GEORGE TOWN – Penang will widen restrictions on single-use plastics in more commercial outlets and hotels by next year, state exco Phee Boon Poh said.
Its “no free plastic” campaign, which began in 2009, currently applies to hypermarkets, supermarkets and selected hospitals.
The initiative will soon be expanded to include the hotel sector.
The state will begin with budget hotels first, before covering boutique and top-class accommodation properties, Phee told The Vibes.
An educational campaign will first be held for players in the hotel sector, he added.
For hotels, he said they will be discouraged from using plastic bags at their eateries, as well as plastic bottles or packaging in their accommodation’s soap dispensing devices and in room toiletries.
We are engaging all stakeholders, and we hope society will support this effort to save our environment from plastic-driven pollution,” Phee said on the sidelines of the Penang assembly meeting.
Phee said hoteliers here are a main target to bring on board the campaign due to Penang’s popularity as a tourism destination. They have a major role to play as more accommodation properties are mushrooming in the state, he added.
Hotels can serve as an educational platform to generate more awareness to the public about the pollution caused by single-used plastics, Phee said.
He highlighted that the Mercure property group has since announced plans to discourage the use of plastics in its chain of properties soon.
As for other commercial establishments, Phee said eventually all forms of eateries, retail and wholesale outlets as well as healthcare entities, will be included.
Penang is reviving the push to ban the use of single-use plastics following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Penang Green Council general manager Josephine Tan was reported saying recently that the state government hopes to launch a framework on single-use plastics by next year, after delays from the original deadline this year.
Presently, consumers are charged per plastic bag, ranging from 20 sen to RM1, depending on the outlet.
The state has also made every Monday to Wednesday plastic-bag free, whereby outlets are not to provide bags at all.
Currently, exemptions are only granted to hawkers and wet markets, Tan said.
On an online survey the council did to gauge plastic bag use, Tan said 79% of those polled began using reusable bags before the movement control order, while the number grew to 81% during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
In tandem with increased charges on plastic bags, requests by shoppers also decreased by 78%, Tan added. Penang began charging up to RM1 per plastic bag in 2021.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), which is part of the Break Free from Plastic global movement, however, said the country still lacks a national roadmap towards zero single-use plastics by 2030.
There is no uniformed approach, even though zero-plastics might be a policy direction for various authorities and state governments.
“A holistic approach covering all sectors is necessary to help Malaysia achieve the zero single-use plastics target.
“We need to identify sectors using single-use plastics. Action plans must be drawn up to address these issues in tandem with stringent implementation,” SAM said. – The Vibes, March 8, 2023
