Editorial in Sunday Time 15.4.2007 on the use of Plastic Bag

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You will have to pay between five to ten cents for the plastic bag on the left.



The store is playing it parts to save the environment by making customers use recycleable bags like the one shown on the right.

IT WAS a matter of time before the furniture store Ikea brought to its Singapore operations the idea of a tax on plastic carrier bags.

It will take effect this month, varying between five and 10 cents. The intent is praiseworthy, even if the green movement here struggles for attention.

There is doubt many Singaporeans will take kindly to paying, if indirectly, for a cause as nebulous as environmental protection.

Just keeping the living environment clean, known to one and all as the anti-litter campaign, has been a losing proposition. It's a stretch for the average person to relate plastic throwaways to the chemistry of the sub-oil and the pathology of oil politics, oil being an element in plastics manufacture.

The kopitiam test is the best: Would they pay to advertise for Ikea by lugging its logo around with their shopping? This is the connection people are inclined to make. It can be circumvented if Ikea and other retailers the National Environment Agency is roping in for the campaign to reduce plastics use offer substitutes.

But take heart. Environmentalists can still prevail, though by default. If more shops start charging and consumers resist paying for the convenience, their use will fall sharply. Businesses can stimulate the fortuitous trend by offering reusable cloth, jute and hardy paper bags. Even if chargeable, they can be used for a long while.

This ought to be the real focus of the campaign to change shopper habits. Ikea had launched its drive in the United States and Britain. Usage has fallen markedly. Let's be clear about plastic's culpability.

Even partly biodegradable bags now available release toxicity through burning. They are known to harm animal life through ingestion. They cause flooding by clogging drains. Children have suffocated slipping them over their heads at play. They have little incidental use, other than as wrapping for rubbish which perpetuates the environmental damage.