by two months

The growing pile of landfilled garbage around the

overburdened incinerator at Saphan Hin. File photo.

PHUKET CITY: The launch of a plastic bag charging scheme which aims to reduce the amount of garbage generated on Phuket has been postponed for more than two months.

Phuket Energy Office chief Jirasuk Tummawetch said the slated December 5 launch date did not leave enough time to promote the project sufficiently.

The scheme will see major retailers such as Central, Big C, Tesco-Lotus, Makro, Supercheap and Jungceylon charge shoppers one baht for a plastic bag with a five-liter capacity or less and two baht for larger bags.

Mr Jirasuk was speaking following a meeting to discuss the scheme at Provincial Hall yesterday.

In attendance were new Phuket Vice Governor Teerayut Eimtrakul, Phuket Public Health Office Deputy Director Wiwat Seetamanotch and Nick Anthony, managing director of Indigo Real Estate, who came up with the idea for the project.

"Vice Gov Teerayut commented that to launch the project on December 5 wouldn't leave enough time to promote the scheme to the island's residents," Mr Jirasuk said. "We agreed to postpone until February 14 to give us more time."

Mr Jirasuk said one idea agreed upon was to record Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop speaking in support of the scheme. The recording would be played on radio stations and on the shop floors of participating retailers.

Local organizations have also been asked to supply cloth bags to substitute for those made of plastic, he said.

Mr Jirasak said Phuket Energy Office welcomes any comments regarding the project and invites anyone with suggestions to call the office on 076-210178-9.

Nick Anthony described government support at both local and national level as excellent.

Central Festival Phuket will host a public awareness campaign next Monday morning with 40 retailers setting up displays to promote the campaign and bring everybody on board, he said.

Central has also agreed to donate all proceeds from the sale of plastic bags to charity, he said.

Mr Anthony said he hopes that the successful launch will be the first step in a source reduction strategy that will eventually see retailers mutually agree to cut down or even eliminate the distribution of advertising circulars that are also a large component of the waste stream.

He is also working with environmental activist and sea kayak tourism pioneer John Gray to extend the plastic bag strategy to cover Phang Nga Bay as soon as possible.

Asked if major convenience store chains like 7-Eleven were signed up for the initiative, he said the management of CP Group which operates the chain on a franchise basis were seriously considering the proposal.

7-Eleven stores in China and other countries have already started to charge for plastic bags, he said.

Mr Anthony said he hopes support among retailers at all levels will be so thorough that those failing to take part will be boycotted by shoppers.

The delay in the launch is to allow stores time to prepare alternatives to plastic and educate the public, he said.

Mr Anthony said that one of the keys to success would be getting support from local administrative bodies in ensuring that all retailers in their jurisdiction, including small 'mom-and-pop' shops, are aware of the campaign and actually take part in it.

-- Phuket Gazette 2009/11/18

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[catmac]

Whilst commendable as such, I see in this scheme as it stands just another attempt to stifle business for the big boys, whilst allowing the small Thai operators a free reign, in much the same way as the supposed "ban" on alcohol sales from 2 to 5 pm and on special days is only enforced on them, it's totally ignored by the Mom and Pop shops!

The whole countryside is littered not with Lotus/Carrefour/etc. carrier bags (which for the most part are eagerly snapped up and reused for all sorts of things), but by those flimsy bags used by local shops and food outlets. They blow everywhere are are a darned menace.

[Miami Bob]

Interesting how far ahead some countries are in this respect. I remember when I was hanging out in Amsterdam 35 years ago people brought their own reusable bags to the food stores.

Don't forget to reuse your Tesco,etc. bags for your trash at home instead of buying special "trash bags" that just add to the problem.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Miami Bob

[Igor]

Just curious: How much does a big company like 7-11 or Tesco-Lotus pay for a plastic bag? I'm betting a lot less than 1 baht. Can this become a significant source of revenue for them? Should they be required to donate any "profits" to some environmental program? It's really win-win for them. You bring your own bag, they save money. You pay a baht for their bag, they make money.

[PaulOkay]

Just curious: How much does a big company like 7-11 or Tesco-Lotus pay for a plastic bag? I'm betting a lot less than 1 baht. Can this become a significant source of revenue for them? Should they be required to donate any "profits" to some environmental program? It's really win-win for them. You bring your own bag, they save money. You pay a baht for their bag, they make money.

