PM announces plastic-bag-free campaign on World Environment Day

[Jeremy50]

A first step should be to discard the law that every customer who buy something liquid must get a straw.

I think it's great to get a straw wrapped in plastic.

I don't want to drink out of some can a cat might have pissed on or a chipped bottle top!

Oh you poor dear. Bit too much trouble to wipe the top of the can or bottle ? Where I come from, seeing a MAN using a straw, would cause comic reaction.

The remote wooded hills of Georgia or Alabama perhaps. How many pairs of dungarees DO you have?

[Emster23]

In my home town of Portland Oregon, plastic bags and Styrofoam are banned. Somehow businesses and consumers still function. The place is clean. How does Thailand expect to draw "quality tourists" when all that filth is scattered nearly everywhere?

[enjoybeing]

Love it!! I am so impressed with this Prime Minister! His wisdom is unparalleled in my opinion. I Love so much, his concerns for the ecology and the economy. I'm from America and I believe this man has more common sense than all of Washington D.C. put together!! Sure wish we had someone in charge like that there..

[northernphil]

On a serious point. Do T/Lotus insist on everything going into a bag have another reason ? Just maybe when passing by security doorman ,his job is to see if everything has been bagged. If all you bought was loose and no bags you could drop something else on top more easily. Saying that ,no bags at Makro , hurrah for Makro. Should be a sign outside 7-eleven " Buy one plastic bag and get one free "

[Basil B]

I welcome the reduction of use of plastic bags, but mine are saved and used as bin liners.

Here in the UK England plastic bags are still free until October this year, but then I will have to buy plastic bin liners, or wash them out and re use them, then we will use more water that then becomes wast water and has to be treated, hardly environmentally friendly.

What next re use toilet paper...

I also use bags for other purposes like storing documents, unfortunately a few years I used a lot of Tesco bags that I was unaware that they were degradable and have now turned into confetti.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Basil B

[BigBadGeordie]

I welcome the reduction of use of plastic bags, but mine are saved and used as bin liners.

Here in the UK England plastic bags are still free until October this year, but then I will have to buy plastic bin liners, or wash them out and re use them, then we will use more water that then becomes wast water and has to be treated, hardly environmentally friendly.

What next re use toilet paper...

I also use bags for other purposes like storing documents, unfortunately a few years I used a lot of Tesco bags that I was unaware that they were degradable and have now turned into confetti.

I don't use bin liners, nor do I use toilet paper.

[johng]

How did the Thais buy their food at the market before the west gave them plastic bags? [emoji33]

They used naturall products like banana leaves...now there are 76 ( odd ) million mouths wanting food everyday how long would the banana trees last ????

maybe there just needs to be an "incentive" to collect and recycle plastic bags ( and anything else plastic ) and the "problem" will mostly be solved.

[eliotness]

Tesco (and other supermarkets) in the UK sell reusable bags and give you extra points on your loyalty card if you use an old bag or a reusable one (usually cotton mix). Tesco in Thailand started selling multi-use bags (strong plastic ones, not quite the same) but my local store no longer has them on display. As I've never seen a local Thai using these bags I guess they weren't selling.

To say that the extensive use of plastic bags is part of Thai culture is really not true. Plastic only appeared post WW2 and plastic bags only really appeared when supermarkets mushroomed in every city, town and village, say from the early 60s onwards( Thailand would have been much later ). So before plastic bags flooded the market, what did Thai shoppers actually use ? As the PM wants to return to Thai traditional values, why not use this as a starter !!!!!!!

How far back do you want to go?

At one time, things were wrapped in banana leaves.

It is o.k. to throw those on the ground!

Banana leaves are biodegradable, very quickly. Biodegradable packaging is usually made from starch derived products, such as tapioca (cassava), which Thailand has in abundance, so using such materials would reduce the use of oil based feedstuffs and help the farmers and the environment. A win win solution for Thailand don't you think ?

[cardinalblue]

Should charge a deposit fee on all recycled bottles as an incentive to recycle them...

Many places just don't have plastic bags anymore...Can still get paper bags if request but now some are charging 5 or 10 cents a bag.

Must create financial incentives or fees to bring about behavioral change..

one day a month asking consumers not to use plastic is nothing but lip service...ThaI Gov lacks leadership thru enforced regulation - so afraid to inconvenience anyone...

