By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, April 26 — A survey will be conducted by the Selangor government to study the use of reusable shopping bags by consumers when out shopping at the markets, grocery stores and shops.
State executive councillor for consumer affairs Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni said that public awareness in the state towards the use of reusable shopping bags is still low.
“In general, a lot of people would rather pay the 20sen charge and would oftentimes leave their reusable bags when out shopping.
“Therefore, I have discussed with two local universities to conduct a survey on the consumer habits and why they choose not to bring their own shopping bags,” said Mohd Zawawi after distributing the Bagus reusable bags at the night market in Kampung Jalan Kebun, here on Saturday.
The Bagus initiative was launched on April 4 as part of the awareness campaign on the importance of conserving the environment by ditching plastic bags.
A total of 10,000 bags will be distributed to the people across Selangor.
Beginning January 1, 2017, Selangor had enforced the “No Plastic Bag” campaign by imposing a 20sen charge per plastic bag and had collected a total of RM6 million to date.
The amount collected would be used for public awareness programmes to educate the people on reducing plastic use in order to protect the environment.