A plastic bag costs between 30 and 60 satang, depending on quality and size. Big chains like Lotus and 7/11 probably get them even cheaper, because of the amount they order.

Biodegradable and photodegradable bags are more expensive, but producers of plastic bags now start to offer them at the same price as normal plastig bags. So without buying new plates for printing, retailers could make a huge tribute to the environment, without any extra costs.

[ezside]

Whilst commendable as such, I see in this scheme as it stands just another attempt to stifle business for the big boys, whilst allowing the small Thai operators a free reign, in much the same way as the supposed "ban" on alcohol sales from 2 to 5 pm and on special days is only enforced on them, it's totally ignored by the Mom and Pop shops!

Really? If that's true, I'm strongly in favor of it!

[chelsea]

Why on earth do they not supply only Biodegardable bags and save on all this hassel. Biodegradable bags should be the only bags available EVERYWHERE to include all shop outlets and are available at Makro right now !!

[johnboy72]

What are the public going to be made aware of?

The amount of rubbish on the Island, the state of the environment (though with the amount of development I don't think that's really an issue) or the fact the people will have to pay 1 baht (5 for foreigners) for a bag.

[anon467367354]

I don't understand promote what? You make a statement that stores have to charge for plastics bags, and they do. They post something in their stores that says it's going to be that way and so it is. How do the authorities know if they are charging for their bags? Charging for bags should be a source of revenue, both from the plastic bags and the canvas ones they could sell. Maybe they should charge the companies for littering when they come across a bag with their name on it, would create incentive.

[hungryINbangkok]

"Delayed until the public can be properly educated?"

So...delayed indefinitely then?

[anon467367354]

they certainly don't "promote" changes in immigration rules, or something exciting like "no jaywalking". Geng jai the Thai people even if the end result is not good for the country in general.

[Xonax]

Just curious: How much does a big company like 7-11 or Tesco-Lotus pay for a plastic bag? I'm betting a lot less than 1 baht. Can this become a significant source of revenue for them? Should they be required to donate any "profits" to some environmental program? It's really win-win for them. You bring your own bag, they save money. You pay a baht for their bag, they make money.

Since they did the same i Denmark around 20 years ago, the danish shops have been gaining a huge profit on selling plastic bags to customers.

In Thailand we throw a lot of recyclable waste plastic and metal in the garbage bin every day, because we have no local place to drop it for recycling. Every larger shop / supermarket / department store, should be forced to set up containers for plastic and metal in their car park, so that we could deliver the recyclable waste back to be recycled. In many European countries, we have the "Green Dot" program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Dot_(symbol) to deal with a huge part of the recyclable waste problem.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Xonax

[marcher]

Whilst commendable as such, I see in this scheme as it stands just another attempt to stifle business for the big boys, whilst allowing the small Thai operators a free reign, in much the same way as the supposed "ban" on alcohol sales from 2 to 5 pm and on special days is only enforced on them, it's totally ignored by the Mom and Pop shops!

The whole countryside is littered not with Lotus/Carrefour/etc. carrier bags (which for the most part are eagerly snapped up and reused for all sorts of things), but by those flimsy bags used by local shops and food outlets. They blow everywhere are are a darned menace.

All I can say is "spot 0n"

[thefalang]

It's not just plastic bags, but bottles (plastic & glass), building materials and every other kind of refuse imaginable. A more comprehensive approach needs to be applied here.

The gov't should enforce littering laws and assess penalties so that people will think twice before they throw garbage on the beaches, etc.

I don't ever remember Macro supplying plastic bags (outside of the vegetable & meat departments).

[sedeflonga]

As I said earlier, nothing changes =)

[Matan]

It's not just plastic bags, but bottles (plastic & glass), building materials and every other kind of refuse imaginable. A more comprehensive approach needs to be applied here.

The gov't should enforce littering laws and assess penalties so that people will think twice before they throw garbage on the beaches, etc.

I don't ever remember Macro supplying plastic bags (outside of the vegetable & meat departments).

It makes me laugh when you've got half the population of bangkok walking around with a 'save earth save life' t-shirt on and yet a scheme that could have a massive environmental impact is delayed because the population needs educating.

Here's an idea for how to educate people - Put a sign in every shop, in thai, saying "Save the environment. Plastic bags are now 5 baht each"

Wow, that was fast.

