Fashion
Discount retailer Tesco Lotus said it saved a million plastic bags in the first day of a government campaign to stop use of disposable sacks on the 15th of every month.
The Department of Environmental Quality Promotion has enrolled 15 retailers in the programme that began Saturday. Charkrit Direkwattanachai, Tesco Lotus’ head of corporate communication and sustainability, said the company has set a goal to save 40 million plastic bags in 2015 under its own “proud not to use plastic bags” campaign.
The store began efforts to reduce plastic use in 2010 and so far has saved 50 million bags.
According to statistics from the Pollution Control Department, the average Thai uses eight plastic bags per day; a total of 2.7 million tonnes of plastic and polystyrene foam waste or an average of 7,000 tonnes per day. Of that, 80%, or 5,300 tonnes, is plastic bags, which generally take up to 450 years to degrade.
