In an effort to go green, local healthcare and beauty chain Watsons will be implementing plastic bag charges in December.
BYOB Tuesdays
The move is part of their Bring Your Own Bag Tuesday initiative, where shoppers are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags.
BYOB Tuesday will commence from Dec. 1 onwards. From then on, plastic bags will also cost S$0.10 per transaction on Tuesdays.
According to a flyer Mothership saw at Watsons, all proceeds from the plastic bag charge will be donated to "an NGO for a sustainable cause".
Those without a reusable bag can purchase one in-store made of sustainable non-woven material at Watsons for S$1.20.
Photo by Ashley Tan
More BYOB schemes
More companies are trying out the BYOB concept by charging for plastic bags.
NTUC recently announced the extension of its plastic bag charge scheme for another year.
Plastic bags will cost S$0.10 per transaction at selected Cheers and FairPrice Xpress stores, while the other participating FairPrice stores will charge S$0.20 per transaction.
Despite the long-running idea that plastic bags are more environmentally-unfriendly, a study carried out by scientists at the Nanyang Technological University has discovered the converse.
Plastic bags are more sustainable than reusable cotton bags and single-use paper bags.
the latter two have bigger environmental footprints as they contribute more to global warming.
They also negatively impact the environment more during their production as the processes consume large amounts of water and natural resources.
These findings are made in the context of cities where waste management facilities are similar to Singapore's end-of-life incineration facilities.
However, it is still best to use reusable plastic bags "to the greatest extent possible", so as to reduce consumption of single-use plastic bags.
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Top photo by Ashley Tan and Watsons Singapore / Google Maps