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Tougher measures needed to curtail use of plastic bags

In Singapore, 2.6 billion plastic bags are being thrown away every year.

In Singapore, 2.6 billion plastic bags are being thrown away every year.

To address this problem, the National Environment Agency has worked with the Singapore Environment Council to start Bring Your Own Bag Day, where customers are encouraged to carry reusable bags instead of plastic bags.

But how effective has this been? The use of plastic bags might be down, but tens of thousands are still being given out. Supermarkets should step up and take tougher measures to save the environment. If Bring Your Own Bag Day can be a weekly affair, why not make it a daily affair?

The lukewarm response to efforts made to introduce the use of reusable bags can be largely attributed to the fact that plastic bags are still being given out freely.

Knowing that there are plastic bags provided when we do our shopping, why would we go through the hassle of bringing reusable bags?

I suggest that we charge for all plastic bags, which will push Singaporeans — especially the younger generation — to develop the discipline to bring their own reusable bags.

Also, people should be made more aware of the reason we need to cut down on the use of plastic bags.

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