All 2,000 of Tesco Lotus’ stores across Thailand will replace their plastic bags with reusable paper ones, on Dec. 4, aka our national Environment Day.
At a press conference on Friday, the hypermarket super-chain announced they had entered into a partnership with SCG Packaging PCL in order to move towards a “circular economy.”
For those unfamiliar with the term, “circular economy” essentially refers to keeping resources in use for as long as possible, extracting the maximum value you can from them, then recovering and recycling the materials instead of throwing them away.
In line with that concept, the new line of paper bags will reportedly be made from the same pre-used paper boxes that Tesco already uses for produce packaging and shipping.
With environmental efforts in the land of double-bagging increasingly under the spotlight amid stories of sea creatures dying after eating plastic bags, there has been a noticeable uptick in efforts by large conglomerates to “go green.”
Aside from Tesco, malls and stores all over the kingdom have already agreed to stop using plastic bags on National Environmental Day. None of the retail chains — Tesco included — have given any indication when, if ever, they will make these kinds of plastic-reduction efforts permanent.
CORRECTION: Due to a mistranslation of Tesco’s press release, the original version of the story mistakenly stated that Tesco would switch from plastic to paper bags on a permanent basis starting Dec. 4. It will, sadly, be for just a day. We apologize for any confusion caused.
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