SINGAPORE – Supermarkets mandated to impose a charge for disposable carrier bags largely saw a smooth roll-out on Monday, with shoppers bringing their own plastic and reusable bags.
At supermarkets The Straits Times visited, cashiers also reminded shoppers about the five-cent plastic bag charge before helping customers with their purchases.
Speaking to reporters after visiting the FairPrice outlet at Northpoint City in Yishun, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor said: “The cashiers themselves have said that they see an increase in the number of customers who bring their reusable bags to bag their groceries.”
Mr Kao Chuo, 60, who was at Sheng Siong supermarket in Potong Pasir, said he has been bringing his own reusable bag every day for almost six years for his purchases at the outlet.
A 79-year-old shopper at the same Sheng Siong outlet, who wanted to be known only as Madam Chew, also brought her own plastic bag for her purchases. But she said plastic bags from supermarkets are always useful: “Even if we are given plastic bags, we also reuse them as rubbish bags. It’s not wastage.”
Some shoppers said they would reuse the plastic bags they had paid for to line their rubbish bins at home.
Mr Chan Phak Sam, 70, who bought a bag for his groceries at Northpoint City, said in Mandarin: “This five-cent charge is really a small expense when compared with other costs. Besides, I can reuse the bag for my rubbish.”
Another shopper at the same FairPrice outlet, Madam Toh Lay Choo, purchased two plastic bags. The 63-year-old did not have reusable shopping bags with her because she had not planned to buy groceries.
At the self-checkout counter, she had to scan a barcode twice to include the 10 cents charge in her bill for the two bags she used.
But she pointed out in Mandarin: “It would be better to pay for the bags after I am done putting my groceries into the plastic bags. What if I paid for eight bags but only needed six?”
Mr Chan Tee Seng, chief sustainability officer at FairPrice Group, said: “We want to also assure everybody that we are doing our part to be vigilant, to make sure that people do pay, even in the self-checkout situation.
“But the final objective is, really, to contribute towards changing people’s habits in their shopping behaviour.”
FairPrice said 33 of their outlets would have bag racks by the end of this week, where shoppers can donate reusable bags for other shoppers to take.
Plastic bag dispensers have been installed at six Sheng Siong outlets with self-checkout counters. Shoppers are prompted to tap on a green bag icon on the touchscreen if they require plastic bags.
Each tap will add five cents to the transaction and one plastic bag will be dispensed. Customers have to tap on the icon once for each bag they require.
At Giant Hypermarket at Suntec City, disposable plastic bags were not available at self-checkout counters when ST visited on Monday morning. Shoppers had to approach staff who were on standby to hand out plastic bags before scanning the barcodes to input the charges.
Mr Vinoth Ramanan, a 40-year-old IT professional, said he did not find this inconvenient: “The motive behind the bag charge is to go green, to curb plastic waste. I like that, so it’s okay.”
A shopper at Sheng Siong at Hougang RiverCourt, who wanted to be known only as Ms Nur, said that at least shoppers have the option to pay for plastic bags, unlike some supermarkets she has been to in Johor Bahru where plastic bags are not even available.
However, the 32-year-old said: “I just think that it will be a tough change, something that we have to get used to.”
Ms Sangeeta Nair, founder of Eco-Statement and a member of the Citizens’ Workgroup on Reducing the Excessive Consumption of Disposables, which recommended the plastic bag charge, hopes that in the next six months to a year, “a comprehensive study will be conducted to assess the impact of the bag charge on reducing single-use bag usage and examining consumer perspectives and behaviour change”.
