Plastic Fantastic

I went to Tesco on Monday to restock a very empty fridge after our trip to Hong Kong and, as I always do, took along my reusable fabric shopping bags. In our increasingly eco-conscious world, this is fast becoming the norm. In a last-ditch attempt to save our sickening planet, the citizens of many countries are shunning plastic bags in favour of reusable bags that won’t clog our rivers, suffocate our animals or pollute our seas. Thailand, unfortunately, is not one of those countries. The Thais have an enduring love of plastic bags and try their hardest to use them, and as many of them, as possible. They even eat and drink from them. If you buy an iced coffee or a juice from a hawker, chances are it'll be poured into a plastic bag, tied tightly at the top. Similarly, soup or indeed any other edible items bought from a street-seller will be popped into a plastic bag, twirled around and tied securely. Sometimes they will even put the plastic bag containing your food or drink into another plastic bag. Anywhere you go, whatever you buy, the shop assistants will try to put your purchase in a plastic bag. I once bought a single pen and the cashier immediately produced a large bag before I stopped her, saying that I could just put it in my handbag. As always in these situations, I was given a look which was confused yet amused at the same time. Another strange farang with their weird ways, she was probably thinking. I mean, fancy wanting to put a purchase into your own bag when you could have a brand new, shiny plastic bag completely free of charge.

I have long been bringing my own reusable bags along to the shops with me and, in England, it was easy. No-one batted an eyelid, in fact the cashiers encouraged it. In Hong Kong, previously a plastic bag nation, customers are now charged a small amount for each plastic bag they use. When I was at a supermarket while I was there I noticed that almost everyone in the queues at the check-out had their own cotton bags. In Thailand, however, they actually make it difficult for you not to use their own plastic bags. Upon entering Tesco I was ordered to leave my bags at a customer service desk, presumably to make it harder for me to steal, although they didn't seem concerned about the enormous handbag hanging from my shoulder. When I was ready to go the till to pay, I had to push my rather heavy trolly all the way down to the other end of the store to collect my bags so that I could use them to pack my shopping in.

After loading up my shopping onto the conveyor belt, I strode to the front and put my reusable bags onto the surface, next to an open plastic bag the cashier had readied. She glanced at my bags, scanned the first item and then promptly dropped it into her plastic bag. Ok, not to worry, I thought, it's meat so it should probably go into a plastic bag anyway. The yoghurts, too. Except she put each pack of yoghurts into a separate bag. That was really not necessary so I, the annoying farang, intervened. She glared at me as I took out the second pack of yoghurts and put it in the bag with the first. I know from previous experiences to be prepared so I held up my cotton bag, opened it wide and, as soon as she scanned the bag of honey pears, I motioned for her to give them to me and from then on just took everything and packed it all in myself. That is another gripe I have. The cashiers seem to think that each bag can only hold one or two items, simply adding to unnecessary number of plastic bags used. If I let them pack my bags, I would still have to use five or six plastic bags as there would only be a bag of crisps and a couple of cucumbers in each one.

It's a bit of a battle but I emerge triumphant, having only used two plastic bags - one for meat and fish and another for the yoghurts. Let's hope I can hold my nerve on my next supermarket trip.