Come Sept. 16, 2019, shoppers should bring their own reusable bag, or be prepared to pay extra for plastic bags at some FairPrice and Cheers outlets.

FairPrice has announced on Sept. 4 that it will be charging for plastic bags at selected outlets in a month-long trial.

Seven outlets

The seven selected FairPrice outlets include:

• FairPrice Xtra at Hougang One
• FairPrice Finest at Zhongshan Park
• FairPrice at Tai Seng
• FairPrice Xpress at 384 Lorong Chuan
• Cheers at 1 Create Way
• Cheers at 1 Anchorvale Street
• Cheers at 611 Aljunied Road

Shoppers will have to pay an extra S$0.10 for plastic bags per transaction at these Cheers and FairPrice Xpress stores, while the other participating FairPrice stores will charge S$0.20 per transaction.

The proceeds from the plastic bag charge will go to Singapore Children's Society and the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

During the month-long trial, FairPrice will also be conducting a survey to "better understand consumer behaviour" and gather feedback on the green Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) movement.

Aiming to save 30 million plastic bags per year by 2030

This "No Plastic Bag" trial is part of FairPrice's Plastic Bag Management Programme launched in 2018, which aims to save 30 million plastic bags annually by 2030.

Along with the announcement of the trial, FairPrice also launched a S$1 million FairPrice Sustainability Fund.

The fund will be used to sponsor local projects that help to reduce packaging, food, or plastic waste.

Proposal submissions for the projects are open to organisation, civil societies, tertiary and research institutions and start-ups. More information on this can be found here.

Top photo from John Kuoy/ Google Maps