Paying for Plastic Bags Angers Geant Customers!
Posted on July 24, 2008
Filed under: News | 1 Comment
BAHRAIN’S shoppers have blown the chance to go green by protesting about a leading store’s plans to place a nominal charge of 20 fils for its plastic carrier bags to encourage them to switch over to reusable jute bags, writes Anasuya Kesavan.
Customers were so outraged at the suggestion that management at GŽant hypermarket in Sanabis was forced to abandon the environment-friendly initiative. Set to have been implemented this month, the company cowered to customer power and the risk to losing out to competitors.
It appears the majority of customers were simply not ready for change. Some of their comments were so explicit that they cannot be repeated in a family newspaper.
Management of one of Bahrain’s leading hypermarkets has admitted it was baffled by the reaction of customers to plans to save the environment.
Many shoppers at GŽant were furious when told of an initiative to sell plastic carriers for 20 fils to encourage them to use reusable jute bags being sold at cost price.
A similar scheme in Dubai was implemented without any furore and bosses hoped they would get the green light here too.
GŽant Bahrain carried out a four-month long customer consultation in a bid to convince customers that the proposal was a positive measure to help save the planet for future generations.
Safi Faruqui, marketing manager, said: “Rather than getting any encouragement for the initiative we received several nasty comments.
“It’s clear that most of our shoppers are not ready to change their habits and are especially not ready to pay for plastic bags.
“Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents would rather use free plastic bags of reduced quality. So we have decided to introduce thinner and lesser quality plastic bags and continue educating our customers through our various promotional campaigns.
“There is a major lack of awareness about the environmental damages caused by plastic bags in the kingdom.
“In Dubai, we were able to introduce the new scheme from day one,” added Mr Faruqui. “Although in Bahrain we gave our customers four-months to get used to the idea and offered reusable jute bags of two sizes for just 500 fils and 800 fils, we don’t think they are ready for it.
“These jute bags are a non-profit venture introduced by the company to genuinely work towards protecting the environment. We wanted to discourage the use of plastic bags.
“We did consider introducing bio-degradable plastics but they are far too expensive and ultimately the cost will only get passed on to the customer. We were also aware that everything will not fit in the jute bags and were happy to provide plastic bags for carrying large items.”
The money raised from the sale of plastic bags would have been donated for environment projects through the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife.
GŽant is not alone in its angst about plastic carriers. After spoiling shoppers with complimentary bags that at times equal the number of items purchased, supermarkets across the kingdom are now trying a variety of ways to educate their customers and work towards a ‘plastic bags’ free trolley.
Currently the number of plastic bags given away just by the kingdom’s hypermarkets and supermarkets is staggering.
Annually, Jawad Business Group gives away 100 tonnes of plastic bags while Al Jazeera Supermarket requires six million bags of assorted sizes and Al Osra Supermarket distributes 1.3 million plastic bags.
Monthly statistics at Megamart reveals a mind blowing 22 tonnes of plastic bags while GŽant Bahrain has a figure of seven tonnes and Lebanon Trade Centre needs four tonnes of plastic bags. Add to this the figures from the cold stores, fashion outlets and others and environmentalists fear the island could be sitting on an environmental time bomb.
Conventional plastic bags can take up to one thousand years to degrade, increasing landfill volume and contributing to the hazardous build-up of methane in landfill sites.
Astonishingly, despite many outlets offering jute and cloth bags for a small price -_and many having given them away free during promotions - only 2,000 cloth bags have been bought by customers of Al Jazeera Supermarket, 6,000 at Al Osra Supermarket and 8,000 at GŽant.
Jawad Business Group has recently moved away from the conventional plastic bag and has switched to biodegradable plastic bags instead. It also gives the option of purchasing non-woven carrier bags in two sizes for 950 fils and 750 fils.
Close on its heels Al Jazeera Supermarket, who are also providing reusable bags for BD1.500, will soon be providing biodegradable plastic bags to its customers and so will Lebanon Trade Centre. Provided by Manama Packaging, these bags are said to be fully reusable and recyclable and can degrade in as little as two years, leaving behind just natural elements: water, carbon dioxide and biomass.