CB

Edited June 7, 2015 by cardinalblue

[SABloke]

You're gonna have to drink your Nam Daeng very quickly if it's served i a cloth bag

[malt25]

A first step should be to discard the law that every customer who buy something liquid must get a straw.

I think it's great to get a straw wrapped in plastic.

I don't want to drink out of some can a cat might have pissed on or a chipped bottle top!

Oh you poor dear. Bit too much trouble to wipe the top of the can or bottle ? Where I come from, seeing a MAN using a straw, would cause comic reaction.

The remote wooded hills of Georgia or Alabama perhaps. How many pairs of dungarees DO you have?

Care to enlighten us how many guys you've seen drinking a beer, using a straw ? Go into a club or beer bar & order a bottled beer + a straw. If you do you have bigger balls than me. Or maybe you take your own straw. Fit in your purse ok ?

[uptheos]

A first step should be to discard the law that every customer who buy something liquid must get a straw.

I think it's great to get a straw wrapped in plastic.

I don't want to drink out of some can a cat might have pissed on or a chipped bottle top!

Oh you poor dear. Bit too much trouble to wipe the top of the can or bottle ? Where I come from, seeing a MAN using a straw, would cause comic reaction.

The remote wooded hills of Georgia or Alabama perhaps. How many pairs of dungarees DO you have

Excellent, sometimes you just have to let another sensible person answer for you.

[dageurreotype]

A good start could be made at every 7/11 where EVERYTHING comes in at least 1 plastic bag and they are cheap and nasty plastic bags too.

Lol cheap and nasty plastic bags, are there any other kind?

This 7/11 thing has been promulgated many times in the past and has lasted but one day, if that. However just ONE branch of Tesco Lotus on the island of Phuket refuses to hand them out. The others can pack every single item individually if they so choose A better idea would be to expand their innovative cassava derived eco products to carrier bags or charge for plastic. Another idea would be many more trash bins, and a weekly free pickup of the mountains of stinking half filled food bags from outside workers' camps/implemented fines on flytippers.

Righto. Prayut's had his 'idea du jour' let's see this one sink without trace along with the rest of them.

[uptheos]

The remote wooded hills of Georgia or Alabama perhaps. How many pairs of dungarees DO you have?

Care to enlighten us how many guys you've seen drinking a beer, using a straw ? Go into a club or beer bar & order a bottled beer + a straw. If you do you have bigger balls than me. Or maybe you take your own straw. Fit in your purse ok ?

I guess you only drink beer all day eh?

Thought so, what a man!

[MikeN]

Tesco (and other supermarkets) in the UK sell reusable bags and give you extra points on your loyalty card if you use an old bag or a reusable one (usually cotton mix). Tesco in Thailand started selling multi-use bags (strong plastic ones, not quite the same) but my local store no longer has them on display. As I've never seen a local Thai using these bags I guess they weren't selling.

To say that the extensive use of plastic bags is part of Thai culture is really not true. Plastic only appeared post WW2 and plastic bags only really appeared when supermarkets mushroomed in every city, town and village, say from the early 60s onwards( Thailand would have been much later ). So before plastic bags flooded the market, what did Thai shoppers actually use ? As the PM wants to return to Thai traditional values, why not use this as a starter !!!!!!!

My local Tesco still sells them ,but the checkout staff don't know what to do with them !

I tried using cloth bags when I first moved here, as I did in Aus., but the girls just put my stuff in plastic bags first and then into the cloth bags !

[slerickson]

Would be easy.....

Make a 50 Satang deposit on every plastic bag and every shop that has plastic bags (good enough if the big one does, 7/11, lotus, big C, etc) must take them back no matter what logo on them and how old/dirty.

People want less.

Plastic bags in the environment will be brought back

In Portland, Oregon plastic bags were simply banned. Stores went back to paper and people were encouraged to use cloth sacks. Plastic bottles for pop, etc have a 5 cent deposit. Numerous cities in U.S. Are banning the sale of water in bottles. So things could be done here but the loss of plastic bags and baggies here could lead to cases of PTSD.

[coulson]

Numerous cities in U.S. Are banning the sale of water in bottles.

Just out of curiosity, what will replace the bottles?

[slerickson]

Numerous cities in U.S. Are banning the sale of water in bottles.

Just out of curiosity, what will replace the bottles?

From the tapper. U.S. Water systems are pretty good.

[eliotness]

The plastic in water bottles is easy to collect and recycle. Really it's the plastic bags of all sizes that are everywhere, not suitable for recycling, therefore have no collectable value, so are just dumped.