[Chris Lawrence]

organise a clean up day to pick up all the rubbish? Is it just plastic bags or a way to set up another charge?

I can remember the brown paper bags we got a few years ago. But I suppose they are much bulkier than plastic bags to carry in-store.

Putting a charge on them may not change much; provide green friendly bags instead. That was another way shopping was done in the past was to bring your own bag.

For me the plastic bag is convenient but I put mine in the bin.....

[bkkjames]

IMO the problem is they fail in pushing the right buttons to motivate people here.

Instead of surcharges / threats, they need to appeal to their sense of style / cool factor. Too late for most my generation and up but not for the young they are easily influenced by all things fashion / trendy.

Enlist some big celebs to get out the message that littering in general is bad and very uncool.

Conduct local awareness campaigns at grass roots levels in local schools.

Stage a major concert like "Earth Day" - change it to "Clean Green Day " You get the picture.

Only then will businesses see the need to adapt and get in-line.

[Crash999]

A plastic bag costs between 30 and 60 satang, depending on quality and size. Big chains like Lotus and 7/11 probably get them even cheaper, because of the amount they order.

Biodegradable and photodegradable bags are more expensive, but producers of plastic bags now start to offer them at the same price as normal plastig bags. So without buying new plates for printing, retailers could make a huge tribute to the environment, without any extra costs.

The ones used by Tesco Lotus and 7/11 cost a bit less than 50 satang each. For retailers this is a cost- and eliminating this cost can save huge amounts of money. For example in the US larger retailers spend US$20-50m/yr on bags. The volumes in Thailand are probably a 10th or 20th of that, but still no small sum of money. Retailers earn revenue from selling the plastic bags as well as reusable options like nonwoven or cotton bags.

So the incentive is there for vendors to move to a policy of charging customers.

As for degradable bags, there aren't any elegant solutions at the moment. The reason some producers offer 'degradable' bags at the same cost as regular bags is they use resin blended with starch, which in fact overall slightly lowers the material cost of the bag. The issue is only the starch in the bag degrades- the PE doesn't- so the bag will break down to a point and then stop.

There are other resin additives which break down the PE into powder. The issue there is that the plastic still exists in the environment, you just can't see it.

To be truly friendly to the environment bags should be fully compostable, and these bags are multiples higher in cost than normal PE bags and don't perform nearly as well so no major retailer to my knowledge is using them now.

[CMFarang]

Another attempt of Government trying to modify behaviors using $$ as a motive.

GREAT , IF it will work, BUT I get very few bags from these Major Stores, except when I get a Cashier who wants to use one bag for each item.

POLLUTION has been and still is a BIG Problem in Thailand.

Education, Fines and MAYBE A FEW GARBAGE CANS, would be more effective in Solving this problem.

When I walk to the end of my Soi, there seems to be almost every type of Litter you could think of, BUT Very Few Tesco, etc. bags..

Let's L@@K at the real issues here , stop the Litter , Educate the Public and Enforce fines.

Government TV to run advertising Campaign Nation Wide , along with some Safe Driving Tips for the Day as well.

I am sure our Fine Law Enforcement Departments can find some spare time in their hectic days here..

T.I.T. and don't expect any changes to quickly or to move in a direction you would normally expect.

IMO - Unless there is $$ to be made , it just is not going to happen in Thailand

Cynical for a Reason ( 16 Years in Thailand )

[bkkjames]

While we end up with piles of these bags from our normal shopping, it never ceases to amaze me how much packaging comes with the goods we buy.

Ever order from a famous Japanese restaurant chain here? more plastic packaging than the cumulative amount of bags I get in one trip to the grocery store.

Edited November 18, 2009 by bkkjames

[minxwhale]

Just curious: How much does a big company like 7-11 or Tesco-Lotus pay for a plastic bag? I'm betting a lot less than 1 baht. Can this become a significant source of revenue for them? Should they be required to donate any "profits" to some environmental program? It's really win-win for them. You bring your own bag, they save money. You pay a baht for their bag, they make money.

A plastic bag costs between 30 and 60 satang, depending on quality and size. Big chains like Lotus and 7/11 probably get them even cheaper, because of the amount they order.

Biodegradable and photodegradable bags are more expensive, but producers of plastic bags now start to offer them at the same price as normal plastig bags. So without buying new plates for printing, retailers could make a huge tribute to the environment, without any extra costs.

yeah. one baht is far too cheap. That's not going to stop people from getting bags at the store. Set a steep fee of 10 baht apiece and then people will bring their own bags.

