BEING goody-goodies through and through, the Phuketwan team abandoned plastic bags at the weekend in an experiment to see whether Phuket and our lives would be suddenly transformed.

In years of visiting supermarkets for regular supplies, we couldn't remember ever seeing a single shopper carrying their own bags to a supermarket on Phuket.

Elsewhere, in more environmentally-aware places, yes. But on Phuket? No, never. Not a single one.

Yet if Phuket's ''Plastic Revolution'' is to happen around Valentine's Day next month, a lot will need to change. Including us.

So off we went to Tesco-Lotus, carrying three bags.

There were several reasons for this. For one, we just cannot bring ourselves to pay for plastic bags, having received those from Tesco-Lotus as part of the shopping experience, vaguely ''free,'' since the year dot.

And we are not even sure that Tesco-Lotus will be a part of the pay-for-plastic scheme, which has some retail outlets opting in and others steadfastly staying out.

Lat year, we had to pay for a plastic bag at a 7-Eleven store in Hong Kong, and it was not a pleasant experience. Pay for plastic bags?

You have got to be kidding. Even if they are biodegradable. Even if they turn into sweet roses before our very eyes.

We do not intend to ever pay for plastic bags again. No siree.

There are some encouraging signs of change on the island. Earlier this month, on our annual visit to the vast wasteland of the Saphan Hin tip, we found huge new levee banks and a recycling process extracting organic mulch from existing beds of trash.

And from today until February 2, Rawai tessaban council is accepting donations of plastic and glass for recycling.

How about that? All you have to do is call 076 613801 to make a booking.

So our weekend shopping trip went smoothly enough. We piled the trolley high. We marched to the checkout.

We chose our counter, and watched the chick (a formal term of endearment) load the items of those ahead of us in the queue into plastic bags.

Then we presented our bags, half expecting a screech of horror and alarm, or at least a five-minute delay while a superior officer was called in for counselling.

Do you know what? She looked at our bags, smiled and said: ''Oh, we're saving the world.''

And there wasn't a hint of sarcasm, just a big smile. And you know what? We've never felt so good parting with our cash at the Tesco-Lotus checkout. Never.

We'll be back, packing our own bags, forever.

There's just one small problem. Usually our waste goes into a Tesco-Lotus plastic bag. We fill one a day. This week we have no plastic bags.

We could buy some of those lovely black ones from the supermarket . . . but that doesn't seem to quite make sense.

Now, with no guilty feelings and no plastic bags, where does our rubbish go? Heeeelp!