PUTRAJAYA: Starting immediately, all hypermarkets, supermarkets and Petronas stations nationwide will no longer give out free plastic bags on Saturday.
Shoppers who do not bring their own plastic bags or “green bags” will be charged 20 sen for each bag they need from these outlets.
The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry launched yesterday a simultaneous nationwide campaign to encourage more outlets to take part in the effort to reduce the usage of plastic bags.
In a statement, the ministry said it had met with retailers to discuss the effort to minimise the use of plastic bags and more of them were expected to take part in the campaign.
It said money collected from the “sale” of plastic bags would be channelled into a special fund for environment preservation and protection programmes as well as to finance activities for consumers and the community.
Shoppers in Penang, however, will have to pay 20 sen per plastic bag every time they request for it from hypermarkets, chain stores and supermarkets.
Proceeds from the plastic bag sale in Penang would be channelled to the state’s Partners Against Poverty scheme to wipe out hardcore poverty.
The ministry said the campaign was launched as its projection showed that Malaysians would create 30,000 tonnes of solid waste daily by the year 2020.
Deputy Minister Datuk Tan Lian Hoe said hypermarkets nationwide distributed about 90 to 100 million plastic bags a year and about 20 million litres of petroleum was used to produce them.
“Imagine how much we can save from reducing the usage of plastic bags,” she added.
Launching the state-level campaign in Butterworth, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the ruling on free plastic bags would take effect from yesterday.
“We understand that the campaign may cause some inconvenience to the people, but the state government is willing to lose its popularity to protect the environment for our future generations,” he said.
He reminded operators of mini markets and shops to observe the “no free plastic bag day” on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays or risk losing their business licence.
Sumber :- The Star Online
No comments:
Post a Comment