Bangkok--26 Jul--Polyplus PR
Central Food Hall and Tops wish to create society free of plastic bags and announce a Plastic Bag free day on every 3rd of the month. Also stop using plastic straws and change to corn starch straws. 277 branches nationwide aim to reduce the number plastic bags this year by 3 million.
Central Food Hall and Tops, the leading premium supermarket chain is announcing its wish to be a leading green retailer by joining forces with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Together they'll launch and support the campaign "Tops... Follow your Heart and Save the Environment", and will stop giving plastic bags to its customers on every 3rd day of the month from August to December 2018. With all 277 branches nationwide joining the campaign, we will reduce the number of plastic bags by a whopping 3 million bags this year. We also stop using plastic straws and change to biodegradable straws made from corn starch. These 100% natural straws which will break down and degrade in just 6 months.
General SurasakKarnjanarat, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment says "thegovernment is very concerned about waste problems especially plastic waste. The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has put this issue as a "National Agenda" point and we get support and response from the public sector, who had and have been organizing numerous supportive campaigns and activities, especially in the period from Earth day on the 22nd of April to World Environment Day on June 5th 2018.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is concerned and realizes the environmental pollution problems coming from plastic waste. The Ministry is continuously working on the problem and is trying to push a "plastic ban" in Thailand, but the fact remains that Thailand has a yearly comsumption of 45 billion plastic bags, 6.8 billion foam food containers and 9.8 billion plastic cups. Items that are used only once and then disposed. This plastic and foam waste degrades very slowly and the plastic pollution affects the land, waterways and oceans and killing living organisms, particularly marine animals.
Toxic chemicals in plastics also have a long term negative health effect in human beings. We currently are organizing campaigns and activities such as "Ban Plastic", banning plastic bags in Government offices, Universities and markets that are ready to join the campaign, " Reduce Plastic", reducing the number of plastic bags used in shopping malls and convenience stores. " New Innovation", finding alternative packaging materials instead of plastics and foams. "Waste Separation", it's everyone's responsibility to separate plastic waste so it can be recycled. It is also everyone's duty to reduce plastic waste for a better environment. The Public Sector is playing an important role in launching campaigns and activities to engage the people and create awareness. The "Tops... Do Good Deeds from the Heart and Save the Environment" campaign by Central Food Hall and Tops shows that responsibility and is fully in support of the Government's policy to reduce plastic waste in Thailand
PhattarapornPhenpraphat, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations of Central Food Retail Company Limited – operators of Central Food Hall and Tops, says " we received great feedback and support from our customers during our International Plastic Bag Free Day campaign on July 3rd 2018 in our 193 branches nationwide. We were able to reduce giving and using 480,000 plastic bags in just one day. It's our intention to start convincing an encouraging all Thais to use re-usable cloth bags and to not only decline plastic bags but to stop using them completely.
From the positive feedback from our customers during "The One Day" campaign, we believe that people realise about the plastic waste problem and want to do their part in preserving the environment, To keep the momentum going, we are working together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and are launching the campaign: "Tops... Do Good Deeds from the Heart and Save the Environment". We will stop giving plastic bags to our customers on each 3rd day of the month starting in August until December 2018 in all our 277 branches and Tops Online outlets nationwide. Compared to the 193 outlets of the previous campaign, a significant increase of outlets. Customers are urged to bring their own re-usable cloth grocery bags and will receive 8 bonus points on their One Cards when they do,For customers who forget to bring their own shopping bags, we have paper boxes prepared, of course free of charge. To help the environment and support this fantastic campaign, you can also purchase re-usable cloth grocery bags priced at 29 Baht and up.
To further emphasize that the company is going full force in becoming a totally green retail organization, we also announce the following environmental activities:
1. From August 1st 2018, we will stop using plastic straws in all branches of Central food hall, Tops and Segafredocoffee shops and change to biodegradable corn starch straws, that are a 100% natural and break down and degrade in only 6 months.
2. We are a retail organization that doesn't use foam food containers; in fact, we haven't used foam food containers since year 2015.
3. We support the "Say No to Plastic Forks and Spoons" campaign
4. A promotion campaign in all branches of Segafredo Cafe: "Bring your own cup and get a free upsize of all menu items, which equals to a 10 to 15 Baht discount.
The company has created a budget of 15Million bahtto run the campaign during the 6 months' period. The budget is used to add points to the club card, the cost of he biodegradable straws and to offer special promotions to our customers. We expect to reduce the number of plastic bags by 3 million this year and in the future we will increase frequency of the "No Bags Day" so that our customers can get used to using their own bags, our long term goal is to create enough awareness and stop using plastic bags completely.