KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 ― Selangor Barisan Nasional will continue the current state government policy of charging 20 cents for every plastic bag bought by consumers at all shops in Selangor, its chief Tan Sri Noh Omar said today.
Noh today clarified an earlier report that said that the state BN would discontinue charging consumers who do not bring their own plastic bags to shops.
“That policy will not change. We will continue charging 20 cents. But what we are saying is that for those who do bring their own plastic bags, they have to be rewarded as well,” he said during a press on conference outside Dewan Rakyat today.
Noh said that the money collected from consumers who do not bring their own plastic bags would then be given to consumers who do bring their own plastic bags.
He said that the policy change mooted by the state BN, which will be in the Selangor BN manifesto, was because of the “failure” of the Selangor campaign in reducing plastic bag usage.
“In four months, they collected RM 1.8 million. This means around 9 million plastic bags were sold in that period. How has the campaign been successful? This was not successful,” he said.
Noh said that the money collected from those who do not bring their own plastic bags should be used in a better way, particularly towards raising awareness about plastic bag usage, as opposed to being used for any other activities.
