NEA hopes more Singaporeans will "Bring Your Own Bag"
Posted: 18 April 2007 2311 hrs

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SINGAPORE: With the first Wednesday of every month set as BYOBD (Bring Your Own Bag Day), the NEA is hoping that more people will be encouraged to bring their own bag when doing their shopping.

At the Parkway Parade Giant outlet, the response to the campaign, which kicked off today, was so overwhelming that the reusable bags were sold out by midday and new stock had to be brought in.

However, at the Cold Storage Great World City outlet, the campaign was greeted with a lukewarm reception, with many of the shoppers unaware that it was BYOBD.

"I wasn't even aware there was such an event!" said a shopper at the Cold Storage Great World City outlet.

Promising to put more effort in raising public awareness about the initiative, the NEA said this initial response was expected.

Calling it "a small but important step", NEA Chief Executive Officer Mr Lee Yuen Hee said he hoped that bringing your own shopping bag will become a trend one day in Singapore.

Singapore consumes 2.5 billion plastic bags a year, which is equivalent to 625 bags per person annually, and the campaign hopes to increase awareness among shoppers on the need to reduce waste of plastic bags.

Besides Cold Storage and Giant, the other participating retailers are Carrefour, NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Prime and Shop & Save. Together they run more than 200 retail outlets, and the NEA hopes more retailers will come on board.