Shoppers must pay at least 5 cents per disposable carrier bag from mid-2023 at all major supermarkets

SINGAPORE — Shoppers at any of the major supermarket chains here can expect to pay at least five cents for each disposable bag, regardless of material, they take from around the middle of next year. 

The charge, which will be determined by supermarket operators, will be applied only at supermarkets run by operators with an annual turnover of more than S$100 million. 

This means that the fee will be applied at about two-thirds of all supermarkets in Singapore including NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Prime, Cold Storage and Giant.

As the intention is to encourage people to reduce their usage of all kinds of disposable carrier bags, a fee will be applied for all materials. 

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, who announced this in Parliament during her ministry’s Committee of Supply debate on Monday (March 7), said that this initiative will hopefully "encourage Singaporeans to adopt sustainable habits and bring our own bags when shopping at supermarkets and other stores".

Ms Fu's announcement comes slightly over a month after the National Environment Agency (NEA) sought public feedback on its proposals for supermarkets to charge between 5 and 10 cents per bag only for in-store purchases, among other recommendations.  

"We have kept the minimum charge low to moderate the cost impact on shoppers, including on low-income households," she said.

To ensure accountability, Ms Fu said supermarket operators will be required to publish information on the number of bags issued, the corresponding proceeds received and how the proceeds are used.

This was also one of the recommendations made by the NEA in its proposal.

NEA and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) said in a statement on Monday that supermarket operators will have the autonomy to decide how best to use collected proceeds but are "strongly" encouraged to support charitable programmes or sustainability-related initiatives. 

On the concerns that households will still require disposable bags to contain their waste, both MSE and NEA said it will "not remove the public's access" to it.

For instance, supermarkets will still provide non-carrier bags, typically used for bagging fruit and fish, at no charge. 

Alternatively, they can also be obtained at other retail outlets and online shopping delivery options. 

“Residents should continue with the responsible practice of bagging waste before disposal,” they said.

As to whether supermarkets should consider using biodegradable or paper bags instead, the NEA said that disposables have an impact on the environment when made and disposed of, regardless of the material used.

In any case, biodegradable bags, similar to those of other materials, are either recycled or incinerated before being sent to the landfill in Singapore.

Hence, it will not be able to see its full potential utilised — that is, to break down through decomposition.

NEA previously said that Singaporean households and businesses threw away about 200,000 tonnes of disposables in both 2019 and 2020, enough to fill 400 Olympic-sized pools. An estimated two-thirds of the waste were disposable bags.

Furthermore, a 2018 study by the Singapore Environment Council found that shoppers take home 820 million disposable bags from supermarkets each year, an average of 146 bags per person.

The bag charge framework was developed after consulting close to 6,000 stakeholders from industry and the public, including low-income groups and representatives from the social services sector.

An NEA survey of 1,000 respondents last year found that more than 80 per cent agreed that the excessive use of disposable bags has a negative impact on the environment. And close to 90 per cent agreed that they had a part to play in reducing the usage of disposable bags.

More than 70 per cent agreed that a mandatory charge would reduce usage of such bags.