100,000 plastic bags saved on Bring Your Own Bag Day

Singapore's first Bring Your Own Bag Day on Wednesday [18 Apr 2007] managed to save an estimated 100,000 plastic bags. According to leading supermarket chains NTUC Fairprice and Cold Storage, they cut the number of plastic bags by up to 60%. They also sold about 20,000 reusable bags. Furniture store IKEA plans to charge shoppers five to 10 cents for its plastic bags from Sunday [22 Apr 2007].

At one Cold Storage outlet, most shoppers say they do not mind if they have to donate 10 cents to environmental projects for every plastic bag they take. But not everyone agrees. Some viewers told Channel NewsAsia that paying "10 cents per bag is way too expensive". One viewer said she saw "two women who went shopping at a mart without shopping bags and brought the (NTUC) baskets home". Others argued that for families who shop in bulk, it is "not feasible to bring over 20 reusable bags just for that one outing." There were also suggestions for supermarkets to waive the charges for plastic bags if you spend $50 or more.

- This is a backblog. I'm restarting from the back of the grid, so to speak. Almost a month behind. Again. This isn't exactly new, you know, not that I've backblogged before.

Okay, it was like this. 18 Apr. Wednesday. I go to the Prime supermart near the workplace to get the usual 2L bottle of fresh milk. For the kids. Why? Because the Prime supermart nearer to home always runs out of stock. You know, more families with kids in Sengkang, less in Chai Chee. I'd suppose their supply chain / logistics system isn't so sophisticated enough to adjust to prevailing supply / demand patterns.

So it goes. The speakers were blaring out this "bring your own bag" message. I asked a staff, something to the effect of "oh, it's today?" She shrugged, said she didn't know, and suggested that I asked the cashier. The cashier said something like, "oh yes, it's today". So I made the effort. I went back to the carpark, up 3 storeys to the car, took the red insulated "cake bag" that Diners Club was giving out earlier in a sign-up promotion, went down 3 storeys and walked the hundred metres or so back to Prime, bought the milk, put it in the bag, and went back up 3 storeys to the carpark.

Was it worth it? Shrug. I don't know. It is this thing, this interaction of time, money and effort, versus the very-much-delayed and none-too-obvious signals of climate change and resource depletion that people will have to deal with.

(2007-05-15 12:44:31 SGT) [Env] Permalink

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