NUS Co-op says goodbye to free plastic bags

Eileen Poh | poh.eileen@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication

Feb. 4, 2008

If you had popped by the National University of Singapore Multi-purpose Co-operative Society Limited (NUS Co-op) earlier today, you might be wondering why the cashier auntie did not give you a plastic bag for your items.

(Photo by Eileen Poh)

Starting today, the NUS Co-op stores will stop giving out plastic bags for purchased items. Instead, consumers would have to pay $0.10 for each plastic carrier taken away.

The initiative is under Rebate2Earth, part of an environmental project under NUSSU Students Against Violation of the Earth (SAVE) titled Living with Gaia.

The project seeks to reduce the usage of plastic carriers on campus by 50 percent.

The new policy was welcomed by many students as the NUS Co-op stores opened its doors to customers earlier this morning.

“I am actually quite for the exercise, said Charmaine Lua, first-year arts and social sciences student. “I believe recycling would help to save the environment.”

Mark Goh, graduate engineering student also said that the $0.10 fee would decrease the usage of plastic bags.

“If I am buying small items, I wouldn’t be using plastic bags,” he said.

In support for the policy, students from NUSSU SAVE gave out brown recycled bags at the doors of Co-op@Forum.

Customers were also given these recycled bags in replacement of plastic bags when they purchased items from the CO-OP.

Despite the email circulars and advertisements, some students were not aware of the fee implementation.

“I didn’t know they are not giving out plastic bags anymore, said Zhang Kui, fourth-year engineering student. “I didn’t think of asking for one.”

(Photo by Eileen Poh)

Similarly, Hitomi Sato, second-year student from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, did not notice that she was not given a bag despite having purchased something from the CO-OP.

The oblivion of not receiving a plastic bag for purchases suggests that many could do well without one. Majority of the students approached by the ridge had also reused the plastic bags received in some other ways, such as to store rubbish in their homes.

Such behaviours imply a move towards a culture where people reuse plastic bags or simply not use any, which is what Rebate2Earth hopes to achieve via the implementation
of the fee for plastic bags.

But is $0.10 significant enough?

Lim Sher Nee, 22, said that $0.10 is not material, to the majority.

“I think that people would still pay for the bags,” she said.

The proceeds from sale of plastic bags will go to Rebate2Earth Fund for future environmental projects in NUS.

Plastic bag consumption will also be monitored on a monthly basis via tabulation of the proceeds.