Rather than coming up with a policy that promotes alternatives to plastic bags, this government of ours is just talking about making consumers pay for plastic bags...Plastic Bags? [Maybe better if it is if it was some bio-degradable environmentally friendly shopping bags - maybe the policy should not be for customers to pay - but for shopping outlets to shift to alternatives...for free].
They talk about being 'pro-environment' - and then want to build nuclear plants. What is the government doing about reducing carbon emissions? 'No Plastic Bag Campaign'?
Garbage disposal - if I am not mistaken, one is required to place garbage in 'plastic bags' that are tied up and dispose it? Previously, many people used these same plastic bags they got from shopping outlets for garbage disposal. Maybe not the rich...and some middle-class persons who would have gone out and bought those blue or black plastic garbage bags. If no more plastic bags, many more will have to buy those blue or black plastic garbage bags, wouldn't they?{Maybe the bags given at shopping outlets should be big enough...strong enough to serve the function of being 'garbage bags'...
Who suffers most from this new policy? Again, it is the poor...why? All the rich and the middle classes is to transport items to their cars...but the poor who walk, use public transport and motor-bikes, they will need to carry what they bought around with them, and they would need bags...would they not? 20 cents is not cheap, and these shopping bags are not that big and strong - so one will end up buying quite a bit of plastic bags - and this just just adds on to the already high cost of living.
What about a policy on some of the more damaging to environment material like use and dispose plastic fork/spoons/plates/bowls/chopsticks/... What about styrofoam and polystyrene containers, etc - which are even more damaging to the environment...
Is the government really concerned about the environment? If it is the government must first ban all styrofoam usage, and discourage the usage of disposable plastic fork/spoons/plates/bowls/cups/glasses/ etc.. encouraging instead the use of material that can be washed and re-used, and products made using easily bio-degradable material (alternatively re-recyclable materials)
These superficial 'pay for plastic bags campaigns' should really be re-considered. Let the retailers decide...give them the choice. Many would chose to go to outlets that provide free shopping bags rather that have to pay 20 cents for each and every small weak plastic bags. Can customers bring their bags into the shops and premises? Or do we still have to leave them outside?
Governments need to be real - and do what is practical, not just that sounds good....
And, what will happen to this 20cents - will it add on to the profits of the retailers? They say it is going to some special fund - probably managed by the government. We then have to worry whether this money will be properly used to safeguard the environment or end up in the wrong pockets??
PETALING JAYA: Shoppers throughout the country will now have to pay 20 sen for each plastic bag when they shop at hypermarkets, supermarkets and Petronas service stations on Saturdays.
The move, which is already in force in Selangor and introduced to reduce the eight billion plastic bags used each year in Malaysia, caught many shoppers by surprise.
Other developments:
> The sum charged will go to a special fund which will benefit the environment and community;
> Shoppers in Penang will have to pay for their bags in these outlets every day; and
> Plastic industry players in Penang have expressed unhappiness, vowing to distribute 30,000 free bags in defiance of the move. - Star, 2/1/2011, Shoppers to pay 20 sen for each plastic bag on Saturdays
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