Fashion giant H&M will soon start charging customers in Singapore 10 cents for each plastic or paper bag as part of a new initiative to reduce waste.
The move, which takes effect at all H&M stores from next Thursday (July 25), is part of a packaging strategy to reduce plastic use in the long run, said the Swedish retailer in a press release on Monday (July 15).
All proceeds collected from the shopping bag charge will be donated to WWF Singapore’s Plastic ACTion (PACT) initiative, which is an industry-wide initiative to reduce plastic use by 2030.
Under PACT, proceeds from H&M’s shopping bag charge will go towards innovations to find sustainable alternative materials, research into plastic pollution and conservation projects.
Shoppers who patronise the fashion giant have welcomed the move against plastic use.
Graphic designer Audrey Ng, 25, who shops at H&M every other month, said she does not mind paying for a bag.
“If I really needed a bag, then why not pay for it? It’s 10 cents, which is not expensive and the money also goes to a good cause.”
Ms Ng added that the charge would also cause shoppers to determine if they really needed a bag before accepting one.
Civil servant Ginny Goh, 44, said that while she does not think plastic bags should be banned entirely, charging for them is the right move.
“I think all single-use bags should be chargeable. We need to drastically cut down on their use and the only way is to charge. This way, people will only take what they need.”
Ms Goh’s two teenage daughters also shop at H&M and she regularly encourages them to bring their own bags.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal to charge for bags. People will get used to it. In many other countries, bags are already chargeable everywhere, in the shops and in the supermarkets.”
H&M has already rolled out charges for shopping bags in other countries including Sweden, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Japan and Switzerland.
H&M is not the first company in Singapore to charge for shopping bags.
In October last year, the Cotton On Group embarked on a similar programme to phase out plastic shopping bags from all its stores worldwide, including in Singapore. The fashion chain now provides shoppers with recyclable paper bags which cost 10 cents each.
Cosmetics and skincare company The Body Shop stopped providing plastic bags in January 2018, and it also charges 10 cents for each recyclable paper bag.
Lifestyle brand Miniso and clothing chain Bossini have also been charging 10 cents for a bag since 2017 and 2012 respectively.
Swedish furniture giant Ikea started charging for plastic bags in 2007 before phasing them out in 2013. Today, shoppers must bring their own bags or buy a reusable polypropylene bag at 90 cents each.
Asked about customer reaction to the zero plastic bag policy, the head of sustainability for Ikea South-east Asia, Ms Soh Bee Lian, said there was almost no negative reaction.
“We believe that Singaporeans want to do what they can for the environment,” she said.
Speaking about H&M’s initiative, the company’s country manager for South-east Asia, Mr Fredrik Famm, said: “To create a more sustainable fashion future, we need to take the lead by tackling some of the most significant challenges that are facing our planet and society.”
WWF Singapore chief executive officer Maureen DeRooij said that H&M’s move comes at a crucial time when bold action is needed to change how plastics are produced, used and disposed off.
“A bag charge, proven to be effective in reducing plastic use, is a crucial step that retail businesses can take to stop plastic pollution,” she said.
Forgotten reusable bags collecting dust around the home can now be put to good use and help save the earth.
From Wednesday (July 3), members of the public can drop their unused reusable bags into a donation bin at eight supermarket outlets – two each from FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Cold Storage and Prime Supermarket.
Local environmental group Zero Waste SG (ZWSG), which is behind the initiative, will then collect the bags and ensure they are in good condition before redistributing them to random shoppers at each of the selected outlets. This will happen every two to four weeks from now till October.
“Singapore has a ‘use and throw’ culture. We want to reduce the country’s excessive usage of plastic bags and cultivate a habit of using reusable bags when shopping,” said ZWSG manager Pek Hai Lin at the launch of the initiative, held at FairPrice Xtra Kallang Wave Mall on Wednesday.
Some 820 million plastic bags are taken from supermarkets here every year, a recent study by the Singapore Environment Council found.
Ms Pek said that most plastic bags do not get recycled, as it is not profitable for recycling plants. Instead they get incinerated, a process that increases carbon emissions and contributes to global warming.