Although they will be free to customers it is likely the cost will eventually be reflected in an increased price of goods on the shelves.
Megamart is planning to introduce reusable cotton bags by the end of August. Rajkumar Waghwani, general manager said that once the bags are in place the hypermarket will charge a nominal amount for plastic bags and donate the money collected to the municipality.
The bottom line however, remains the reaction of customers. Harish Sewani, general manager, Lebanon Trade Centre, said that the biggest problem faced by the supermarket is the lack of awareness amongst shoppers who do not realise the problems created by plastic bags and the fact that they use on an average 20 to 30 bags for their monthly shopping.
Lulu Hypermarket declined to comment.
Gulf Weekly
Volume 7 Issue 30 , July, 23 - 29, 2008
No More Plastic Bags.. 1st July 2008!
Posted on June 21, 2008
Filed under: Blog Posts | 2 Comments
Well, the date is near and the countdown continues as some of Bahrain’s biggest hyper and super markets will stop giving out free plastic bags and provide alternatives.
We are hoping to mark this occassion by possibly going down to Geant or Jawad’s and use their new cloth bags or reuse some old ones! If you would like to join us or have any suggestions and ideas please email us at nomoreplasticbags@gmail.com
Once sorted, we will post exactly what we will be doing on 1st July
So save the dates my friends and participate in making Bahrain a more environmentally friendly place!
Tags: 1st July 2008, campaign, meetup, no more plastic bags
Plastic Bag: The Movie
Posted on May 19, 2008
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: eco-tube, Plastic bags, video
‘No to Plastic Bags’: Gulf News launches campaign
Posted on April 11, 2008
Filed under: News | Leave a Comment
Gulf News launches a campaign against the blight of plastic carriers. We encourage everyone to take part in activities to save the environment.
The
Around one billion plastic bags are used every year in the UAE. They clog the country’s sewers and have disastrous consequences for wildlife.
People must be educated on the dangers of plastic bags and encouraged to look for alternative and safer solutions.
It is time to start saying ‘No to Plastic Bags’.
Jawad Supermarket Are Going Green
Posted on April 8, 2008
Filed under: Blog Posts | 1 Comment
Posted by PaperBoy
Tags: 1st July 2008, Bahrain, Geant, Jawad Supermarket, Plastic bags, reusable bags
Paying for Plastic Bags?
Posted on March 4, 2008
Filed under: Blog Posts | 1 Comment
- Did you hear Geant will start charging for plastic bags starting July 1st?
- What?
- That’s great right
- So you now have to pay for plastic bags?
- Or buy reusable ones which they sell for 500 fils for a small one and 800 fils for a big one.
- But what if you’re doing your grocery shopping for the month?
- You still can use reusable bags
- How many reusable bags should I buy? I’m sorry, but that is so inconvenient. They’re only making us pay more to get the plastic bags.
It is a bit. Using woven bags might not give the consumer the ultimate ease and handiness of plastic bags, but is that really all there is to care about?
Posted by Cradle of Humanity
Who We Are And What We Are Doing
Posted on March 3, 2008
Filed under: Blog Posts | Leave a Comment
What kicked off the campaign?
It started off as an idea that was raised in one of our monthly bloggers gatherings, as we felt that there wasn’t much awareness concerning environmental issues in Bahrain. We chose plastic bags and their dangers on our environment as a starting point because it is a topic close to home..literally!
How are you planning to raise awareness?
Blogging and the internet in general is a powerful medium to raise awareness and we have recently established a blog called ‘No More Plastic Bags‘ which is also linked from several Bahrain blogs including the Bahrain Blogs Aggregator. On the blog, bloggers and anyone concerned about the use of plastic bags can find information on the dangers of plastic bags on our environment and ideas and inspiration on how to find other environmentally friendly solutions. Readers can contribute also by writing on their personal blogs or emailing us at nomoreplasticbags@gmail.com to publish their articles or links on the blog.
We are planning to get in touch with various organizations including the UN and some of the large supermarkets and hypermarkets in the country to eventually phase out plastic bags and use environmentally friendly alternatives.
Who and how many people are taking part in the campaign?
