By Norrasyidah Arshad
SHAH ALAM, Aug 1 — The Selangor government's initiative to discourage single-use plastic bags will extend to schools next year, with plans to hold an awareness campaign aimed at educating primary students.
State executive councillor for consumer affairs Datuk Rizam Ismail said the programme, in collaboration with the state’s Public Health and Environment Committee, aims to educate children about the importance of reducing plastic bag use for the environment.
“This awareness campaign has been conducted for several years, involving supermarkets and sundry shops, among others. We want to educate the public about the negative effects of using plastic bags.
“However, we need to improve it to ensure we achieve our goals (of reducing plastic bag use). We are currently working on this.
“Increasing the charge for plastic bags has proven less effective, so we are targeting school students to instil and raise awareness about this issue,” he said in an interview with Media Selangor.
Rizam said holding awareness campaigns and programmes have proven to be more effective, citing developed countries like Japan as an example.
“There, the government implements awareness campaigns from a young age. The public is taught from school, and this becomes a continuous learning process.”
On July 10, state executive councillor for public health and environment Jamaliah Jamaluddin said that the state government had collected RM38 million up to last year through the 20 sen charge imposed per plastic bag at stores.
She had said that the money collected will be used for awareness programmes organised by the state government to educate the people on the importance of preserving the environment.
