Are Thai Checkout Staff On A Bonus For Plastic Bags?

[Arkady]

It's all about the plastic bags and straws iisn't it?

I even get given a straw for big bottles of water in 7Eleven!

But yeah, the concept of recycling and how bad plastic bags are for the environment hasn't quite caught on yet. It's annoying.

It's often hard to reject all the plastic bags, straws and plastic spoons for yoghurts you get at 7 11. You have to be quicker than them.

[Neeranam]

I have brought 3 green cotton recycling bags from Aus to use when shopping.

The check out chick laughs every time I hand it over to put the items into it.

She thinks I'm just another weird 'falung' :-)

I have tried to explain to a few the reasons why we should stop polluting the Earth with plastics and of using recycling bags, but to no avail.

They just do not want to contemplate it at all.

Some Thai people do a similar thing with bags. If Thais start laughing at you a lot maybe you should check your appearance.

[Neeranam]

Eneukman, on 08 Apr 2013 - 09:09, said:

yourauntbob, on 06 Apr 2013 - 20:46, said:

Normally we use the plastic bags as our trash bags. In the case were we get too man, which is more often than i would like, i will bring them with me when i go shopping and reuse them. i get strange looks from some and the occasional thumbs up from others. this is not just in supermarkets, its also at markets, in the malls, and just about everywhere else.

It's the same where I live. At least this way, they do get re-used. When I lived in Edinburgh, I would take paper/glass for recycling to the supermarket before re-using the bags.

Alan

I hope Thailand doesn't become like the West - last year in Aberdeen, I threw the rubbish in the bin at my mum's house only to be told that bottles go in one bin, paper in another, etc. What a pain in the ****. Pay extra for gardening waste!! Here, I put the main bag in the communal bin, and throw everything else over my wall onto some waste area - sofas, cassette players, even a fridge. We have two friendly 'bin-people' who make a living off this system. The man has daily fights with my biggest dog, which is a bit unfair as he has a big stick, usually is seen passed out drunk at the side of the road somewhere by lunchtime. He's a great reminder for me not to pick up a drink! The woman owns a cow, which also has confrontations with my dogs. She has no teeth and a wonderful smile and has been asking me daily for 8 years if I can eat somtam.

There's no contest which system I prefer.

Edited April 8, 2013 by Neeranam

[Buckaroo]

We use a lot of plastic bags for the trash. Some is recycled by the (salangs) Those people you see peddling the 3 wheeled carts they get money for glass paper and plastic at recycling depots.

check the link if your interested.

http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/print/volume-12/issue-5/features/thai-style-recycling.html

The good news for those enviromentally minded people is that Thailand may be going to do something about it. My wife works for a government planning group who are researching what other governments are doing about the plastic bag problem. So expect to start paying for your bags or re-using bags.

Noooooooooooooo, this will lead onto people having to classify their waste and put it in the appropriate bin or be fined. You will also stop the income of recyclers, who will pick up my empty beer bottle boxes if all the recyclers are being made unemployed?

[Buckaroo]

It's all about the plastic bags and straws iisn't it?

I even get given a straw for big bottles of water in 7Eleven!

But yeah, the concept of recycling and how bad plastic bags are for the environment hasn't quite caught on yet. It's annoying.

It's often hard to reject all the plastic bags, straws and plastic spoons for yoghurts you get at 7 11. You have to be quicker than them.

If you are not quick enough to do that please do not drive on Thai roads

[chatette]

I handed my shopping bag to the check out girl at BIGC yday and she put it in a plastic bag....

[diddums]

I handed my shopping bag to the check out girl at BIGC yday and she put it in a plastic bag....

Hilarious innit...I bought a tesco one the other day and took it and a few bits n pieces to the checkout...in goes the recycle bag into a plastic bag.

I let him complete it before emptying it and showing him the green bag.

[TheWalkingMan]

Easy to get people off the plastic pony. Charge people 1 or 2 baht per plastic bag and watch the usage decrease. If you are something of a daily shopper and tend to pick up a few goods at a time, it should not be a problem for anyone to have their own shopping bag or a back pack.

In Tokyo, some of the bigger supermarkets have a gentle push to get people off the plastic bag addiction. The main market where I shop charges about 2 baht per bag or provide your own. What's that... You have a lot of shopping to do and need to fill up the back of your vehicle? No problem, boxes are provided for no charge. People can become accustomed to this behavior and it really is not that difficult.

The convenience stores have not taken to this policy, but more people seem to be declining plastic bags and just using their own.

[kevvy]

No plastic bags at Makro

if you want to pay for them there is

[marquis22]

I have brought 3 green cotton recycling bags from Aus to use when shopping.

The check out chick laughs every time I hand it over to put the items into it.

She thinks I'm just another weird 'falung' :-)

I have tried to explain to a few the reasons why we should stop polluting the Earth with plastics and of using recycling bags, but to no avail.

They just do not want to contemplate it at all.

Some Thai people do a similar thing with bags. If Thais start laughing at you a lot maybe you should check your appearance.

Hmm ok, not sure why I have to dress as neatly as you no doubt do when going to the mini mart.

Maybe you wear one to camouflage your appearance when shopping for somtam?

But anyway,we were discussing plastic bags, so I am now happy to hear 'some' are doing similar things with bags.

