Green pledges need work

PLEDGING to hand out free plastic bags is the "height of idiocy" and plays into the hands of both the middle and lower-income residents of Selangor who believe in putting people before planet.
Personally I'm happy to lug around a big blue Ikea bag and walk to a supermarket for groceries. However, I'm not blind to not understand that not everyone can afford a blue bag, or even shop at Ikea.
And this is perhaps the "height of idiocy" – politicians who don't understand that there are lower-income residents in Selangor who until 2017 were happy to take free plastic bags from supermarkets and use them as trash bags.
Who knew we had such vapid politicians and supporters who were clueless?
But more importantly, I support the idea of charging for plastic bags, but I don't support half-baked plans.
First, has Selangor enforced the rule that all plastic bags given out by retailers or sold have to be biodegradable?
Second, where does the 20 sen paid for plastic bags go?
On the first question, what is the point of charging for a plastic bag, when the bag remains a threat to the environment? Thus, there should be a rule to disallow the sale and distribution of non-biodegradable plastic bags.
On the second question, there is an opacity to the system that needs to be answered. In July 2017, some RM1.87 million was collected from consumers in Selangor through the 20 sen charge. And yet, this money does not go back to the state.
According to Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Consumer Affairs executive councillor Elizabeth Wong, retailers need to account for the money and use it for corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.
Is there a filing with the state from retailers to show that they have used the money collected from the sale of plastic bags for CSR programmes, or even teamed up with NGOs tackling environmental issues to organise such programmes?
No idea. What was the RM1.87 million used for?
So yes, charging a fee for plastic bags is a good idea, but it has to be thought through from start to finish, and even shown to the public so that it isn't misunderstood. This is where the idea has failed to inspire greater change.
Rather than see it as a means to stop the killing of whale calves that are portrayed in BBC's Planet Earth 2 documentary, what the Selangor plastic bag policy has done is given the whole plan a tinge of enriching retailers, trusting them to carry out CSR programmes, while charging customers 20 sen for forgetting to bring a bag or wanting to keep the meat and fish from staining their reusable bags.
So here's an idea: make retailers give the money to the state and park it in an environmental fund that can be used to give incentives to green industries opening up in Selangor. Use it to buy electric buses, or build charging stations, or even put solar roofing and windows on the State Secretariat Building. Or even use it to distribute free biodegradable trash bags in lower to middle-income areas to return the 20 sen to consumers.
The reason one coalition can promise plastic bags for an election much to the resentment of NGOs is because they put people before planet. After all, someone set the narrative that people are suffering economically to the point of not being able to make ends meet, which allowed the opportunity to market this idea.
Selangor needs to improve its waste management; trash is still not sorted out in the state and the streets are not lined with recycling bins even in Shah Alam.
It takes a lot more than charging 20 sen for a plastic bag to show green credentials, and the state administration has been resting on its artificial laurels for far too long.
Hafidz Baharom is a public relations practitioner. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com