Commentary: How to get more bang for buck from Singapore’s proposed 5-cent charge for every plastic bag

From mid-2023, shoppers in Singapore will be charged an additional five cents for every disposable bag they take when shopping at two-thirds of all supermarket outlets, which include NTUC FairPrice, Cold Storage, Giant, Sheng Siong and Prime.

For a start, this requirement applies to supermarket operators with an annual turnover of more than S$100 million.

As part of a proposed amendment to the Resource Sustainability Bill announced by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) and the National Environment Agency (NEA), the aim is to reduce packaging and food waste while fostering behavioural change among consumers in Singapore to reduce waste and increase recycling.

PLASTIC BAG’S WRAP OVER SINGAPORE

Currently, packaging waste constitutes about one-third of domestic waste disposed of in Singapore and about 60 per cent of this is plastic. In 2021, only 6 per cent of plastic waste disposed of was recycled.

The proposed charge will support Singapore’s Zero Waste Masterplan and the national goals under the Singapore Green Plan 2030, which aims to reduce the amount of waste sent to the Semakau Landfill per capita per day by 30 per cent and increase national recycling rate to 70 per cent by 2030.

While some Asian countries such as China, India, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia have outrightly banned plastic bags, Singapore has instead adopted a pay-as-you-use approach.

From transporting cooked food in Styrofoam containers and serving as linings for our rubbish bins at home, plastic bags are ubiquitous in their use and purpose in Singapore.

Plastic bags are the most common types of bags issued by supermarkets and retail outlets in Singapore. They are also cheaper compared to paper bags.

It would prove to be a major socio-economic challenge for retailers and consumers alike in Singapore if a plastic bag ban were to be imposed.

In 2018, a study by the Singapore Environment Council found that consumers take home 820 million disposal carrier bags from supermarkets annually. This works out to about 146 bags per person per year on average.

The proposed disposal carrier bag charge comes on the heel of extensive stakeholder consultation.

Surveys done as part of the exercise indicated that the majority of Singaporeans were in agreement with a disposal carrier bag charge, where more than 70 per cent of the 1,000 respondents indicated that a mandatory charge would reduce bag usage.

QUESTIONS OVER IMPLEMENTATION

Supermarket operators will need to make publicly available data on the number of bags issued and amount of proceeds received from the charges, as well as how they will be used to support environmental and social causes.

While this ensures credibility and transparency, questions remain on how supermarket operators will implement changes to monitor the number of bags used and report on relevant statistics as required by the authorities.

Supermarkets and convenience stores such as NTUC FairPrice Xpress and Cheers have been implementing a plastic bag charge of 20 cents and 10 cents respectively per transaction since 2019.

It remains to be seen how consumer shopping patterns will change once the new proposed charges of five cent per bag come into play.

At present, a per-bag charge would be a better deterrence for shoppers compared to a single-transaction fee.

With the latter, shoppers still have the liberty to obtain more disposal carrier bags than they require, especially at self-check-out kiosks.

Also, online retailers and convenience stores will be excluded from implementing this mandatory minimum charge for disposable bags of all materials.

Thus, to circumvent the disposal bag carrier charge, shoppers might be enticed to order online and have their groceries delivered.

Shoppers might also choose to shop at other online retail outlets such as Lazada, Shoppe and Redmart.

With e-commerce on the rise generally, it is prudent for authorities to take a stance on disposable packaging material generated from online retail.

It is also crucial to eventually get smaller retailers and brand owners on board to charge for disposal carrier bags to have a holistic approach towards meeting Singapore’s ambitions in our Zero Waste Masterplan and Green Plan 2030.

While a minimum of five cents per bag may not deter some consumers from requesting for disposal carrier bags, it remains to be seen if all supermarket operators will set off with a uniform carrier charge, and raise it progressively to deter the request for disposal carrier bags from consumers.

Like how carbon taxes are slated to progressively increase over the years, the minimum charge to be imposed by operators can be increased based on the absolute year-on-year reduction in issuance of disposal carrier bags once this implementation kicks off.

THE WAY AHEAD

Regardless, the key is to ensure that funds raised from disposal carrier bag charges are directed towards research and development activities around novel types of sustainable packaging solutions and studies to assess how retailers can further pivot consumer behaviour and wean them of disposal carrier bags.

Technology and innovation will continue to evolve and impact the types of sustainable packaging material that become commercially available to create a more circular consumption model where packaging does not go to waste but gets repurposed.

Most importantly, the mandatory bag charge and proposed recommendations above should bring about permanent behavioural changes in consumer shopping patterns, where they bring along their own bags for in-store purchases.

We also need to acknowledge that packaging needs to only serve its fundamental purpose of transporting a good or product in its original state from one point to another and should not be used in excess.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kavickumar Muruganathan is a sustainability professional and part-time lecturer at the National University of Singapore on environmental economics and sustainable development.