I can say with confidence that most of us have stashed away surplus plastic bags at home and we don't know what to do with them, besides dumping them together with other trash.
This has become a universal problem, one that countries around the world have been trying to tackle.
It is estimated that globally between 500 billion to one trillion bags are used each year, or roughly one million bags each minute. Statistics also show that Thais use 73 billion bags a year, making up over 20% of the country's total solid waste.
But we know that not all the used bags are properly disposed of. A lot of them can be found on the roads, in bushes, in canals, rivers, and finally in the oceans, wreaking havoc to the environment and wildlife along the way.
We have long ago learned that tortoises, birds, fishes and even exotic species such as camels, for instance, have been reported to have ingested plastic bags, mistaking them for food.
That's not all. Recent researches have revealed more worrying impacts due to plastic litter.
Scientists have found that plastics in the ocean degrade into smaller pieces from the effects of sunlight, oxidation and the abrasion of waves and currents, becoming smaller to the point that they are invisible to the naked eye.
Marine organisms from zooplankton to fish consume these microplastics, adding persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances to the aquatic food chain.
While it is not yet clear what the net effects of this chain of action will be, some scientists have expressed concern over its health impacts on both human and animal populations.
However, one thing is clear: we need to cut down on the consumption of plastic products, for many reasons besides the health impact.
In Thailand as elsewhere, plastic litter is a constant eyesore and often clogs drains, exacerbating flooding problems.
With that in mind, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in June called on responsible agencies to tackle the problem.
A campaign was subsequently launched with much fanfare to cut down on the use of plastic bags. The Department of Environmental Quality Promotion announced it had obtained cooperation from 15 major retailers to withhold the distribution of plastic bags to consumers on the 15th of each month.
Following the first no-bag day on Aug 15, the department called it a success, telling the press that the campaign had resulted in a reduction in the use of 1.8 million plastic bags. Henceforth, the 30th of each month will also be a no-bag day.
This is not the first attempt to reduce plastic use in the country. A decade ago, a similar campaign was conducted as part of a study on the management of plastic and foam waste by the Pollution Control Department (PCD).
But this and other officially-conducted environmental campaigns in the past were never sustained long enough to produce tangible and permanent results. Like a plastic bag blowing in the wind, the current campaign, too, will soon be abandoned and forgotten with little to show for it.
Studies have shown that voluntary programmes such as this are more likely to fail unless a number of conditions coalesce, including strong support from the targeted population and a strong and committed programme leader.
With due respect to the people concerned, I don't think we have what it takes to succeed with voluntary programmes. Give them legal teeth and maybe we'll have a chance.
More than a decade ago, I reported on the PCD's study on the proliferation of packaging waste with an aim to introduce management taxes. It ran into stiff resistance and had to be shelved.
Ireland was the first country to introduce a plastic bag levy in 2002 at the rate of 15 Euro cents (6 baht) per bag.
Almost overnight, plastic bag usage plummeted from an estimated 328 bags per capita to 21 bags per capita. The levy was raised to 22 cents in 2007 as bags per capita increased to 31 during 2006.
Other countries such as Bangladesh and China resorted to an outright ban, especially on thin bags.
Even though legal enforcement in Thailand is notoriously uneven, legal measures in this case would make the endeavour to manage plastic waste more likely to be sustained.
Voluntary or not, one of the most important aspects of such a programme is the need to raise consumers' awareness of the problem and to encourage their cooperation. This, too, has to be a sustained effort.
Plastic bags represent only a small part of the much larger problem of waste, a drop in the bucket so to speak, but their impact is enormous. If we cannot handle them, what chance do we have to tackle the waste problem as a whole?
I wish the current campaign all the best even though I'm not optimistic of its chances of success. And I encourage everyone to lend it a hand.
So bring out the much-derided cloth bags or take with you some of your surplus bags next time you shop.
Wasant Techawongtham is former News Editor, Bangkok Post.