Cash collected from no plastic bag policy strictly for CSR projects

KUALA LUMPUR: All money collected from the recently implemented "No plastic bags" policy can only be used for environmental-related corporate social responsibility (CSR) or community programme by the hypermarket operators.
In revealing this today, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said before such money can be utilised for any of the programmes, these hypermarket operators need to obtain approval from a special committee.
"Apart from obtaining approval, these operators are also required to submit a detailed report to the committee when the programme is over so that the committee including the ministry is aware on how the money is spent," Hamzah said after officiating Tesco's Ong Mali 2017 nationwide campaign at Tesco Kepong today.
Hamzah explained that when hypermarkets decide not to provide any plastic bags to their consumers, it was not meant to burden them but instead its a goodwill action to support the environmental friendly initiative.
"At the same time, it is also to encourage the public to reduce the usage of plastic bags," he added.
Noting that some irresponsible traders might take advantage of this policy by hiking up the prices of certain goods, Hamzah assured consumers that any price hike would not have any relation to the policy.
"Any price hike is normally related to the items' supply and demand factor whereby when there is high demand and the supply for the item is insufficient then irresponsible traders might take advantage of the situation to hike up the price.
"But if the price hike is unreasonable, our enforcement officers would not hesitate to take any action against them according to the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011," he explained.
Asked on what essential or food items would be listed under the Festive Season Price Control Scheme for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration, Hamzah said his officers are still conducting market survey on what items should be on the list as well as what should be the ceiling price for those items.
Also present during the launch was Tesco Malaysia chief executive officer Paul Ritchie.
For the Ong Mali campaign, Ritchie said each of Tesco's shoppers who spent a minimum of RM100 in a single receipt at any Tesco store will be entitled to enter a wind chamber to win some Tesco shopping vouchers as well as Tesco Clubcard points.
He added that there will be a total of 448 winners selected nationwide throughout the contest period from Jan 9 to Jan 26.
For more info on the contest, visit http://www.tesco.com.my/ongmali/contest/.