SINGAPORE —  Supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice will extend its "no plastic bag" initiative for another year after encouraging results from its year-long pilot, which saved the use of 15.6 million plastic bags. 

In a press release on Wednesday (Nov 11), FairPrice said it found that seven in 10 customers who shopped at participating supermarkets and nine in 10 customers at participating convenience stores refused a plastic bag.

The initiative was first introduced as a month-long pilot at seven stores in October 2019 and was expanded a month later to 25 stores for a year following positive feedback. 

Customers who want plastic bags can purchase them at 20 cents per transaction at participating FairPrice, FairPrice Finest and FairPrice Xtra stores, or 10 cents per transaction at Cheers and FairPrice Xpress stores.

The supermarket chain said it raised about S$600,000 in plastic bag charges, with proceeds going towards supporting environmental and community causes.

FairPrice said the scheme would continue at the same 25 supermarket and convenience stores where it is already implemented. 

In the release, FairPrice Group chief executive Seah Kian Peng said: “We are encouraged by the positive customer response garnered; the significant number of plastic bags saved in this short span of one year is a testimony of the greater public awareness for the environment.”

However, he said that while the majority of customers supported the initiative, FairPrice faced challenges such as having to manage customers who demanded that they be given an excessive number of plastic bags after paying the token fee.

FairPrice said it aims to save 30 million plastic bags yearly by 2030.