Rachel Goh, Author at Goody Feed

From 3 July 2023, 2/3 of Singapore supermarkets began charging for plastic bags. When you visit NTUC Fairprice or Sheng Shiong, you now must pay $0.05 for a plastic bag. While the charge has not been made mandatory for other businesses, an unlikely contender has voluntarily joined the initiative. A stall at a Kovan coffee shop has begun charging for plastic bags. Stall Charging $0.10 For Plastic Bags A stewed soup stall at Block 209 Kovan Market and Hawker Centre has begun charging $0.10 for plastic bags. Image: Google Maps The stall owner put up a notice informing customers of the charge. Image: Channel 8 The $0.10 fee for plastic bags comes on top of the $0.30 takeaway fee. However, the stall owner told a reporter from Channel 8 that the first plastic bag is free and only additional plastic bags will be chargeable. She said, “We actually don’t want to sell plastic bags. However, customers ask for two or three for a package of food. We should use fewer plastic bags and be more environmentally friendly.” With a chuckle, she added, “People may wonder why hawkers are charging for plastic bags as well. Since everyone is talking about going green, we hawkers should not fall behind.” Besides the $0.30 takeaway fee and the $0.10 for plastic bags, the stall has also begun charging $0.10 for disposable cutlery. How Customers Feel An interviewee told the reporter, “I will accept the charge as long as there is a notice to inform customers.” However, another member of the public disagreed with the charge. She said, “I feel that hawkers shouldn’t do this. While plastic bags in the supermarket are big, the ones at the hawker centre are small, so $0.10 seems a bit much.” One interviewee expressed that while he is unhappy with the charge, he thinks he will eventually grow used to it. Customers Asking for More Plastic Bags When reporters from Channel 8 visited Chong Pang Market and Food Centre, stall owners said they have noticed an increase in people asking for extra plastic bags. Image: Google Maps One stall owner recounted an incident. A customer pulled out six plastic bags from the plastic bag dispenser, bought a bag of rice noodles and left. The stall owner added that the customer returned the next day, prompting her to hide her plastic bags. Some stall owners noted that 20 plastic bags cost $1 in the past. Now, $1 can only buy ten plastic bags. Thus, they hope customers will bring their own bags and containers. The plastic bag charge seems to have brought out the inner auntie and uncle in Singaporeans. Besides requesting for more plastic bags at hawker stalls, some have found other ways to get plastic bags for free. For instance, some have taken to using the free transparent plastic bags meant for fresh produce in supermarkets. A cashier from a Sheng Shiong outlet at Serangoon told Lianhe Zaobao that this behaviour was common, especially when the plastic bag charge first kicked in. Notably, these customers took the free transparent plastic bags because they forgot to bring their own bags. Why Singaporeans Love Plastic Bags As a society that values saving money and reusing, many Singaporeans use supermarket plastic bags to throw their waste. This habit has become more expensive since the plastic bag charge kicked in. Of course, the easy way to mitigate this would be to go to Sheng Siong and “buy” disposable plastic bags from a machine. However, this would result in plastic waste, which is what the charge aims to reduce. Furthermore, Singaporeans don’t like paying money when they can help it. On 10 July, Clean and Green Singapore posted some helpful tips on bagging waste without supermarket plastic bags on its Instagram page. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Clean & Green Singapore (@cleanandgreensg) Besides using food packaging bags, bread packaging and packaging for toilet and paper towel rolls can be used to hold rubbish. For Shopee addicts, parcel packaging can also be used to bag rubbish. Unfortunately, habits are difficult to form. It takes anywhere between 18 days to 254 days to form a habit, according to Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at University College London. Not everyone grocery shops daily, so it may take longer to form the habit of bringing your own bag. Thus, Clean and Green Singapore has four suggestions: Hang a reusable bag near the main door so you will be reminded to bring it when you leave the house. Clip your reusable bag to your bag as a keychain. Keep one reusable bag in your car. Always keep a reusable bag in the bag you typically use when going out. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Clean & Green Singapore (@cleanandgreensg) According to a 2022 article by Zhang Kuangjie, an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Nanyang Business School in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), there is another way to encourage consumers to use reusable bags. He noted that reusable bags can be seen as stylish and can be used for other things besides bagging groceries. For instance, fans of the K-pop group BTS could be inspired to use reusable bags if their bag has a BTS-related design. Thus, people who have reusable bags with appealing designs may be more inspired to make the switch.