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  Today Online 4 May 07
Bag-free move has to go further

Retailers must reinforce the use of reusable bags
Letter from Wendi Chan

Teach them not to be wasteful
Letter from Trina Tan

What happens on non-Bring Your Own Bag Days (BYOBD)?

Yesterday morning, I visited the NTUC FairPrice supermarket outlet in Rochor Centre to buy a reusable shopping bag. Upon entering the supermarket, I headed to the cashier area, thinking that the reusable bags would be prominently displayed nearby. But there were none in sight — a sharp contrast to the previous day.

So I asked a cashier for one. She had to walk to another cashier to get one. And after scanning the price tag, she proceeded to place the reusable bag into a plastic bag! I quickly stopped her from doing so, of course.

I applaud the efforts of the National Environment Agency (NEA) and participating retailers of BYOBD. It is indeed a long overdue move necessary to conserve the environment.

However, more can be done. We should not be restricting reduced usage of plastic bags only to the first Wednesday of every month. It is a lifestyle habit that should be cultivated and practised daily. Otherwise, the BYOBD campaign will have no impact on the environment that we are trying to save.

I urge retailers to display reusable bags in prominent parts of their outlets, with campaign posters pinned on noticeboards and walls to remind customers to always use reusable bags.

I hope the significance of the BYOBD campaign will be properly explained to cashiers and service staff. They are the ones who will have face-to-face contact with customers, and are in the best position to encourage them to reduce plastic bag usage.

Even on days when it is not BYOBD, cashiers can ask customers if they require plastic bags for small light items, or if they really need to separately pack a bottle of shampoo and cleaning sponges for example, giving customers cause to pause and think, "Do I really need the extra plastic bag?"

I recognise the need to change mindsets and slowly educate the public on reducing the use of plastic bags. But the campaign shouldn't just be on the first Wednesday of every month. The message has to be constantly sent out.

Having lived in San Francisco for over seven years, the system of recycling, BYOB and using grocery paper bags was like second nature to me.

However, after moving back to Asia about seven years ago, I found it almost impossible to be environmentally friendly, much as I am passionate about trying to save the earth.

Retailers need to make the extra effort to give shoppers the option of using paper bags instead of plastic. Recycling bins should be available in every condo and estate, while pick-ups should happen more often and on more fixed days like "recycle Wednesdays", so that people don't have to make too much effort to remember when to leave it out.

The trick is to make recycling not a chore. One culprit in Singapore is the local bread/bakery industry, which has adopted the practice of placing each bun into a separate plastic bag. Imagine how many buns we consume nationwide a day. That's the number of plastic bags we are utilising — needlessly.

Every time I insist on using a box to put all six pieces of bread in, I will always get the reply, "Boxes are only for cakes." For refusing individually bagged bread, I get the weirdest look from the counter staff like, "It's free. Why don't take?"

On two occasions, when I requested them to be all bagged in one large plastic bag instead, I was told: "This is company policy. We have to pack them like that." In my quest to "re-educate" these bakery staff, I have tried on many occasions to tell them that it is a waste of plastic, which does not disintegrate.

But I have found it a fruitless exercise as the only thing that goes through their minds is that they are just doing their job, and who cares about the environment in the first place?

I miss the good old days when we could just get our bread packed in environmentally-friendly boxes.

I think that furniture and home goods shop Ikea's "Say 'No' to Plastic bags" programme is wonderful. It's not only about being unafraid of losing customers, but also about thinking ahead that a winning business can win the hearts of customers by following certain principles which the customers too believe in.

I will, for one, support any bread shop that does not have such wasteful practices.

The only hope for all of us is education. In many universities in California, business students are required to take up compulsory classes on Social Responsibility and Ethical Business, both focusing on sustainable business and environmental issues.

Perhaps, in our constant chase to become the world's best in everything, we have forgotten the most basic aspect of humankind — care, for the earth, the people around us, and the children who will come after us.
links

Bring Your Own Bag Day on the NEA website

Are biodegradable bags that much better than normal plastic bags? Letter from Chia Hern Keng Straits Times Forum 2 May 07

Letters to the press about Bring Your Own Bag Day

Related articles on Singapore: plastic bags
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