How Many Plastic Bags Do You Use?

[Guest fountainhall]

I wonder how many readers have bought their own shopping bags rather than relying on the plastic offerings of supermarkets and other shops (I have, but must admit I do not always take it with me!). As we all know, the world is slowly drowning in a sea of plastic bags, the vast majority of which are not bio-degradable. In Hong Kong, if you have not brought a bag with you and want the shop to give you one of their own plastic bags, you now have to pay a government tax of just over 2 Bt. per bag. It is too soon to know if this is working effectively, but hurting consumers in the pocket is surely one way of persuading us all to bring our own shopping bags here in Thailand.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I do have my own bags, but I also get plastic bags from the supermarket on occasion. I recycle then as garbage bags, so I am not buying garbage bags.

[Gaybutton]

I recycle then as garbage bags, so I am not buying garbage bags.

That's what I do too. While I realize that plastic bags take about 50,000 years to break down, when I consider the number of plastic bags in use worldwide every day and the futility of the "if everybody refused to use them" argument, I don't feel guilty about accepting plastic bags and shopping without carrying around my own shopping bag.

 

I use the plastic bags I get for trash can liners and as garbage bags. As far as recycling is concerned, at least in residential housing areas you don't have to worry about that. Every day, usually several times per day, garbage pickers come by, go through everybody's outdoor trash cans, and take just about anything that can be sold or recycled. There are plastic recycling centers in Pattaya. There's a large one close to where I live. That's where the garbage pickers take all the plastic they gather and sell their load for whatever amount they can get.

[Bob]

I do the same type of recycling but not enough.

 

It's admirable that individuals do their part but, frankly, the problem won't be solved or significantly lessened until the government steps in and bans the use of non-biodegradable bags and packaging. Unfortunately, plastic bags are strewn all over Thailand.

[Guest joseph44]

I get far too many bags, more than I ever will use.

I tried to solve this problem on my behalf by buying a storage box which could contain a weeks shopping. Easy to carry, since I live in a condominium and need to climb 2 stairs.

So easy for me and good for environment...........until I tried to take the box into one of the many supermarkets.

I made 3 attempts on different occasions, times and places and than I gave up. No supermarket allowed me to take the box into the store in order to save bags and the environment.

So now the box is in the back of the car........and I take my groceries "bagged" from the supermarket and deposit them in the box and at home the bags will be collected and periodically handed over to a friend in the 'outback'.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

I have a styrofoam box that I take with me when I go to Makro for frozen foods, milk, butter, etc. They have never refused to let me take it in. Sometimes they look inside, however, but I always take it in.

 

Villa Market's plastic bags are biodegradable.

 

An alternative is those brightly colored zip shopping bags you can buy all over Pattaya.

[Guest]

Even if I put every item of food in it's own plastic bag, the total energy consumption for my shopping trip will be below the UK average, as I drive a small diesel rather than some very large 4x4.

The government & the retailers want to be seen to be "doing something" but they focus on the peripheral issues rather than the significant ones.

 

Taxing excessive packaging at source is the most efficient way of dealing with such issues.

 

You know the type of thing e.g. breakfast cereals often have two layers of packaging, just because that's the convention. In reality, one layer can do the job.

[Guest Oogleman]

guilty as charged. End up with stacks of them. Those that dont get filled with rubbish end up in the bin.

[Guest fountainhall]

I guess we're all guilty. It's just too easy to use the plastic bags as bin liners -and probably difficult to find bio-degradable bin liners (i've never even looked for them).

 

I agree that excessive packaging is part of the problem (although a lot of packaging is not plastic), as are indivdual and government lack of concern. But we have to start somewhere, and if we as individuals don't, how can we expect others to do so?

[colmx]

Around 6 years ago the Irish govt started charging a tax of 15c (30THB) per plastic bag

This went up to 22c 2 year ago

 

No matter what - i could never persuade BF to re-use or not to take a plastic bag when he goes shopping here... it seems to just be against his nature

 

The tax is going up to 44c (88Baht!) PER bag later this year.... There is no way in hell anyone will continue using plastic bags at that price!

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Did your BF pay for the plastic bags? I bet if he had to pay it himself he would change his tune.

[Guest]

I bet some of our number drive cars that do less than 40mpg & the waste of oil from driving such inefficient cars is enormous in comparison with the effect of using a couple more shopping bags than is necessary.

 

Energy saving light bulbs are another political favourite. The politicians seem totally oblivious to the fact that the extra energy used by an old fashioned light bulb is given off as heat. In a cold country like the UK this heat is NOT waste, but is a valuable contribution to keeping your house warm for at least 7 months of the year.

Ignoring this means the benefit of energy saving light bulbs is vastly overstated.

[Rogie]

Energy saving light bulbs are another political favourite. The politicians seem totally oblivious to the fact that the extra energy used by an old fashioned light bulb is given off as heat. In a cold country like the UK this heat is NOT waste, but is a valuable contribution to keeping your house warm for at least 7 months of the year.

 

Agreed. I am doing exactly that in those 'in between' months of late September and October before I switch the heating on. I close the door to my small study, switch on my anglepoise lamp with its 60watt light bulb and this, together with the heat generated by my desktop PC keeps me nice and cosy whilst I type these words.

 

Regarding alternatives to plastic bags, for the past couple of years I've used one made out of jute. Despite being used regularly to carry several bottles of beer/wine so that it is sometimes 'groaning' under the weight, it shows absolutely no signs of wear at all.

 

http://www.jutexpo.co.uk/

[billyhouston]

The tax is going up to 44c (88Baht!) PER bag later this year....

 

I knew the Euro was strong, but hadn't realised that it was that strong.

[Gaybutton]

Any form of recycling is a good idea. I think Thailand has a long way to go before the general population concerns itself very much with recycling, but there are some things already in progress. For example, many people buy trash cans, the ones you put outside for trash collection, and they're made out of used tires. And, as I mentioned above, there are plastic recycling centers.

 

Lvdkeyes mentioned that Villa Market uses biodegradable plastic bags. The bags don't look or feel any different from other plastic bags, so it would seem to me that it shouldn't take too much effort for all stores and shops to transition to biodegradable bags.