#HTE

As Plastic Bag Ban Hits Thailand, Consumers Adapt With Variety of Household Carrying Items

The “innovation” that we see coming out of the world’s top three economies–the U.S., China and Japan, in that order–are often technology-based, and of dubious value. (At the currently-running CES, you can see a summonable robot whose sole function is to bring you toilet paper if you’re on the bowl and have run out.) Meanwhile we’re seeing effective, ecological-minded steps being enacted by so-called poor countries. For instance Thailand, ranked 26th in GDP, has supermarkets that have started wrapping produce in banana leaves rather than plastic.

Now that country is taking another massive step towards the reduction of single-use plastic, with a newly-enacted plastic bag ban. Major stores are now barred from using them, with smaller shops expected to comply by 2021. As a result, Thai consumers are using all manner of household objects to carry home groceries and such:

It’s hard to decide which is my favorite, but I feel that the T-shirt guy should get a special mention.

See more photos at ROV ?????’s Facebook page.