SPAR Thailand joined the Thai government and retailers as a project partner in an MoU seeking to curb the distribution of single-use plastic bags in 2018. As part of this MoU, major stores in Thailand stopped offering single-use plastic bags on 1 January 2020. The ban will extend to smaller stores and local markets in 2021.
Ahead of the ban, SPAR stores stopped offering customers single-use plastic bags from 4 December 2019 onward. As an alternative, shoppers were given free SPAR re-usable shopping bags when purchasing groceries worth a minimum of 80 Baht (approximately €2,35) in the weeks before the implementation of the single-use plastic bag ban, as well as during the first two weeks of January.
SPAR Thailand is taking an active approach in providing shoppers with convenient ways to shop sustainably. To celebrate International Plastic Bag Free Day on 3 July 2019, SPAR Thailand donated 1,500 cotton SPAR-branded bags to hospitals throughout the country.
Other sustainability-focused initiatives have included a campaign highlighting sustainable product sourcing, coined Taste of Thailand, which prompted the development of new ranges of healthy, sustainable products.
Source: SPAR Thailand
Read more about SPAR Thailand here.
About SPAR Thailand
In early 2016, SPAR International granted a licence to Bangchak Retail Company Limited (BCR) to develop and grow the SPAR Brand in Thailand. In its first full year of operation, SPAR Thailand grew from three to 33 stores.
Within its range of brands, in addition to the SPAR portfolio, BCR is expanding the Inthanin Coffee and Lemon Kitchen solutions to support the SPAR forecourt offer. The focus on healthy living through a good offer of ready-to-eat and home-meal-replacement options underpins the convenience solution being developed.
