Consumers should pay for single-use carrier bags made of all materials, not only plastic. But bags used to carry fresh produce should be exempted from any charge, Louis Ng said yesterday.
In this way, consumers will still have some free bags for binning their trash, but fewer plastic bags will be consumed overall.
Ng, who is Member of Parliament for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC), cautioned that the issue of plastic waste has “reached a turning point”. “If we don’t do anything about it, there will be more plastics than fish in the ocean by 2050.”
The government will continue to monitor developments on this front, replied Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources.
In March, the authorities said that it would not impose a charge on plastic bags, adding that substituting them with other types of disposable bags, such as paper ones, may not be better for the environment in Singapore’s case.
Paper and biodegradable bags may require as much resources to produce and have a similar environmental impact, as waste here is incinerated before going to the landfill and not left to decay, Dr Khor said at the time.
Source: malaymail.com
