MIRI: The city council lambasted business outlets here that are not participating in the ‘Say No To Plastic Bags’ campaign but are charging their customers 20 sen for each plastic bag used.
Miri City mayor Lawrence Lai said many people had complained to the council about the many businesses here charging their customers 20 sen for each plastic bag used although they were not participants of the campaign
One of the complaints was directed at a bakery in the city centre which charges customers 20 sen for each plastic bag used when in fact no bakery here was participating in the ‘Say No To Plastic’ campaign.
Lai said this during the council’s full meeting recently.
He said the participating outlets were Boulevard Hypermarket & Departmental Store, Giant Supermarket, E-mart Supermarket, Servay Supermarket, Ekonomi, Sin Liang Supermarket, Ng Sian Hap Trading Sdn Bhd and GK Supermarket.
Commenting on the 20 sen charge, Lai said 50 per cent of the proceeds would go to charitable organisations and the other half to the council’s Green Culture Fund.
Lai, however, said they could not stop non-participating business outlets from charging their customers extra (20 sen) because they did not come under their jurisdiction.
“We can only print posters and stickers indicating which shopping outlets are participating in the campaign,” he said.
The campaign, which started with ‘Sunday is No Plastic Bag Day’ on Sept 6, last year, has now evolved to ‘Say No To Polystyrene’ campaign.