M

odern retailers in several major cities across the country have expressed a willingness to support and maintain the sustainability of the newly introduced plastic bag charge policy despite the absence of any legal standing with regard to the program in the respective regions.

The policy, launched on Sunday to coincide with National Waste Awareness Day, has initially been implemented in seven major cities '€” Jakarta, Bandung, Bogor, Banda Aceh, Surabaya, Tangerang and Balikpapan '€” which, combined, are home to almost 10 percent of the country'€™s 250 million people.

It is expected that the plastic bag charge is to eventually be implemented in a total of 23 major cities.

With the exception of Bandung, none of the allocated cities have a bylaw or other legal standing with regard to plastic bag reduction.

This, however, has not discouraged modern retailers from joining the campaign.

In Denpasar, Bali, the management of Tiara Dewata, the island'€™s oldest supermarket chain, said it was ready to implement the program despite the absence of official information from local authorities.

Tiara Dewata spokesperson Gusti Ayu Sriani said that the supermarket had implemented various plastic programs to raise the public'€™s awareness on the dangers of plastic.

The supermarket already charges an additional fee when customers ask for extra plastic bags. In addition to this, customers who bring their own shopping bag with them to the supermarket are offered points that can be exchanged for gifts.

'€œIt wasn'€™t easy to introduce the program,'€ Sriani said over the weekend.

'€œWe try our best to explain its purpose to our customers.'€

While Denpasar and Makassar, in South Sulawesi, were among the first cities to implement the program on Feb. 21, last week both cities confirmed that they would postpone due to paperwork issues.

The Denpasar administration'€™s Environment Agency head Anak Agung Bagus Sudharsana said the municipal administration would introduce the policy later this week after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with five retail companies, including Tiara Dewata.

In Bandung, retailers have also pledged their support for the policy.

'€œOne of our challenges surrounds how we educate our outlet cashiers about the program,'€ said Muhammad Afran, a spokesperson for PT Sumber Alfaria Trijaya, the company that owns minimarket chain Alfamart and grocery store Alfamidi.

Bandung'€™s 2012 bylaw on plastic bag reduction only stipulates that retailers have an obligation to provide customers with environmentally friendly plastic bags; it mentions nothing about charging customers extra for using plastic bags.

In February last year, prompted by online and offline petitions that attracted 70,000 signatures, the Environment and Forestry Ministry issued a circular stating that retailers should start charging for plastic bags.

Under the policy, customers shopping in malls, department stores, supermarkets and other modern retailers must now pay Rp 200 (1.5 US cents) for each plastic bag.

The fee, however, is subject to change if and when a local administration issues a bylaw or other official regulation regarding the implementation of the policy in its jurisdiction.

Meanwhile in Surakarta, Central Java, the municipal administration on Sunday distributed 5,000 free cloth bags to local residents in an attempt to educate the public about the plastic bag tax policy.

Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo said that his administration had secured commitments from modern retailers in Surakarta to jointly implement the policy, which is currently in trial stage in the city.

'€œWe will soon seal their commitment in an MoU,'€ he said.