On paying for plastic bags: you're not the first country doing this

Much has been discussed on social media in Singapore following the report on CNA about the proposals to charge 10 cents for big plastic bags and 5 cents for small ones in Singapore. Credit to CNA, they did report that this is a measure that has already been done in other countries like Hong Kong and the UK. Indeed, this is pretty much the case across Europe but in Florida, they are still giving out plastic bags for free. This isn't rocket science: plastic bags take thousands of years to breakdown when buried and when you burn them in incinerators (which is where the rubbish in Singapore ends up), loads of toxic fumes are released into the atmosphere causing air pollution. Don't you care about the quality of the air you breathe in Singapore? Singaporeans get so upset when it is haze season, yet when offered a chance to improve the quality of the air in Singapore, they conveniently ignore the benefits such a measure will bring.

Many countries do charge you for one of these.

I had a look at my friend's Facebook page when she discussed this and good grief - I don't know who her friends are but she seems to have befriended some of the dumbest people in Singapore. They seem to have jumped to the wildest conclusions without actually checking what has happened in other countries which have been charging people for disposable plastic bags for years. They seemed to be under the impression that Singapore is the first country in the world to come up with this scheme (like duh, you are merely catching up with the rest of the world) and you're not plunging into the unknown abyss. But no, these ignorant Singaporeans are way too lazy to spend a moment to find out what has happened in other countries and would rather make wild assumptions based on their ignorance. Now that's what irks me. It is okay if you don't have the information, simply spend a moment reading it up on the internet or ask someone who knows - but your ridiculous assumptions based on your ignorance is not an acceptable substitute for the truth. So, allow me to deal with three of their most ludicrous assumptions now.

"Charging people for plastic bags would make life even harder for low-income families."

Maybe the people talking about this have good intentions, but quite frankly, the figures we're talking about isn't going to make any kind of impact on the situation for low-income families quite simply because it is based on the assumption that people will not make any attempt to adapt to the situation and simply pay for the plastic bags each time they buy something. What has happened in fact is that most people will recycle old plastic bags that they have to avoid paying for disposable plastic bags and the motivation to save money is enough to make most people adapt very quickly. The only people who will not adapt are those who will not bat an eyelid about paying a few more cents for a plastic bag because they are so rich. Low-income families have the most motivation to save money, so they will be the first to adapt to the change and modify their behaviour by simply bringing their own bags with them when going to the supermarket. It has been done in other countries - so there is absolutely no reason to suggest why Singaporeans will not be able to adapt to the change as well given how Singaporeans are reasonably well-educated and tech-savvy.

This is not going to make a difference even to poor families.

An ingenious solution has emerged as this situation creates a branding opportunity. My local estate agent has given every house on my street free cloth bags for our shopping, with their logo displayed boldly on the bag of course so the next time I walk home from the supermarket with my groceries, I am a walking advertisement for them. They bags measure 35 cm by 45 cm and can contain as much as a regular plastic bag, the designs do vary - some come with longer straps so you can sling them over your shoulder (very convenient when your groceries are heavy).  They are attractive, durable and washable - most of all, they are environmentally friendly. They are hardly the first company to have thought of that - my living room is full of these free large cloth bags and I am only using my favourite ones now. When I am given any more, I will simply given them away (unless they are particularly attractive of course). Singaporean companies will simply use this opportunity as well to turn every shopper in NTUC Fairprice into a walking advertisement and so no one will have to pay for their bags in exchange for being a walking advertisement. And even if you have forgotten to bring your free cloth bag with you to the supermarket, most supermarkets will still sell you a durable, reusable plastic bag (known as a 'bag for life') as opposed to a single-use disposable plastic bag for a nominal fee like £0.10 and once you wear that out, the supermarket will replace it for you for free.

In any case, if you are talking about what is keeping low-income families poor, you're really barking up the wrong tree if you go after plastic bags. Poor families are poor because they do not earn enough money to begin with, it starts there and why do they earn so little? It is because they simply do not have the right kind of education and skills that will enable them to do higher paid jobs, that is why they end up doing lowly paid unskilled work. Giving a poor family a pile of free plastic bags is going to do little to help lift them out of poverty - you really want to help these people, you have to tackle the root causes of their poverty and give them free/heavily subsidized training to upgrade their skills, so that they can do more highly skilled jobs which will command higher pay. This is of course, a huge project and a difficult one: if these people were that motivated and able to acquire those skills and improve themselves, they probably wouldn't be in that position in the first place. Trying to get such adults back into training and education is extremely difficult and will take a lot of resources, that is why lazy politicians resort to token gestures such as giving them free plastic bags because the latter is so much easier to achieve for politicians looking to boost their popularity. You need to get real if you're sincere about helping these low-income families - enough of these vapid token gestures already. If you are genuinely sincere about doing some kind of charity, then give the poor families something that costs more than a few cents, like sacks of rice, bottles of milk, loaves of bread or fresh fruits and vegetables - at least those food items cost a few dollars to buy and can make a difference, compared to plastic bags that cost just a few cents. Imagine if a politician gave a poor family a S$1 voucher to spend on plastic bags, wouldn't you be insulted by that gesture?

Do you really want to help the poor? Then do it the right way.

"People need plastic bags to contain their rubbish - the streets of Singapore would be full of rubbish if you do not give them out for free, it will be a disaster." 

