Dear All, Pls read. I don't think it is fair to make consumers to buy Plastic Bags, while we are buying their products. Ikea to start charging customers for plastic bags Retailer hopes to cut waste; from April 22, shoppers will pay up to 10 cents for them By Tania Tan Apr 11, 2007 The Straits Times HOMEWARE store Ikea will become the first retailer in Singapore to charge for plastic bags in a bid to reduce waste. From April 22, shoppers at the retail giant's two outlets in Alexandra Road and Tampines will have to pay a nominal five cents for standard-size bags and 10 cents for larger ones. Ikea spokesman Lars Svensson told The Straits Times the company is hoping to reduce the number of bags given out to customers here from the projected 5.5 million to four million in the first year. They will also cut the price of their reusable blue bags from $2.90 to $1.20 to encourage more customers to BYOB (bring your own bag). 'The whole idea of the campaign is to change consumer practice in the long run,' said Mr Svensson. To make sure the company is not accused of profiteering, proceeds from the sale of the bags will be donated to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to fund conservation efforts in Indonesia. The money will help fund initiatives by the Indonesian government and non-government organisations to prevent and monitor illegal fires and forest-clearing and promote sustainable forest management. Singapore is the latest country to be targeted in Ikea's global campaign against plastic bags. The campaign was rolled out in Britain last year, where it proved to be a huge success. Charging 10 pence (29 cents) per bag, the initiative cut the store's plastic bag usage by 95 per cent, said Mr Svensson. Customers in the United States started paying for their plastic bags in February this year. The money raised in those sales was also channelled to environmental causes. Singapore has tried reducing plastic bag usage before, with mixed results. Past initiatives, like the National Environment Agency's (NEA) campaign last year to encourage reusable bags, met with varied results. Though people are more aware of reusable bags, the number of disposable bags used has held steady at 2.5 billion a year, said the NEA. That works out to 625 bags per person. Executive director of the Singapore Environment Council Howard Shaw said the resistance by retailers boiled down to 'a fear of losing customers'. He hoped that Ikea's step will pave the way for other industry players to jump on the bandwagon. Mr Harold Kloeden, managing director of waste management company Altvater Jakob, said: 'Hopefully the public will get more sensible and sensitive...and more people will start thinking about the environment.' Other retailers, however, are not keen on the idea. Cold Storage said it would not charge for plastic bags as results from consumer surveys clearly showed that 'customers would not pay'. Likewise, NTUC FairPrice said it prefers to encourage reusable bag use instead of charging. Shoppers like Miss Chen Ai Lian, 30, are equally unenthusiastic. 'Plastic bags are like advertisements for the retailers,' said the teacher. 'I don't see why I should pay to advertise for them.' Undergraduate Mr Wang Zhenglin, 24, agreed. 'Pay? Definitely not,' he said.
