Tesco Lotus steps up its 'no plastic bag' campaign in Phuket

[webfact]

Tesco Lotus steps up its 'no plastic bag' campaign in Phuket
Phuket Gazette

Mr Charkrit (center) announced that Tesco Lotus would stop using plastic bags at two more branches in Phuket. Photo: Saran Mitrarat

PHUKET: -- After successfully removing plastic bags from one of its stores, Tesco Lotus plans to stop using them in two others, thereby reducing plastic bag use in Phuket by 10,000 bags per week.

On May 16, Tesco Lotus branches in Rawai and Surin will stop using plastic bags, said Charkrit Direkwattanachai, Head of Public Affairs for the chain in Thailand.

With the goal of making a positive contribution to the environment, the company started the campaign at their branch in Saiyuan, reasoning that the foreign customers in that area would be sympathetic to the concept.

“We also have no competition from other convenience stores in that area,” Mr Charkrit noted.

Though the Saiyuan branch saw its revenue go down by about 20 per cent when the new policy was initiated, it was back to normal within a week. The practice now saves the chain about 3,200 bags per week.

The Saiyaun branch installed a box for customers to drop off used bags for others to use, and also sells cloth bags for 25 baht.

“We have gotten positive feedback on the cloth bags. They have a Thai design on them and make good souvenirs – we sell about 50 a day,” Mr Charkrit said.

For every transaction in each store, the company will donate 20 satang, the cost of the bag not used, to a local school.

— Saran Mitrarat

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Tesco-Lotus-steps-its-plastic-bag-campaign/29437


-- Phuket Gazette 2014-05-14

[stevenl]

A bit slow, but nevertheless excellent.

[terryp]

20 satang, the cost of the bag not used

what bullsh"t, i think the purchase dept at Tesco Lotus need to have a talk to the supplier as he is ripping them off (try 3-4 satang)

[stevenl]

20 satang, the cost of the bag not used

what bullsh"t, i think the purchase dept at Tesco Lotus need to have a talk to the supplier as he is ripping them off (try 3-4 satang)

So? Better they're donating 20 setang per purchase than 3-4 setang. Plus they could have including handling, delivery to the stores, etc in the 20 setang price as well.

Edited May 14, 2014 by stevenl

[lee b]

Good for them, lets hope other shopping outlets follow suit now. 7/11's are bad offenders at this they put plastic bags inside plastic bags !

[JesseFrank]

A few years ago the shopping bags from Tesco were reusable as rubbish collecting bags.Then they changed to ultra thin bags which were not reusable anymore as they were teared already before you came home.

Result, they most of the time had to put 2 bags over each other otherwise your shopping goods would simply fall through the bottom, and the consumer had to buy additional plastic rubbish bags to collect his rubbish.

So in fact Tesco ignited an increase in the use of plastic bags .

Edited May 14, 2014 by JesseFrank

[hanno]

A few years ago the shopping bags from Tesco were reusable as rubbish collecting bags.Then they changed to ultra thin bags which were not reusable anymore as they were teared already before you came home.

Result, they most of the time had to put 2 bags over each other otherwise your shopping goods would simply fall through the bottom, and the consumer had to buy additional plastic rubbish bags to collect his rubbish.

So in fact Tesco ignited an increase in the use of plastic bags .

At least they are doing something about it now.

Always amazes me how anything good gets ripped apart on TV.

[LivinginKata]

Tesco should be congratulated. At least it's a start. 7-11 want to put even the smallest purchase into a plastic bag.

[JesseFrank]

20 satang, the cost of the bag not used

what bullsh"t, i think the purchase dept at Tesco Lotus need to have a talk to the supplier as he is ripping them off (try 3-4 satang)

So? Better they're donating 20 setang per purchase than 3-4 setang. Plus they could have including handling, delivery to the stores, etc in the 20 setang price as well.

With every transaction I think they mean every cloth bag they sell at 50 Baht they will donate 20 satang.

[stevenl]

20 satang, the cost of the bag not used

what bullsh"t, i think the purchase dept at Tesco Lotus need to have a talk to the supplier as he is ripping them off (try 3-4 satang)

So? Better they're donating 20 setang per purchase than 3-4 setang. Plus they could have including handling, delivery to the stores, etc in the 20 setang price as well.

With every transaction I think they mean every cloth bag they sell at 50 Baht they will donate 20 satang.

Yes, you can think that, but that is not what is says. It also does not make sense considering his next line 'the cost of the bag not used'.

Edited May 14, 2014 by stevenl

[huuwi]

Good for them, lets hope other shopping outlets follow suit now. 7/11's are bad offenders at this they put plastic bags inside plastic bags !

just say no to the staff if you shop only smal items

[bkkjames]

Big C has them by the checkouts for 20 baht a bag

[JesseFrank]

20 satang, the cost of the bag not used

what bullsh"t, i think the purchase dept at Tesco Lotus need to have a talk to the supplier as he is ripping them off (try 3-4 satang)

So? Better they're donating 20 setang per purchase than 3-4 setang. Plus they could have including handling, delivery to the stores, etc in the 20 setang price as well.