Again, this is a wrongful assumption on so many levels. Firstly, littering is against the law in Singapore and Singapore has been extremely effective in terms of enforcing such laws. What makes you think that Singaporeans will completely change their mindset when it comes to obeying the law and willfully throw rubbish in the streets just because plastic bags are no longer free in an act of rebellion? When the government banned chewing gum back in 1992, did Singaporeans openly rebel by getting chewing gum from Johor Bahru and vandalizing public property with gum? No, they simply reacted by obeying the law. Indeed, given the track record of Singaporeans when it comes to obeying the law, there is really nothing to suggest that Singaporeans will do anything but continue to obey and respect the law, making whatever changes they need to in order to adapt. Singaporeans willingly pay their taxes and CPF contributions because the government tells them to do so, what makes you think this lot will rebel over a small matter like plastic bags? Nope, they will do what Singaporeans do best - obeying the government and following the rules. 

In terms of containing my rubbish, I have accumulated enough plastic bags before the charge came into place on the 5th October 2015 to use - I now make sure I always fill the bags up completely before disposing of them and I don't actually get through that many. Likewise, I tend to recycle other forms of packaging as plastic bags to contain my rubbish. For example, I get multi-packs of sparkling water and toilet rolls - these are packaged in clear plastic wrap and I cut the wrapping open in a way that enables me to use them as plastic bags to contain my household waste. Indeed, after nearly a year, I have never been in a position where I simply don't have a plastic bag for my rubbish or that I had to buy some. Besides, there are some smaller shops who still do give out free bags for free (notably the Chinese supermarkets in London Chinatown seem to ignore that rule), so it is not as if I am slowly depleting my limited supply of plastic bags. I simply did what everyone else did - I made minor adaptations to avoid paying for plastic bags.

London is still reasonably clean even after our 5p charge for plastic bags was introduced.

I'm also a lot more careful about sorting my trash now as well - I remember in Singapore, my family used to throw out loads of small bags of trash (they got through a lot of plastic bags) because any kind of food waste would attract ants, cockroaches, flies and other insects so the moment we had some food waste to throw out, it would be bagged up and chucked out instantly. We also didn't want any odours from the food waste anywhere in the house. Likewise, I do not like the idea of food waste attracting insects in my home, so I have switched to a bin with a tight lid, so nothing can get into the bin and there is a little pedal I have to step on to open the lid. It is not exactly a high tech solution but it is actually incredibly effective in terms of keeping unwanted pests out of my household waste as well as controlling any odours that may be emitting from the waste. This basically means I can make sure I only empty my bins when they are completely full, regardless of the contents. These are merely small adjustments that I had to make to my daily routine when it comes to dealing with household waste and really, it is not rocket science to adapt. This makes me wonder why some stupid Singaporeans assume the very worst of people, that they would freak out and just chuck garbage out of the window, into the streets like maniacs. Even I have more faith in Singaporeans' ability to adapt to these changes.

"The supermarkets are just trying to make money from this - you can reward people for using their own bags, you don't need to penalize people for asking for a free plastic bag." 

Again, based on experiences in other countries, this has simply not been the case. Here's what's happened in the UK: most supermarkets have a loyalty card scheme whereby you can accumulate points as you shop and those points can be exchanged for discount vouchers in due course. If you have brought your own shopping bag, then you can claim extra points for that and it was a reward system designed to encourage people to bring their own shopping bags instead of claiming a free one. But there was just one problem: most shoppers use a self-checkout counter these days at the supermarket, so you scan your items and pay for it at a machine without actually interacting with a member of staff. So many people claim to have brought their own bags at those machines but still take a plastic bag (or two) anyway because there is nobody there to monitor who has taken a plastic bag at those machines. The supermarkets ended up giving shoppers loads of extra bonus loyalty points on this scheme but the use of plastic bags didn't really drop because there wasn't a cost-effective way to police this reward system. Rewarding people simply didn't work.

How do you get consumers to change their behaviour?

However, the moment they introduced £0.05 charge for each plastic bag claimed, plastic bag use fell by a staggering 85% overnight. The supermarkets have removed the free bags from the self-checkout machines as well so you actually have to ask a member of staff for one and in those rare instances, the member of staff would then verify that you did pay for it on the machine. Logistically, it was just far easier to charge people for asking for a plastic bag than to try to reward those who chose not to use one. In any case, the supermarkets are certainly not making huge profits from these plastic bags given how few people are using them these days - quite simply, they make their money from doing what they do best: selling you the groceries you need. Any accusation of them profiteering from the situation is totally unfounded. And if you feel that strongly about being charged for a plastic bag, then you can deny the supermarket the right to charge you by bringing your own bag to the supermarket - problem solved.

But you know what irks me the most? Singapore will not be the first country in the world to do this - this is already done in so many other countries. Indeed, different approaches have been taken by different countries - with some countries banning disposable plastic bags altogether and others imposing a tax/fee on disposable plastic bags. All you have to do is take a look at the situation in other countries and learn from their experience: you can clearly see what works and what doesn't and ensure that you pick the most effective methods for the best results. But no, some bloody stupid Singaporeans can't be asked to think outside the box, they can't be asked to consider for a moment what has happened in other countries and they choose to remain pig-ignorant and jump to the most ridiculous conclusions based on their ignorance. What makes you think that the implementation of this policy in Singapore is going to be any different from other countries like the UK or Hong Kong? In this day and age, it is unbelievable that you can have seemingly educated Singaporeans being so incredibly ignorant about the world outside Singapore despite having all these resources at their fingertips to get information. Stop being ignorant and empower yourself. Thanks for reading.