An idea to charge for plastic bags on weekends [News] By Neo Chai Chin, TODAY, 1 Oct 2013. Wading again into what it calls a “very polarising environmental issue†here, the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) yesterday floated the idea of charging for supermarket plastic bags on weekends after a six-month outreach and education effort next year. Backed by survey findings…
Singapore, 30 September 2013 – In 2011 alone, consumers in Singapore used approximately 3 billion plastic bags. The alarming figure has prompted concerned members of the public to write to environmental organisations, newspapers and online forums calling for a ban or a tax to be levied on plastic bags. A few have also called on the government to enforce this through…
More shoppers bringing their own bags for grocery shopping [News] By Channel NewsAsia, 22 Aug 2013. Results of a recent survey commissioned by NTUC FairPrice has found that more customers are bringing their own bags when grocery shopping. As many as 62 per cent indicated that they have brought their own bags at least once compared to 33 per cent…
Why Singaporeans can’t say “No” to plastic bags [News] By Kimberly Spykerman, Channel NewsAsia, 5 Jun 2013. Singaporeans just can’t seem to do away with plastic bags, despite calls to do so to save Mother Earth. Each year in Singapore, some 2.5 billion plastic bags are used which means vast quantities of non-renewable resources such as crude oil and natural…
IKEA to stop providing plastic bags [News] By Woo Sian Boon, Today, 26 Jan 2013. In an effort to get shoppers to use fewer plastic bags here, a major retailer has decided to stop providing them in stores. Come March, customers visiting Swedish furniture giant IKEA at both its Alexandra and Tampines outlets will either have to bring their own…
One-week FairPrice campaign to reduce plastic bag usage a success [News] By Channel NewsAsia, 10 May 2012. Supermarket chain FairPrice has received strong support for its efforts to encourage customers to save and reduce the use of plastic bags. The “FairPrice Cares!” campaign, which ran from April 22 to 28, has saved over 143,000 plastic bags in a single week.…
Do we need that plastic bag? [News] By Grace Chua, The Straits Times, 28 Apr 2012. A few days ago, I found myself in the curious position of having no plastic bags left in the house, and needing to take out the trash. That meant going to the supermarket and buying something that I was going to buy anyway, like…
Plastic bag production ‘an environmental worry’ [News] By Lee Jia Xin and Goh Shi Ting, The Straits Times, 27 Apr 2012. Plastic bag production in Singapore has been singled out as an environmental worry because of the amount of crude oil it uses. About 1.2kg of the precious resource goes into every kilogram of bags manufactured, according to a study…
Supermarts may start charging for plastic bags [News] By Lee Jia Xin, The Straits Times, 23 Apr 2012. Shoppers may need to pay for plastic bags in the future, if a proposal being studied is adopted. The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) is studying ways to cut down on the excessive use of plastic bags here. One of the options being…
Phase out plastic bags [Letters] Letter by Curtis Marsh, The Straits Times, 3 Oct 2011. Human nature being what it is, people will not change their bad habits easily (“New council rolls up sleeves for dirty job”; last Wednesday). The Government must intervene more and eliminate some of the root causes of littering. One immediate measure could be phasing out…