Five leading supermarkets in the country have banded together to discourage the use of polythene bags from August 1. Keells Super, Cargills Food City, Magna, Laugfs and Arpico Supercentre will offer eco friendly re-useable bags to their customers and will charge a fee for every polythene bag dispensed at the check out counters in an attempt to deter the use of plastic bags by consumers, representatives of the five companies told a press conference this week called by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA).

“Cargills gives out about 3.6 million plastic bags a month at the counters,” Executive Director of Cargills Ceylon Limited Sidath Kodikara said emphasizing the danger the bags pose to the environment and added that they expected an immediate drop of 30% in usage and 50% within the first six months with the introduction of this measure.

Head of Retail at John Keells Holdings Roshanie Jayasundera-Moraes said that Keells Super gives out about two million bags a month through the check out points. Customers also have the option of bringing their own bags and there is no restriction on taking the re-useable bag of one supermarket to another.

The re-useable bags are made of a non-woven material which prevents water seepage and come in a range of sizes. All organizations are introducing various inducements to encourage the customers to bring their re-useable bags with them when they come to the supermarkets.

Cardboard cartons will also be available free of charge if the customers wish to pack their purchases in them. Chairman of CEA Udaya Gammanpila, at the same briefing, lauded the efforts of the private sector for voluntarily coming up with these measures, mentioning that the import of polythene has dropped since the introduction of the ban on polythene below 20 microns in January last year.

According to a study conducted by the University of Jayawardenapura, 185 million kg of plastic was imported in 2005 and the figure increased to 205 million kg in 2006 but only 207 million kg of plastic was brought into the country in 2007, showing a drop in the rate of increase of plastic imports.