With every transaction I think they mean every cloth bag they sell at 50 Baht they will donate 20 satang.

Yes, you can think that, but that is not what is says. It also does not make sense considering his next line 'the cost of the bag not used'.

I'm pretty sure it says exactly that, because there is completely no mention at all that the transaction concerns every transaction made in the store, but it says this.

“We have gotten positive feedback on the cloth bags. They have a Thai design on them and make good souvenirs – we sell about 50 a day,” Mr Charkrit said.

For every transaction in each store, the company will donate 20 satang, the cost of the bag not used,

[LivinginKata]

Good for them, lets hope other shopping outlets follow suit now. 7/11's are bad offenders at this they put plastic bags inside plastic bags !

just say no to the staff if you shop only smal items

I do refuse the plastic bag. Staff look at me like I am crazy for not wanting the item bagged. I guess they are trained to bag everything.

[JesseFrank]

Good for them, lets hope other shopping outlets follow suit now. 7/11's are bad offenders at this they put plastic bags inside plastic bags !

just say no to the staff if you shop only smal items

I do refuse the plastic bag. Staff look at me like I am crazy for not wanting the item bagged. I guess they are trained to bag everything.

If a single item I also refuse the bag, but when a few items and especially when with the motorbike, a bag come in handy.

In my homecountry supermarkets don't give bags for many years already.

In Aldi or Lidl they provide used carton boxes for free at the exit, and of course you're able to buy a reusable plastic bag.

In Carrefour the only option is to buy a reusable bag which you have to bring with you each time. The result is that I have a box full of reusable bags already, since each time I go shopping at Carrefour I forget the bag at home or in the car and only think about it when at the check out counter.

[Guest]

I'm a bit divided what to think of this.

I don't want to see plastics on the road shoulders, but on the other hand plastic bags are very cost (and energy) efficient for transferring goods back to home. The bags also double as trash bags.

Education would be better option, compared to stop using plastic bags.. but that would probably take an decade here.

Tip of the day: The thin bags don't break so easily if there is no sharp corners on the goods. While packing things to the bags, it takes only few seconds to crush the corners of for example instant coffee packages.

[stevenl]

So? Better they're donating 20 setang per purchase than 3-4 setang. Plus they could have including handling, delivery to the stores, etc in the 20 setang price as well.

With every transaction I think they mean every cloth bag they sell at 50 Baht they will donate 20 satang.

Yes, you can think that, but that is not what is says. It also does not make sense considering his next line 'the cost of the bag not used'.

I'm pretty sure it says exactly that, because there is completely no mention at all that the transaction concerns every transaction made in the store, but it says this.

“We have gotten positive feedback on the cloth bags. They have a Thai design on them and make good souvenirs – we sell about 50 a day,” Mr Charkrit said.

For every transaction in each store, the company will donate 20 satang, the cost of the bag not used,

Huh? Did you read your own quotes?

[seabass69]

I think Tesco Lotus just ran out of plastic bags, and because they couldn't cover it up with black paint, some bright spark piped up with "Why don't we just have a 'no plastic bag' campaign?"

[jpeg]

I do refuse the plastic bag. Staff look at me like I am crazy for not wanting the item bagged. I guess they are trained to bag everything.

Same. But. There are some things where a cloth bag won't work. Try shoving a kilo of fish/gaeng som takeaway in one However, do see an opening for some industrious Thai to reinvent the banana leaf wrap

[LivinginKata]

I think Makro has the right idea - no plastic bags available at all. I keep some spare bags in the back of the car and bag the groceries from trolley into car. Yes I know Makro is more a wholesale operation, but there are still plenty casual shoppers use Makro.

[phuketjock]

I think Makro has the right idea - no plastic bags available at all. I keep some spare bags in the back of the car and bag the groceries from trolley into car. Yes I know Makro is more a wholesale operation, but there are still plenty casual shoppers use Makro.

I cannot believe this old chestnut is back again

Makro has just as many if not more plastic bags than the supermarkets.

I and almost every Thai, and many expats, I see shopping in Makro go

to the veg section and collect their plastic bags to put their small purchases

in just like going to the checkout at tesco. no plastic bags 555555.

The problem is not plastic bags the problem is littering but the large chain

supermarkets see a chance to make more money by stopping the use of

plastic bags instead of spending a little of their obscene profits on bio-degradable

bags. But the dumb public cannot see the way they are being hoodwinked by

these large corporations.

