Time to pay the (plastic) piper

TODAY’S column is prompted by a couple of things. One was a survey done by the supermarket where I am a regular and the other was what Cabinet ministers were spotted drinking at their weekly meeting.

I got the supermarket survey via email and it contained the usual questions like how many in my household, my income level, how often I shop and so on.

But one question stood out for me. It asked how I would respond if the supermarket were to no longer provide free plastic bags inside its premises for shoppers to pack their fresh produce. Positive or negative?

I clicked positive. I wish I could have clicked like 10 times to say yes, yes, stop providing those rolls of plastic bags for shoppers to tear off at the vegetable, fruit, fish and meat sections.

Exactly a year ago, on Feb 24, 2021, I wrote about how “Living a less plastic life is possible”, as the column was titled. I pointed out the irony of supermarkets making shoppers pay for plastic bags at the check-out counters but generously provide spools of single-use plastic bags in the fresh produce sections.

To me, whatever good that comes out of the No Plastic Bag policy is completely cancelled out by these unlimited single-use bags before shoppers reach check-out.

As I noted, people usually use one bag per fruit or vegetable and in the end, their carts are filled with single-use bags. I was just as guilty until I decided I could do better by bringing from home whatever plastic bags I saved up.

I also put several vegetables into one bag. At the weighing and pricing counter, the staff will separately weigh the items before putting them all back in. All the price tags are then stuck on the outside of that one bag.

Once home, we peel off the price stickers and the bags go back into my boot with the rest of the shopping tote bags.

I have been doing this for more than a year now, but I don’t think I have inspired other shoppers to do the same.

That’s why my supermarket’s survey question was a pleasant surprise; it indicated that it is at least considering doing something about the unlimited use of single-use plastic within its premises.

I doubt most of its shoppers would say yes to such a move. But even if my supermarket cannot stop providing those spools of plastic bags, it can have signs to encourage shoppers to put several items in one bag. Then once people are more aware, the supermarket can consider charging for every plastic bag, just like they do for the shopping bags at check-out.

While other state governments like Selangor have fixed the charge for shopping bags at 20 sen, Penang has, since Jan 1, 2021, upped the fee from 20 sen to RM1 a bag.

So why not charge for those single-use bags in the fresh produce sections as well? Ten sen a bag perhaps? If 20 sen was a good deterrent, which has resulted in most shoppers bringing their own packing bags, making them pay 10 sen for every single-use bag could work very well too, don’t you think?

At the very least, shoppers will use less plastic by putting several items in one bag.

The other thing that caught my attention: Cabinet ministers enjoying bottled mineral water at their weekly meeting. Now what got sharp-eyed netizens upset was that they were served expensive Evian mineral water, which was an indulgence that suffering Malaysians did not care for.

My take is: Why have mineral water served in plastic bottles at all? Why can’t the ministers drink water poured from jugs into glasses?

We all know plastic waste is killing the planet, especially ocean life, and one of the biggest culprits is the plastic beverage bottle.

Plastic bottles and bottle caps rank as the third and fourth most collected plastic trash items in the Ocean Conservancy’s annual September beach cleanups in more than 100 countries.

That’s why environmental activists want the bottle as next in line for banning, after plastic shopping bags.

They have already made in-roads. Plastic bottles are now banned in numerous public parks, museums, universities and zoos in Europe and the United States.

I was very impressed by what the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has done – ban disposable water bottles in all city offices.

SDMC Standing Committee chairman Bhupender Gupta explained why: “Single-use plastic water bottles were being used in our office for decades and we noticed that it had three negative impacts, two of which affect the environment directly. One being the usage of single-use plastic, the other being wastage of water, since most using these don’t always manage to finish the water in one go and it usually goes to waste, and third was the monetary impact.”

Why can’t our government agencies do the same thing? Our Cabinet should be the first to set a good example for the rest to follow.

Of course, the bottled water industry will not be happy with any ban. It’s a thriving industry, too. According to statistica.com, in 2019, the sales value of bottled water in Malaysia was approximately RM698.45mil.

And bottled water is not all bad. For example, it is very useful, safe and convenient to have in the aftermath of a disaster when people’s water supply is disrupted.

But if we don’t rein in our addiction to plastic, especially single-use plastics and beverage bottles, it will only get worse for Earth’s ecosystems, which are already breaking down from the severe impacts.

Bethanie Carney Almroth, co-author of a study by the Stockholm Resilience Centre on tackling plastic pollution from source to sea, warned that more drastic solutions are needed, such as production caps.

She said: “What we are trying to say is maybe we have to say ‘Enough is enough’. Maybe we can’t tolerate (it) anymore.”

I disagree with Carney Almroth; there is no maybe left for us to play with. It’s do or die. The total weight of plastic on Earth is now four times the biomass of all living things. Recycling is one solution, but after so many years, less than 10% of the world’s plastic is recycled.

If governments are slow to act, we as individuals and businesses can forge ahead. We can start with breaking the habit of buying water. Carry a reusable water bottle from home. Companies should also ban plastic water bottles, like what the South Delhi Municipal Corporation has done. Restaurants should stop selling bottled water. Hotels should go back to serving water from jugs at seminars and conferences held on their premises.

State governments can make it compulsory for shopping malls, parks and wherever people gather, to have conveniently placed drinking fountains, like at airports. Even if it isn’t made mandatory, shopping mall managements should do the right thing and just provide the facility.

So, dear readers, if you think it’s too much of a bother to change our plastic habits, consider this: more than a million plastic bottles are sold every minute and five trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. Half of all plastic produced can be used only once and then thrown away.

Plastic has certainly brought great convenience to our modern lives but it’s clear it has come at great cost to Mother Earth. It’s now time to pay the piper and with interest, too. As National Geographic asks: Planet or plastic? What’s your response?

The views expressed here are the writer’s own.