[benbezig]

Most foreigners are arrogant and only think their mentality is good. In fact they are mentally retarded because their government has manupilated their minds about the environment. But you cann't blame ignorance. Thailand has the largest recycling in % of the garbage. People should respect the way of life and not impose their own brainwashed standards.

Just enjoy the kindness and friendly hospatility.

Dude ! Personal responsibility regarding the earth and the next generations have nothing to do with 'being brainwashed' but with 'education'. Really u talk poop, just like those many frustrated long-stay-tourists who love to hate and complain about their own country and escaped to Thailand as if it's one big playground for the immature minded. Also you seem to know nothing about the polluting way of 'recycling' in Thailand which has nothing to do with environment just with moneymaking.

Sleep well.

'A young wife - a long life'

Yes I agree, that there are many frustrated foreigners who want to impose others their personal responsibility.

"Personal" means: keep it for yourself.

And yes Thailand is a wonderful playground. Mature and immature are different concepts in every continent.

I hope you can be happy too.

Sleep well too.

[varun]

I understand that most of the plastic bags for Big C/Tesco/Tops etc. are UV degradeable? Or not?

[weary]

Most foreigners are arrogant and only think their mentality is good. In fact they are mentally retarded because their government has manupilated their minds about the environment. But you cann't blame ignorance. Thailand has the largest recycling in % of the garbage. People should respect the way of life and not impose their own brainwashed standards.

Just enjoy the kindness and friendly hospatility.

It is not brainwashed to reduce wasteful ways of using plastic. I do enjoy the kindness and friendly hospitality, by the way.

[Buckaroo]

I understand that most of the plastic bags for Big C/Tesco/Tops etc. are UV degradeable? Or not?

Maybe, but either way they degrade quicker than rocks

[uptheos]

Being packed in plastic bags and handed to you politely, is far better than where I come from it's scanned and thrown. It's actually quite funny seeing people rush to pay whilst trying to pack their groceries.

Keep the bags and the service coming Thailand.

[bendejo]

Just wait until you leave the country -- seems nearly every other place in the world will charge you for those plastic bags. It's as close as Penang.

On certain days they may not even sell the plastics, and if you don't have you're own bags they try to sell you a cloth carrier bag. All in the cause environmental concern, of course.

I didn't know the Gourmet Market in Siam Paragon was a Villa market. It's not mentioned on Villa's website either.

http://www.villamarket.com/gb/store

[candypants]

i cannot for the life of me understand why you would not just tell the clerk you do not want a bag, or take the items out of any extra unwanted bags and put them into another only half full bag.

i do this every time i go shopping, and clerks that recognize me now tend to go easy on the plastic.

sure, the bag culture here is excessive, but it is most certainly not difficult to effect at least a personal difference.

just think of the electricity most of us burn posting tripe on thaivisa.

[bunta71]

I have no problem with an occasional plastic bag, but having something that is already encased in plastic, then put into a small plastic bag and then into a bigger plastic bag and maybe even put into one more plastic is not necessary. Same with disposing of the bags along the sidewalk hiways and beaches. Not a day goes by that I do not have to clean garbage from the front of my house. I love Thai culture...

[besth]

I have no problem with an occasional plastic bag, but having something that is already encased in plastic, then put into a small plastic bag and then into a bigger plastic bag and maybe even put into one more plastic is not necessary. Same with disposing of the bags along the sidewalk hiways and beaches. Not a day goes by that I do not have to clean garbage from the front of my house. I love Thai culture...

Overuse of plastic bags is clearly one of the problems, although if people are aware of it, it can be reduced and the rest would be easy to re-use as trash bags or similar.

What you mention is over-packaging. A huge burden all over the world. Make things look pretty, wasting carton, paper, plastics and whatever, so we can sell more of them seems to be the motto of many companies. It could be changed if those companies spent their marketing budgets in explaining that their products are still the best and packaged to a minimum for environmental reasons.

I don't think Thailand is going to become a pioneer (or maybe a hub? :-p ) on that.

[diddums]

Charge for the plastic bags...5baht.....it'll stop overnight.

Charge for everything...plact packaging.....glass bottles....tin cans.....cardboard stuffs....the lot and watch the dumping ground...the earth....breathe a sigh of relief over next 10 years.

400 odd years for a plastic bag to go away......day after day after day after day.....

[phuketjock]

I understand that most of the plastic bags for Big C/Tesco/Tops etc. are UV degradeable? Or not?

Tops, Villa use bags marked as biodgradeable, Big C, Tesco use bags that do not have any

kind of biodegradeable claim on them so I would assume their bags are not biodegradeable.

I am sure if they were using bio bags Big C and Tesco would be letting everyone know.

[Buckaroo]

Charge for the plastic bags...5baht.....it'll stop overnight.

Charge for everything...plact packaging.....glass bottles....tin cans.....cardboard stuffs....the lot and watch the dumping ground...the earth....breathe a sigh of relief over next 10 years.

400 odd years for a plastic bag to go away......day after day after day after day.....

Ivé had rocks much older than 400 odd years, but they are well behaved rocks so no one complains about them, there is also no charge for them. If you want to charge for plastic bags, recycling, fines for rubbish in the incorrect bin, GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM

[FunFon]

IMO helping to protect the ecosystem is well worth sacrificing "freedom" and convenience.

Never mind human health and safety issues, the fewer of us the better, but a heavy tax on all plastics and non-renewables would IMO be an excellent move, as well as making private automobiles unaffordable.

But I'm sure many don't agree