When shoppers use a reusable bag for a year, it is estimated that they save 125 single-use plastic bags, according to study commissioned by the National Environment Agency.
“Though the initiative is a good step to encourage the use of reusable bags, this alone is not enough,” said retiree Narayanan S.R, who was shopping at Kallang Wave Mall’s FairPrice Xtra.
The reusable bag sharing stations are placed at the Sheng Siong and FairPrice supermarkets at Khatib Central.
The Indian national said that he uses cloth bags made from coir, the fibre from coconut outer husks, to dispose of his garbage as an alternative to using plastic bags.
“It is the mindset of the population that they are entitled to using plastic bags which needs to be changed,” said the 70-year old.
But fellow shopper Mr Yang, who declined to give his full name, thinks that the initiative will not be effective.
The 67-year-old retiree said: “Everyone already has a reusable bag somewhere at home, and will still need to use plastic bags eventually.
“I try to take at least 10 plastic bags when I go grocery shopping, because what else am I going to use to dispose of my garbage at home?”
The participating outlets are: FairPrice City Square Mall and Kallang Wave Mall, Sheng Siong at Clementi West Block 720 and Junction 10, Cold Storage Compass One and Fusionopolis Way, and the Prime Supermarkets in Joo Seng and Jurong West Street 75.
WELLINGTON (XINHUA) – Single-use plastic bags are officially banned for all New Zealand retailers from Monday (July 1).
As stipulated by the Waste Minimisation (Plastic Shopping Bags) Regulations 2018, which came into force on Monday, New Zealand retailers including stores, supermarkets and restaurants will no longer be able to sell or distribute any single-use plastic shopping bags.
Single-use plastic shopping bags are defined as any plastic bag which has handles and is less than 70 microns thick. Plastic shopping bags in the fruit and vegetable section and other areas of supermarkets are the only exceptions.
New Zealand Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage said that the ban on single-use plastic shopping bags is a step towards healthier oceans and giving nature a hand.
“New Zealanders are proud of our country’s clean, green reputation and want to help ensure we live up to it. The plastic shopping bag ban is one step to tackle New Zealand’s waste issues. We also need to recharge our materials recovery and recycling systems and shift to a circular economy,” Ms Sage said.
Mainstream supermarkets have already made the change away from single-use plastic shopping bags. Businesses were given six months ahead of the ban to phase-out single-use plastic bags.
The UK’s fourth-biggest grocer will roll out the paper bags in Wales next week, followed by England and Scotland.
It said the scheme will take 1,300 tonnes of plastic out of the environment each year.
But question marks hang over whether paper bags are more environmentally friendly than plastic ones.
Morrisons has been trialling selling paper bags alongside plastic reusable carrier bags in eight Welsh stores.
It will start selling both types for 20p, having phased out 5p carrier bags in the past year in England, Wales and Scotland. The supermarket chain does not have any stores in Northern Ireland.
Morrisons marketing director Andy Atkinson said: “We are taking another meaningful step that will remove an estimated 1,300 tonnes of plastic out of the environment each year.
“Our customers have told us that reducing plastic is their number one environmental concern so introducing the paper bag across the nation will provide another way of reducing the plastic in their lives.”
1933年——英国诺斯威奇的一家化工厂无意中研制出最常用的塑料——聚乙烯。尽管此前聚乙烯被小规模生产，但这是第一次合成了工业上实用的化合物材料，并在之后的第二次世界大战期间被英国军方秘密使用。 1933 – Polyethylene, the most commonly used plastic, is created by accident at a chemical plant in Northwich, England. While polyethylene had been created in small batches before, this was the first synthesis of the material that was industrially practical, and it was initially used in secret by the British military during World War II.
Photo by Wikipedia
1965年——一体式聚乙烯购物袋由瑞典Celloplast公司申请了专利。这款由工程师斯滕·古斯塔夫·图林（Sten Gustaf Thulin）设计的塑料袋很快在欧洲取代了布袋和纸袋。 1965 – The one-piece polyethylene shopping bag is patented by the Swedish company Celloplast. Designed by engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin, the plastic bag quickly begins to replace cloth and plastic in Europe.
