By Mustakim Ramli
SHAH ALAM, March 10 — A study by the Merdeka Centre in Selangor in December last year showed that the people’s awareness towards the ‘No Plastic Bag’ campaign was high.
Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said the level of awareness that reached 88 per cent showed that the campaign has been instilled as a culture among the society.
“At the early stage, we implemented it in 2008 and when it was enforced in 2013, it was still considered to be relaxed to the point that it was even ridiculed.
“However, after it was consistently applied and practised, the result can be seen today,” Amirudin said at the launch of the “Free from Plastic Bag Warrior” programme at the Selangor State Secretariat Building here today.
However, Amirudin admitted that there has been a new challenge due to the Covid-19 situation when everything has to be conducted online.
“The packaging of goods requires containers but are the packages used made of polystyrene, plastic or recycled materials? Nevertheless, I believe there are some e-hailing companies that place strict conditions to refrain from using plastic,” he said.
Selangor started banning the use of plastic bags on every Saturday since 2009 and beginning January 2017, the campaign was extended to seven days a week.
