@ green | JANUARY-FEBRUARY , 2023

Fostering behavioural changes in consumer shopping patterns will support Singapore ’ s Zero Waste Masterplan

BY KAVICKUMAR MURUGANATHAN

For a start , this requirement applies to supermarket operators with an annual turnover of more than US $ 100 million ( S $ 133 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 reducing 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 six 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 the use of plastic bags , Singapore has steered cleared from the matter , instead adopting a pay-as-you-use approach .

Packaging , in particular plastic bags , have become synonymous with Singapore and Singaporeans due to their durability and versatility .

From transporting cooked food in Styrofoam containers and serving as linings for our rubbish bins at home , plastic bags are ubiquitous in its 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 on average .

The 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 agreeable to 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 be required to publicly make available data on the number of bags issued and the proceeds received from the bag charges and how these proceeds 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 . This could also spur the demand for reusable bags for in-store shopping needs .

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 .

While a per-transaction fee may not have the same results as a per bag charge , FairPrice indicated that a year-long pilot saved 15.6 million plastic bags and resulted in 7.8 million bring-your-own-bag transactions . About S $ 600,000 was raised from the plastic bag charges and went towards community and environmental causes such as tree planting activities .

FairPrice remains the only supermarket chain in Singapore to charge for plastic bags and has an aim of saving 30 million plastic bags annually by 2030 .

The amendment to the Resource Sustainability Bill requires larger supermarket operators to charge a minimum of five cents for each disposable carrier bag provided to shoppers at their physical stores .

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

It remains to be seen how consumer shopping patterns will change once the charges come into play . At present , the proposed charge of five cents per disposal carrier bag is lesser than the single transaction fee of 10 cents and 20 cents imposed by Cheers and FairPrice respectively for the request of disposal carrier bags .

A per bag charge would be a better deterrence for shoppers to request for disposal carriers as compared to a single transaction fee . With a single transaction fee , shoppers still have the liberty to obtain more disposal carrier bags than they require especially at self-check-out kiosks at FairPrice outlets .

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

To circumvent the disposal bag carrier charge , shoppers might be enticed to order and have their groceries delivered online . 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 be a deterrence to some consumers from requesting for disposal carrier bags , it remains to be seen if supermarket operators set off with a uniform carrier charge across the board and if the operators intend to increase the charge 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 .

Funds raised from disposal carrier bag charges should be 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 becomes 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 anything beyond is redundant . – @ Green

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