5 cents each: Drop in plastic bag use likely, but people will still bag their rubbish

SINGAPORE – The use of disposable plastic bags will fall now that major supermarkets are charging at least five cents for each bag, according to experts, but people will continue to bag rubbish to throw down the chute.

Since July 3, large supermarkets are required to charge at least five cents for a plastic bag under the Resource Sustainability Act as part of national efforts to reduce packaging waste. Similar schemes in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Britain have seen the use of plastic bags drop by between 60 per cent and 90 per cent.

Professor of Social Science (Environmental Studies) Michael Maniates at Yale-NUS College expects a similar fall in Singapore. “Evidence suggests that people are deeply price-sensitive to plastic bag charges, in part because a good that was once free is now coming with a fee attached. Even a small charge in some instances, like in Washington, DC, has led to outsized behavioural change,” he said.

Since the US capital started charging for single-use plastic in 2010, the number of plastic bags found in the Anacostia River dropped by 70 per cent.

But the practice of bagging rubbish before disposing of it will likely continue, as free plastic bags are still being given out by other sellers. In the lead-up to the bag charge, the National Environment Agency (NEA) suggested repurposing plastic bags used for online deliveries or packaged food like bread.

“The habit of bagging waste, particularly wet waste, before disposal, is deeply ingrained,” said senior economist at Research for Impact Oliver Yuen. “Plastic bags are not prohibitively expensive for the majority and are still given by certain vendors such as hawkers.”

Prof Maniates agreed, saying studies in other countries showed that how the public disposes of rubbish was not affected by a plastic bag charge. “And that includes those countries without a strong norm against such behaviour (throwing unbagged waste), as we see in Singapore.”

While a charge will help reduce the excessive use of plastic bags, it may not be enough to raise environmental awareness among the public.

Assistant Professor Yan Jubo, who teaches economics at the School of Social Sciences at the Nanyang Technological University, said: “Charging for plastic bags will raise awareness, but based on my own observation in other countries, like China’s plastic bag ban, for instance, the spillover effect is quite limited.”

Green groups such as Zero Waste SG and Plastic-Lite SG have launched initiatives to encourage Singaporeans to use reusable bags when shopping for groceries.

Associate Professor Jia Lile from the Department of Psychology at the National University of Singapore (NUS) said: “Not using plastic bags alone wouldn’t raise environmental awareness. But when people start replacing plastic bags with reusable bags, the increased visibility of reusable bags should gradually create a social norm to go green.”

The challenge is to get people to understand why it is important to protect the environment, instead of just pushing them to use fewer plastic bags by making them more expensive. “Behaviours are more enduring and self-sustaining when driven by intrinsic motivation,” said Mr Yuen.

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Associate Professor of Marketing Hannah Chang from the Singapore Management University said: “Plastic bag surcharges are typically symbolic and serve as a highly visible, continuous reminder to consumers.”

NEA strongly encourages supermarket operators to use proceeds from the bag charge for social or environmental causes, and Associate Professor Seck Tan from the Singapore Institute of Technology suggested focusing on the latter.

He said: “Bag charges collected can close the loop by funding the maintenance and protection of carbon sinks such as the ocean or the forest.”

Cutting the use of plastic bags may not decrease carbon emissions as Singapore generates electricity by burning solid waste, including plastic bags.

Professor Rajasekhar Balasubramanian from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NUS College of Design and Engineering said: “The commonly used plastic bags are polyethylene (PE) bags which have multiple units of the molecule of ethylene, so burning PE bags is like burning oil which contains hydrocarbons.”

Associate Professor Zhou Kang from the Food, Chemical and Biotechnology Cluster at the Singapore Institute of Technology added: “When fewer plastic bags are incinerated, the energy gap needs to be closed by other means, such as burning natural gas, which would also release carbon dioxide.”

Still, newer technologies are increasing the efficiency of incineration, cutting carbon emissions. In its latest 2021/2022 integrated sustainability report, NEA reported that direct carbon emissions from burning dropped by 20 per cent compared with the previous year.

NEA attributed the fall to scaling down the use of the Tuas Incineration Plant, which was eventually decommissioned.

The more efficient TuasOne plant, with a daily capacity to incinerate 3,600 tonnes of waste and generate 120MW of electricity, has been operational since December 2021.

With plastic bags now costing five cents each at supermarkets in a move to go green, locals are concerned they would not have enough plastic carriers to bag their rubbish at home.

The Straits Times spoke to green advocates for some best practices in waste management.

When collecting wet or organic waste, newspapers or paper bags can be used to line garbage cans. “These materials effectively absorb moisture and help control odours,” said a spokesman for the Singapore Environment Council. Avoid glossy or coated papers, as they may not degrade properly.

A Zero Waste SG spokesman said “there are still other plastic bags, which people may have on hand that can be used”, such as produce bags and food packaging.

By sorting waste into categories like dry, wet, recyclables, and biodegradable, other types of plastics can be used for waste disposal. Zero Waste SG said “wet waste usually needs to be bagged but is of a smaller volume that would be able to fit into smaller and more types of bags”.

Any biodegradable waste can be repurposed through composting at home to be used as fertiliser in your personal or community garden. Avoid adding milk to your compost. Teacher and Plastic-Lite Singapore volunteer Padmarani Srivatsan said: “NParks can use the compost for the gardens we have around Singapore, or the people composting (waste) can use it for their own purpose.”

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