We’re a small group of Bahrain bloggers and we are recruiting! So please join us and don’t hesitate to contact us at nomoreplasticbags@gmail.com
How are you going to fight this problem?
We need to educate people about the dangers and effects of plastic bags on our environment, and how something simple as refusing a plastic bag when buying one or two items from the cold store or supermarket can make a difference.
Reusing old plastic bags (especially when their average usage is only a mere 12 minutes before being thrown away) is also another great way to use fewer plastic bags and because they are so light-weight and do not take up much space, you can leave them in the boot of your car and take them with you into the supermarket.
We eventually would love to follow the lead of cities like Modbury, England and San Francisco, USA and countries like China, Australia, Kenya and Ireland and see plastic bags being phased out and replaced by bio-degradable materials in Bahrain.
What do you think the government and the public do to help fight this problem?
Many people in Bahrain unfortunately ‘wait’ for the government to start some sort of initiative so that they [the citizens] can start doing something about it. A problem such as this can only be solved if we start from the grassroots by reusing and refusing plastic bags.
As for what the government can do, we hope that the new recycling plant in Bahrain is equipped with a facility to recycle used plastic bags. We also believe that the government should push supermarkets to provide other alternatives to plastic bags, like cloth, paper or jute bags to give the consumer options.
Are you planning to get any public or private sectors to help in raising awareness in your campaign?
Yes, at the moment the UN representative in Bahrain has shown great interest in our campaign and we are searching for corporate sponsors to help us make and print large numbers of cloth bags to distribute at events and supermarkets.
We also are planning to get in touch with several large supermarkets and hypermarkets around the island to give out less plastic bags to shoppers (because many supermarkets seem to love bagging each and every single item in a separate plastic bag!) and to provide alternatives to their shoppers.
We would love to gain the opportunity to visit schools and talk about the effects of plastic bags on our environment, because at the end of the day, we are preserving the Earth for our future generations and children today will be the decision makers of the future.
Posted by PaperBoy
Tags: Bahrain, campaign, contact us, email, FAQ, Interview, join, Plastic bags, Schools, UN
Happy Mother’s Day
Posted on March 2, 2008
Filed under: Blog Posts | Leave a Comment
To all the mothers, this is your day. Maybe we should think about Mother Earth too and one of the best ways to start is by saying no to plastic bags. The damage these things do to our environment goes way beyond the twenty or so minutes of convenience they give us to get our shopping home from the supermarket. I feel that they are literally thrown at us in Bahrain, each time we buy anything its wrapped in a plastic bag and when we go to the supermarket very often individual items are wrapped in a bag and then put inside another one.
Please buy some reusable bags and always keep them in the back of your car so you’re never without them when you go shopping. If you buy a single item, refuse the plastic bag and hold the item in your hand.
Posted by Bahrain Taxi
Géant to start charging for plastic bags
Posted on March 1, 2008
Filed under: News | 5 Comments
The Daily Mail’s ‘Banish the Bags’ campaign
Posted on February 29, 2008
Filed under: News | 2 Comments
An astonishing 13 billion free single-use plastic bags are dished out by Britain’s High Street stores every year. These flimsy bags - a by product of crude oil - are issued at the rate of more than 800 a year to every family in the land. Typically they are used for only 20 minutes before being thrown out. But they will take up to 1,000 years to rot away. If the Normans had used plastic bags in the 1066 invasion, archaeologists would still be digging them up today. During their long decay millions linger millions linger like urban tumbleweed to pollute our streets, the countryside, parks, rivers and seas. Britain’s coast is washed with a toxic “plastic soup” carried on the tide which threatens our seabirds, turtles, whales and other wildlife. Gannets off Cornwall suffer a long painful death, unable to feed or fly after getting entangled. Dolphins scoop up plastic bags and carry them around, risking strangulation and suffocation. And some 8 per cent of the world’s seal population has reportedly been harmed by plastic bags. Today the Daily Mail launches the Banish the Bags campaign in an effort to rid the country of these single-use plastic bags, the most ubiquitous feature of our disposable society.
Sean Poulter and David Derbyshire, The Daily Mail, 27 February 2008
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