.jpg "Penang exco Phee Boon Poh speaks to reporters during a press conference on plastic usage at Komtar July 1, 2019. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Sayuti Zainudin")
GEORGE TOWN, July 1 ― Authorities will pursue supermarkets that fail to submit the 20 sen collected for each plastic bag sold as part of a campaign to reduce single-use plastics in the state, said Phee Boon Poh.
The state welfare, caring society and environment committee chairman warned that these errant supermarkets may lose their licences if the do not comply.
“I want to tell these supermarkets, we are watching you, we have identified who you are and you will realise how wrong you are not to comply with this bylaw in Penang,” he said in a press conference this morning.
Penang implemented the “No free plastic bags” in 2009, making consumers pay 20 sen for each plastic bag they take.
The accumulated fees were then channelled to the state’s Agenda Ekonomi Saksama (AES) ― a poverty eradication programme that tops up the income of those whose income are below the poverty level.
Phee said a few errant supermarkets have stopped handing over the 20 sen collected to the state three years ago when the federal government introduced its “No free plastic bags” campaign on weekends.
According to the federal policy, supermarkets that collect the 20 sen must hand it over to the government, but these could be used for any charitable events they organised.
“They insisted that according to the federal policy, they need not hand it over to the government but they forgot, they are operating businesses in Penang, so they must adhere to our state bylaws which says that they must hand it over to the state,” he said.
He said the federal government and other states do not understand the mechanism on the collection of the 20 sen that Penang has implemented for a decade.
He said Penang has to assist and hold dialogue sessions with the local governments in other states to brief them on the collection mechanism.