Why can some of these large outlets make the effort to give their customers

bio-degradable plastic bags????? and thereby contributed to the environmental

wellbeing of the country

Tesco should be ashamed of themselves not congratulated for boosting their

profits by banning plastic bags.

[LivinginKata]

<snip>

Makro has just as many if not more plastic bags than the supermarkets.

I and almost every Thai, and many expats, I see shopping in Makro go

to the veg section and collect their plastic bags to put their small purchases

in just like going to the checkout at tesco. no plastic bags 555555.

I never thought of that idea. Thanks for that tip ...

[ben2203]

20 satang, the cost of the bag not used

what bullsh"t, i think the purchase dept at Tesco Lotus need to have a talk to the supplier as he is ripping them off (try 3-4 satang)

There is no 3-4 satang, satang denominations are 25 and 50, and 100 satang make 1 baht. Were you thinking of baht, perhaps?

Edited May 14, 2014 by ben2203

[Estrada]

20 years ago my Rotary Club tried to get Tesco Lotus to do away with plastic bags and use our free reusable cloth carrier bags. They were not interested so we gave them to another supermarket chain. Now 20 years later they have tried it again at Seacon Square, but few customers can be seen using reusable bags. It is difficult to get customers to change their habits

The trouble with so called biodegradable bags is that many suppliers sell what they call biodegradable bags which are not easily degradable or if degradable leach toxic materials into the environment. For this reason bags cannot be sold as biodegradable in some parts of the United States.

I use the plastic bags as bin liners so I do not have any wasted bags, as otherwise I would have to buy bin liners.

[eezergood]

Yet if you try to use the cloth bags in Big C - Jungceylon, the security made us empty everything so they could see!!! NEVER AGAIN!!!

[Guest]

The change of habits does not come from forcing people to switch from plastic bags to cloth bags. People simply walk away and get to another shop.

There could still be possibilities to change the habits by offering something else instead.

I'm also one of those who tried cloth bags, but always failed to get them back to the shop. After couple of times I opted for plastic bags (which do not get wet while riding scooter on rain).

Some kind of return policy of cloth bags could be working solution. If the cost of production is for example 10 baht, then the shop could sell these bags for 20 baht, like they do now.

Shop could arrange a recycling of these bags. In case I have forgotten to take the old bag with me.. for 5 times I have a stack of cloth bags in my home. Next time I get to the shop I could return these bags to the shop and for that I would get 5 free bags next times I do shopping in Tesco.

For the 10 baht difference between production costs and sales price, the shop could replace broken bags and put them in to a washer, if needed. Maybe even make a profit of baht or two per bag.

This would be similar recycle process as is already in place for 20 litre water tanks.

[MMarlow]

20 satang, the cost of the bag not used

what bullsh"t, i think the purchase dept at Tesco Lotus need to have a talk to the supplier as he is ripping them off (try 3-4 satang)

There is no 3-4 satang, satang denominations are 25 and 50, and 100 satang make 1 baht. Were you thinking of baht, perhaps?

"20 satang, the cost of the bag not used"

There's no 20 satang coin either. Just because there isn't a coin of that denomination doesn't mean the cost of an item cannot be calculated using that figure.

[janpoo]

Amazing Thailand!!!!!!! Nice picture. Thailand: Hollywood, dreamworld and fantasy island. ONLY PHUKET!!!!!!!

Stop with all this shit.

[rotorbreeze]

Good for them, lets hope other shopping outlets follow suit now. 7/11's are bad offenders at this they put plastic bags inside plastic bags !

Tesco will make lots of money for patrons wanting the plastic bags...same same back in Canada...thou here in Pattaya I carry a cloth sack that once housed some shoes I bought..great bag..washable and small enough to put in my motorcycle jacket. Yes I seem to be the odd fellow wearing a summer vented motorcycle jacket while shopping, while others are in cut offs and Hawaii shirts. At the check out I bring out the cloth bag to replace the plastic bags...seem the cashier will continue to put in plastic..it is my responsibility to put product in bag... No problem with me..thou on now that I have a full cloth bags the extras are double bagged as to keep the bag from failing...ya see no mater what how I try to save the oil and reduce waste it will only work once more patrons use recyclable shopping bags or impose a price placed on plastic...Tesco will make a lot of money on sale of cloth bags a win win situation.

At home I clean and separate recyclable materials, am I taking a job away from a Thai garbage trucks?

Hope others will take up the cause of REDUCING THE PLASTIC in landfill sites. This is a start in saving our planet,,it is up to YOU to make the choice..my choice is saving the planet..oh yes I sleep well knowing my actions.

[Torrens54]

Oh come on, who are they trying to fool?

ANSWER: The Customers!

Forget all the Bull Dust about "saving the environment" this SCAM has been tried in many other countries already. All TESCO LOTUS wants to do is increase its Bottom Line. Don't buy it folks, shop where the store provides you with a BIO-DEGRADABLE Bag.