‘Selangor no-plastic-bag ruling a failure’
ANY way you slice it, the policy is an abject failure, says a minister. The use of plastic bags has not abated, and the people have no clue as to where the money from plastic bag sales at supermarkets and food premises has gone.
URBAN Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar yesterday said Selangor’s policy on the use of plastic bags is a massive failure.
“It is nothing but a failure since the state has not seen a drastic reduction in the use of plastic bags since the campaign was implemented on Jan 1 last year.”
He said a more workable policy was to incentivise the public by giving them 20 sen if they brought recyclable bags.
This, he said, was one of the plans for Selangor Barisan Nasional should it recapture the state in the 14th General Election (GE14).
He said supermarkets and retailers could play a pivotal role in reducing plastic bag use if they gave 20 sen to consumers who brought shopping bags.
He said this would encourage more people to use recyclable shopping bags instead of spending 20 sen on each plastic bag.
Noh, who is Selangor BN chairman, questioned the state government about the funds collected from plastic bag sales at supermarkets and food premises.
“We still see plastic bags and garbage on the ground.
“The public wants to know how the money collected from selling plastic bags for 20 sen each is being used and whether it is channelled back to the public.
“We do not see the 20 sen on receipts from shopping malls and grocery stores. So, where is the money going? This is troublesome to the public. The state government must answer this.
“By right, if we want to encourage consumers to go green and cut back on plastic bag usage that is detrimental to the environment, supermarkets must pay 20 sen to those who bring their own shopping bags.
“We should not charge those who do not bring their own bags. Then, it will be fair to both parties.”
Noh said if BN won the next election, it would restudy the state government’s policy and look into ways to encourage the public to go green.
“BN will examine this policy and implement it if we win in GE14,” he said.
He said the campaign was a failure due to irresponsible human behaviour and lack of awareness on the importance of preserving and conserving the environment.
The Selangor Legislative Assembly, in July last year, said RM1.87 million had been collected from shoppers in Selangor through the 20 sen charge for each plastic bag since the campaign was implemented.
The collection, however, only involved supermarkets and food premises that had informed the state government, through their trade associations, on their collection of the 20 sen charge between January and May.
Of the total, 63.98 per cent of the collection was from supermarkets, while the rest was from food premises.
At least four Selangor-based organisations had said the same thing about the ruling.
They were Kota Raja 4B Alumni Association (KR4B Alumni), Selangor Hindu and Social Association, Kelab Harmoni Selangor and the NGO Bureau of the Shah Alam Umno division.
They had called on the state government to review the 20 sen charge for every plastic bag.
Environmental experts had been quoted as saying that the impact of the policy on the environment had not only been minimal, but had increased the production of garbage bags.
The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry told the New Straits Times that, on its part, only businesses in Selangor that had registered with the ministry were monitored for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns that use funds collected from the sale of plastic bags.
The ministry’s research and consumerism policy director, Amran Ahmad, said the registration was voluntary.
“There is no compulsion for this as this is considered CSR.
“Retailers that are committed to the campaign and use the proceeds from the sale of plastic bag have to submit a report on their sales every six months. This is the monitoring procedure.
“They are duty-bound to alert us to the CSR programmes they are carrying out, and representatives from the ministry will be present during the event for monitoring.”
Amran made clear that only hypermarkets had registered with the ministry for this purpose.
Asked exactly how proceeds from the sale of plastic bags in Selangor had been channelled, Amran suggested that the newspaper ask the state government.
NST tried contacting Selangor Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Elizabeth Wong for details, including the amount generated from the sale of plastic bags last year and the CSR programmes using the funds collected.
She could not be reached at press time.