BANGKOK, Nov 8 (TNA) — The government and the private sector have launched a campaign for shops to stop giving single-use plastic shopping bags from Jan 1 next year.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and 47 private organizations including CP All PCL and PTT Group launched the campaign in front of United Center building on Silom Road.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said shops, department stores and convenience stores of the 47 private organizations would stop giving single-use plastic shopping bags from Jan 1, 2020 onwards and would campaign for the use of cloth bags and substitutes that were environment-friendly instead.
According to the minister, campaigns over the past year reduced the use of single-use plastic shopping bags by more than 2 billion bags equivalent to 5,755 tons of plastic. That included about 830 million plastic bags unneeded at 7-Eleven stores that were turned into 166-million-baht donation.
In the past four months, department stores reduced the plastic bag use by about 10 million bags, also thanks to cooperation from consumers and tourists who became aware of environmental conservation and danger from marine plastic debris, Mr Varawut said.
He hoped that Thailand could halve its plastic garbage next year and stop the use of single-use plastic products in 2021. (TNA)