Photo by Flickr
1979年——已成功占据80%袋装市场的塑料袋进一步走向国际化，被广泛引入美国。生产塑料袋的公司开始大力推销他们的产品，鼓吹塑料袋优于纸袋以及可重复使用包装袋的种种好处。 1979 – Already controlling 80% of the bag market in Europe, plastic bags go abroad and are widely introduced to the United States. Plastic companies begin to aggressively market their product as superior to paper and reusable bags.
Photo by Creative Commons
1982年——美国两家连锁超市巨头喜互惠（Safeway）和克罗格（Kroger）转而使用塑料袋。越来越多的商店纷纷效仿，之后短短10年内，塑料袋几乎完全替代了纸袋，雄霸世界。 1982 – Safeway and Kroger, two of the biggest supermarket chains in the United States, switch to plastic bags. More stores follow suit and by the end of the decade plastic bags will have almost replaced paper around the world.
Photo by visualhunt
1997年——航海家兼研究人员查尔斯·摩尔（Charles Moore）发现了太平洋垃圾带。海洋环流会使大量的塑料垃圾聚集，而这一垃圾带是世界上五大海洋塑料聚集区面积最大的一个，严重威胁着海洋生物的生存。塑料袋因造成大量海龟丧生而臭名昭著，它们被海龟当做水母而误食，从而使其窒息而亡。 1997 – Sailor and researcher Charles Moore discovers the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest of several gyres in the world’s oceans where immense amounts of plastic waste have accumulated, threatening marine life. Plastic bags are notorious for killing sea turtles, which mistakenly think they are jellyfish and eat them.
Photo by Creative Commons
2002年——孟加拉国是世界上第一个实施塑料袋禁令的国家，因为在灾难性洪灾中，塑料袋是排水系统堵塞的首要原因。其他国家随后纷纷加入”禁塑”行列。 2002 – Bangladesh is the first country in the world to implement a ban on thin plastic bags, after it was found they played a key role in clogging drainage systems during disastrous flooding. Other countries begin to follow suit.
Photo by Reuters
2011年——全世界每分钟消耗100万个塑料袋。 2011 – Worldwide one million plastic bags are consumed every minute.
Photo by Reuters
2017年——肯尼亚实施最严“禁塑令”，如此一来，全球已累计20多个国家通过实施“限塑令”或“禁塑令”来规范塑料袋的使用。 2017 – Kenya bans plastic bags, making it one the most recent of the more than two dozen countries that have sought to reduce plastic bag use through fees or bans.
Photo by visualhunt
2018年——“塑战速决”被选为世界环境日主题，今年由印度主办。世界各地的企业和政府纷纷表示支持，陆续表达了致力于解决一次性塑料污染问题的决心和承诺。 #塑战速决#是2018年世界环境日主题 2018 – #BeatPlasticPollution is chosen as the theme of World Environment Day, hosted this year by India. Companies and governments around the world continue to announce new pledges to tackle plastic waste.
Tanzania plans to ban the production, importation, sale and use of all single-use plastic bags by July, to help tackle pollution from non-biodegradable waste.
The East African nation is the latest country to make a formal commitment to phase out single-use non-biodegradable plastics, which have been identified by the United Nations as one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges.
Of the 9 billion tonnes of plastic the world has produced, only 9 percent has been recycled, according to U.N. estimates.
Tanzania will join more than 60 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single-use plastic bags, including China, France, Kenya, Rwanda and Italy.
In August 2017, neighbouring Kenya introduced one of the world’s toughest bans on plastic bags mandating four years in prison or a fine of $40,000 for even using one.
“The regulations are ready for publication … it is possible that July 1 will mark the end of the use of plastics in the country,” Tanzania’s Environment Minister January Makamba told Parliament on Monday.
Makamba said a formal announcement on the ban of single-use plastic bags in Tanzania would likely be made later this month.
