Why waste plastic bags? Choose reusable bags!

The next time a cashier asks if you would like a plastic bag for your purchases, pause to think about whether you really need it.
Many of us readily accept more plastic bags than is necessary to bag our purchases. Many of these plastic bags end up in the trash - or worse, flying off as litter into a drain somewhere. Plastic bag litter is not only unsightly, it is also a potential breeding site for mosquitoes and creates other environmental problems.
To promote conservation and minimize wastage, a national campaign to discourage the excessive use of plastic bags has been launched. Instead of using plastic bags, we encourage people to bring their own bags - or use reusable bags when they shop.
Singaporeans use about 2.5 billion plastic bags a year for bagging their purchases - or an average of 2,500 bags per family, per year. These 2.5 billion plastic bags translate collectively to 19,000 tonnes or 0.8 per cent of the total waste disposed of in Singapore annually.
In many countries, used plastic bags are landfilled. This is not the case in Singapore where land is scarce. Used plastic bags are incinerated along with all other waste, and generate electricity in the process.
Although the disposal of used plastic bags is not an issue for Singapore, the liberal issue and unnecessary use of plastic bags should be discouraged.
'We are not suggesting to do away with plastic bags altogether, as they can be used to bag refuse and then be disposed of in our incineration plants.' said Lee Yuen Hee, Chief Executive Officer, National Environment Agency. 'But we want our people to use reusable bags as far as possible, and to take only as many plastic bags as they need, thereby cutting down on wastage.'
To address this, NEA set up a working group comprising major supermarket chains, retailers, Singapore Retailers Association (SRA) and Singapore Environment Council (SEC). Participating retailers include Carrefour, Cheers, Cold Storage, Fairprice Xpress, Foodland, Giant, Guardian, IKEA, Liberty Market, Market Place, NTUC FairPrice, Prime Supermarket, Sheng Siong, Shop N Save, and 7-Eleven.
These retailers will make reusable bags available for sale at low prices. All the participating retailers will make these reusable bags available at the launch of the campaign (except for NTUC Fairprice stores, which have limited reusable bags as their new shipment of these bags will arrive only in Mar 06). Participating retailers will display publicity materials such as standees, wobblers and posters to raise public awareness. They have trained their cashiers to ask shoppers if they need a plastic bag where appropriate. To give the campaign a further boost, the retailers are also introducing incentives to encourage shoppers to use less plastic bags.