By Ling Hui
KUCHING, May 11: Kuching South City Council (MBKS) is considering completely stopping the supply of plastic bags at supermarkets under its jurisdiction.
MBKS Mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng said the current practice where shoppers are still provided with paid plastic bags has defeated the purpose of reducing plastic bag use.
Therefore, to be in line with the federal government’s plan to ban retail use of plastic bags nationwide by 2025, he said MBKS is planning to discuss the matter further with local supermarkets.
“People now can still pay 20 sen for each plastic bag, and people don’t mind paying that. The original intention is lost in that, so we want it to be completely stopped.
“We will be calling all the supermarkets to see what the best way is to approach this. In actual fact, in Korea, they don’t provide patrons with plastic bags.
“Instead, they leave empty boxes around so that shoppers can carry their items in those boxes,” said Wee at a press conference on Kuching Car-Free Morning on May 14 at MBKS headquarters here today.
He opined the public needs time to pick up the habit of reusing bags when shopping, but the supply of plastic bags must be stopped first. — DayakDaily
