A Mothership reader was shocked when he bought bread from a shop at Choa Chu Kang MRT station, and saw a sign that said the shop charged 20 cents for per extra plastic bag.

The reader, who wished to remain anonymous, told Mothership that he visits the shop once in a while to grab a quick breakfast on the way to work.

A few weeks after supermarkets started charging for plastic bags, he noticed that the shop had put up a sign.

The sign stated that the shop charged 20 cents per extra plastic bag, four times as much as plastic bags in supermarkets, which cost five cents each.

He reasoned that if the shop sold 20 cents for a single plastic bag, the shop could potentially earn S$15 from selling plastic bags, assuming that 100 plastic bags cost S$5. This will be further exacerbated by the increase in GST over these two years.

Cause and effect

As a fellow Choa Chu Kang resident, I was intrigued by this email and thus went to buy bread from the shop to see for myself.

After buying a piece of bread, the shop assistant automatically put the food in a small plastic bag.

However, when I asked for an extra plastic bag, the shop assistant looked at me incredulously, before asking me if I wanted a small or a large one.

Here's a photo of the two different sizes of plastic bags:

For reference, I'd say that a small plastic bag can fit three to four pieces of bread easily.

I then asked the shop assistant why was an extra plastic bag priced so expensively.

She replied that previously, customers would ask for many extra plastic bags despite only buying a few pieces of bread.

The customers would sometimes ask for a plastic bag per piece of bread.

When customers buy bread, the shop would give them a free plastic bag, so the shop's policy of charging 20 cents per extra plastic bag would still be reasonable.

However, if a customer buys multiple pieces of bread, the shop will provide sufficient plastic bags as needed to fit all the food at no extra charge.

Prior to visiting the shop, I had visited another bread shop in the vicinity at Choa Chu Kang bus interchange, and found that they charged five cents per extra plastic bag.

Relaying my observations to the shop assistant, she appeared taken aback, but said she was aware that supermarkets charged five to 10 cents per plastic bag.

I asked her if she knew when the shop started charging for plastic bags, but she said that she was not aware.

She also emphasised that she was only a shop assistant.

Supermarkets started charging for plastic bags on July 3

Major supermarket chains started implementing a mandatory plastic bag charge on July 3.

This is the minimum amount stipulated by the Resource Sustainability Act.

It is also the amount that most large supermarket chains in Singapore have decided to charge.

Most supermarket chains use an honour system when charging for plastic bags, and believe that their customers would behave honestly.

However, this has also increasingly made plastic bags a prized commodity, and some have found ways around the system to obtain free plastic bags, such as approaching small shops or hawkers for extra plastic bags to use while grocery shopping.

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Top photo via Ruth Chai