[Brewsta]

What are the public going to be made aware of?

The amount of rubbish on the Island, the state of the environment (though with the amount of development I don't think that's really an issue) or the fact the people will have to pay 1 baht (5 for foreigners) for a bag.

OK - Childen,Listen now, please....

Bag Use 101:

1) NO throw BAG

2) USE BAG AGAIN.

GarBarge Consultancy available.

Rubbished by Brewsta

[Crash999]

yeah. one baht is far too cheap. That's not going to stop people from getting bags at the store. Set a steep fee of 10 baht apiece and then people will bring their own bags.

In HK the bags cost the equivalent of 2 baht a piece. It has had a major impact here- not necessarily because of the cost but more because when the cashier asks it gives people an reminder each time that they should have brought bags instead of needlessly having to pay for one.

[jonclark]

It's not just plastic bags, but bottles (plastic & glass), building materials and every other kind of refuse imaginable. A more comprehensive approach needs to be applied here.

The gov't should enforce littering laws and assess penalties so that people will think twice before they throw garbage on the beaches, etc.

I don't ever remember Macro supplying plastic bags (outside of the vegetable & meat departments).

It makes me laugh when you've got half the population of bangkok walking around with a 'save earth save life' t-shirt on and yet a scheme that could have a massive environmental impact is delayed because the population needs educating.

Here's an idea for how to educate people - Put a sign in every shop, in thai, saying "Save the environment. Plastic bags are now 5 baht each"

Wow, that was fast.

Spot on, as soon as it starts to hit people in the pocket they become pretty eductated, pretty quick. If it cost say 2 baht to 'buy' a plastic bag at BIg C then that would put an extra 200 baht per month on the shopping bill of the average family.

So, what happens if you don't have any bags with you and you refuse to buy new bags. I think you'll find dumped plastic bags being replaced by dumped tolleys as people load all their bagless food into a trolley and push it home.

But in all seriousness its long overdue and the bags are a waste of resources in every aspect

[koto]

Whilst commendable as such, I see in this scheme as it stands just another attempt to stifle business for the big boys, whilst allowing the small Thai operators a free reign, in much the same way as the supposed "ban" on alcohol sales from 2 to 5 pm and on special days is only enforced on them, it's totally ignored by the Mom and Pop shops!

The whole countryside is littered not with Lotus/Carrefour/etc. carrier bags (which for the most part are eagerly snapped up and reused for all sorts of things), but by those flimsy bags used by local shops and food outlets. They blow everywhere are are a darned menace.

[maydagirl]

OR.... they could just NOT give out the plastic bags! it's as easy as that... if nobody has noticed,,, the ones the jumped at this scheme is 7-11, bigC, supercheap.... well... they'd rather get extra Baht from EVERYBODY than lose extra Baht for everybody.

and use recycled paper bags, simply instead of plastic bags. so what I see here is, they (deep down inside) dont really give a dam* about the environment. =/

[thaifrelst]

We will never get rid of the plastic. It will be more and more as Thailand get developed. There is only one way to avoid that the country will be overcrowded by plastic rubbish. Where I stay in Thailand a truck is coming every week and pick up bottles and metal. We even get paid for some of the shit.

But for the entire country the government have to write a law act for how the tamboons is supposed to handle the waste problem.

It also goes for the food waste.

I really dont understand why everything have to be so difficult to handle in Thailand. In these cases it is just to look what other countries have done and do like that or better.

[jb5music]

Just curious: How much does a big company like 7-11 or Tesco-Lotus pay for a plastic bag? I'm betting a lot less than 1 baht. Can this become a significant source of revenue for them? Should they be required to donate any "profits" to some environmental program? It's really win-win for them. You bring your own bag, they save money. You pay a baht for their bag, they make money.

I tend to do this too. I tend to glance at articles and not read every sentence or paragraph but if you read all the sentences and paragraphs in the article - one of them says they're going to donate all the proceeds from the bag sales to charity.

I guess that means they're not going to make any money off of selling the bags now because they will take that money and give it to charity.

So I too have to eat my previous post about the 1 baht per step shoe.

[Jonathanpattaya]

Talk about going off half-cocked!

Before making their announcement, why did the Phuket Energy Office not ensure all their (plastic) ducks were in a row first?