Tunku Shahariah Tunku Yusoff, The Star 7 Jan 10;
THE Penang Government should subsidise the cost of bio-degradable green bags for supermarkets to give them free to shoppers in order to boost the ‘No Plastic Bags Day’ campaign.
Student Rebecca Dawson, 22, from Sungai Ara, said if shoppers were given bags, they would get used to the idea of using them and discard the ‘use plastic bag’ mindset altogether.
“My family and I stopped using plastic bags since the ‘No Plastic Bags Day’ campaign kicked off last June. The state government should not consider doing it phase by phase and should just implement the campaign at one go as a policy.
“It’s not at all troublesome for us to stop using plastic bags and supermarkets should take it a step further by giving away free bio-degradable green bags initially to coax people into doing away with plastic bags,” she said when met at the Cold Storage outlet in Gurney Plaza, Penang, yesterday.
The retail outlet, operated by GCH Retail (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, is now implementing the campaign from Monday to Thursday while its sister outlet, Giant, is running it from Monday to Wednesday.
Briton Catherine Burrell, who lives in Batu Ferringhi and is a regular shopper at Cold Storage Gurney Plaza, said Britain stopped using plastic bags a long time ago.
“It’s a very good move. Hopefully, the campaign can be adopted by all stores and shops soon,” she said.
Former Penang Water Authority general manager Datuk Lee Yeow Ching, who was spotted shopping at the same outlet, described the campaign by the state government as “a good move”.
“It’s about time too,” said Lee who shops there twice weekly.
Housewife Ooi Sow Teoh, 63, who shops there every Wednesday said she was willing to pay RM2.70 for the green bag.
“This little effort will go a long way to saving the environment,” she added.
Cold Storage Gurney Plaza assistant division head Nasrul Hafiz said the outlet launched the four-day week campaign on Monday.
“We give away a green bag for free to shoppers who spend above RM100,” he said.
“For those who wish to buy our green bags, we’re selling them for RM2.70 each. We have them in green and brown.
“For those who insist on buying plastic bags, we sell them at 20 sen and donate the money to charity,” he added.
He added that the outlet collects an average of RM2,000 per month from the sale of plastic bags.
