A campaign is being launched in the social media through change.org web page to demand major convenience stores to charge their customers for the use of single-use plastic bags in a bid to cut back plastic trash.
So far, 5,000 netizens have signed up the campaign to urge 7-Eleven, Lotus, Big C convenience stores and major shopping malls like Central and The Mall groups to charge their customers for the use of plastic bags.
Mr Korawit Buranakit, one of the initiators of the campaign, said Thursday that Thailand ranks the world’s Number 6 country for releasing plastic trash into the sea, posing a serious threat to marine lives and the environment.
To reverse the trend, he said that convenience store chains and major shopping malls could help make the change by stopping handing out free plastic bags to their customers and to charge them instead and, through this method, he expected that the use of single-use plastic bags could be cut down 80-90 percent within a short period of time.
He pointed out that the cost of plastic bags was chicken’s feed, but the cost of proper disposal was huge besides their long-term threats to the environment.
It was reported that all stores at the Salaya campus of Mahidol University has stopped giving free plastic bags to their customers but, instead, are charging two baht for each bag on their customers.
The result, according to the report, is impressive with the amount of plastic bags being cut to 4,795 bags a month from 102,455 bags a month within the first three months since the launch of the no-free plastic bag campaign.
Mr Korawit said he had targeted to collect up to 100,000 signatures after which a list of the signatures would be submitted to the convenience store chains and major shopping malls to seek their cooperation to cut down the use of plastic bags.
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