THAILAND TRAVEL NEWS: Visitors to Phuket should get used to carrying their own shopping bags with them next year after the majority of the island province’s major retailers agreed to stop providing free plastic bags to shoppers.

The agreement, drafted in an attempt to reduce the 500 tonnes (1,100lb) of garbage generated daily on the island, will come into affect on February 14 next year and includes Carrfour, Robinson, Big C, Family Mart, 108 Shop, Index Living Mall, and Homepro. The only two major retailers not yet to sign-up to the agreement is British-based grocery outlet Tesco-Lotus and 7-Eleven who both claim to be waiting on head office approval.

Chaired by Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, the signing ceremony was told that the island currently generates about twice as much garbage each day as the municipal incinerators are able to dispose of with the excess plod into low-lying landfill.

The ban on providing free plastic carry bags as a matter of course at check-outs is the first of its kind in Thailand and it is hoped it will help reduce waste levels on the island.

While research figures vary, it is generally acknowledged that plastic bags take between 10 and 20-years to decompose, while items such as plastic drink bottles and disposable diapers need a staggering 450-years and styrofoam never decomposes.

By John Le Fevre

Thailand Travel News for December 10, 2009




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