Plastic
waste, particularly single-use plastics, has been identified as one of the
issues that the Government wish to tackle and resolve. According to a statistic
published by the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation, Ministry of
Development, plastic wastes make up 16% of the total waste composition disposed
to our landfill, making it one of the top three (3) major waste category after
food waste and paper waste. As such, the No Plastic Bag Weekend Initiative was
introduced in 2011 to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated and disposed
to our landfill and at the same time to encourage the use of reusable bags and
switching to a more sustainable lifestyle.
During
this this year’s legislative council meeting, the Minister of Development also
resonated His Majesty’s call for an integrated approach to combat the ongoing
issue of waste and litter in the country during his address to the cabinet
ministers early this year, by announcing the addition of another day to make it
4 days without the use of plastic bags and the target of reducing waste
generation in the country from 1.4 kg/person/day to 1.0 kg/person/day by the
year 2035.
Seeing
how this fits timely with the themes on combatting plastic waste, the Ministry
of Development via Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation has expanded
the ‘No Plastic Bag Weekend Initiative’. This is also aligned with the positive
and encouraging response from the general public in a public survey conducted
in 2015 on their views of the No Plastic Bag Weekend Initiative. The results
are as follows:
•80%
of the respondents supports the No Plastic Bag Weekend Initiative and is of the
view that it is a good initiative rather than a burden
•20%
of the respondents indicated that they use their reusable bags every single
day, not just during the weekends.
•52%
of the respondents preferred to add Thursdays first for the expansion of the
Initiative, to followed by addition of Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday
accordingly
•64%
of the respondents are aware of the negative impacts of using plastic bags and
supports the idea of stopping the usage completely
 | Following
that, the ‘No Plastic Bag Weekend Initiative’ was then further expanded to the
‘No Plastic Bag Everyday Initiative’ on the 19th
April 2018, with the addition of Thursday in conjunction with this year’s Earth
Day celebration fitting with the theme ‘End Plastic Pollution’ (addition of
Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday was done phase-by-phase i.e. Wednesday by 11th
July, Tuesday by 2nd
October and Monday by 31st
December). With the slogan ‘It Takes a Nation to End Plastic Pollution’, this
expansion was aimed towards zero plastic carrier bags in participating stores
by 1st
January 2019. |
Prepared by: Department of Enviroment, Parks and Recreation
Published Date: 2018
