BANGKOK — Starting this July, plastic bags at HomePro will cost one baht each.
Home-improvement megastore HomePro is Thailand’s latest retailer to attempt to decrease plastic bag use. From July 1, customers who insist on receiving a plastic bag will have to pay one baht per bag.
The store hopes the policy will prompt customers to switch to reusable cloth bags.
“The point is we have to start with ourselves and then expand the initiative to the [customers],” HomePro’s communications head Siriwan Sermcheep said.
In 2016, HomePro began banning plastic bags on the 4th, 14th, and 24th of every month.
The store claims that proceeds from the new policy will be donated to charity, but did not give details about which charity. HomePro officials could not be contacted as of press time. The store expects the new campaign to save at least 1.5 million plastic bags a year.
Last week, Central Group, the nation’s top retailing conglomerate, announced that it will cease providing plastic bags at all its stores, except at its supermarket chains such as Tops Market and Central Food Hall.
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