The Malaysian Insight

A SURVEY on single-use plastics in Penang last year revealed that 76% of consumers in the state support the ban of such items, including plastic straws, the Penang Green Council said today.

PGC’s survey from August 1 to September 15 involved 1,948 consumers and 231 business operators. They belonged to various income groups, have different levels of education, and were from age 15 to above 60.

PGC said of the 76%, 52% strongly supported the ban while 23.6% support it.

PGC research assistant Melawati Othman said the biggest support for the ban came from respondents aged 25 to 34 while those between 35 and 44 were two times more likely to support than oppose the ban.

“Those who are employed are also twice more likely to support the ban,” she said when unveiling the survey results at state environment exco Phee Boon Poh’s office today.

Another 10.3% were neutral while 14.1% were against imposing such a ban at premises like hotels, restaurants, cafes and other food outlets.

Melawati said the survey also found that most consumers did not use single-use plastics like straws simply because they were easily available, cheap and hygienic.

“Only 21.4% of them considered using them due to hygienic reasons while 34.8% said they used them due to easy availability.

“As many as 86.1% also disagreed that they used such items because they were cheap.

“We found that 65.1% of the respondents used these items because they were given them at hotels and food outlets,” she said.

Melawati said PGC also found that many did not recycle the plastic items they had used.

Only 29.5% said they took the items home for recycling or threw them into recycling bins. As low as 19.6% said they reused them.

Meanwhile, Melawati said 97.9% of business owners interviewed in the survey agree that banning single-use plastics would reduce waste sent to landfills and lead to a cleaner Penang.

But 75.4% of business owners, who mostly provide customers with single-use plastics like bags and straws, preferred this option because the items were easy to dispose of, not needing cleaning and could be bought easily.

Melawati said 59.7% of business owners supported banning single-use plastics like straws, cups, bowls, plates, lids, cutleries and stirrers at hotels and food outlets in Penang.

She said 54.1% said they would very likely or somewhat likely charge customers for every plastic item requested at their premises, and introduce discounts to customers who use their own containers, straws or water bottles.

Meanwhile, 59.8% said they were willing to provide water refilling facilities for those who use their own water bottles, but only 48% would replace the plastic ware with reusable alternatives at their premises.

“But 77.1% said they would provide single-use plastic items upon customers’ request. Asked if their customers ever refused such items, 70% of the business owners said never,” she said.

Melawati said the findings of the survey could aid the state in formulating policies and strategies to tackle the single-use plastic problem.

Phee said all eateries in Penang have been urged to stop providing straws to customers, although business owners could provide them upon request.

He said the state government would not introduce a policy to make them charge customers for straws, like how hypermarkets and supermarkets charge 20 sen for every plastic bag requested by shoppers.

“We want the people to understand why we are doing this. We need the people to get onboard in this campaign to stop using straws, to want this for themselves and contribute to make it a success.

“We will conduct awareness campaigns and educational enforcement. We will be going to the ground to talk to eatery owners and the public, and organise dialogues to hear views and take in suggestions from the people.”

Phee said it is important to ban straws for the sake of the environment, such as marine life.

“Malaysians use 31 million plastic straws a day. Let us put a stop to this short-term relationship with plastic straws for a cleaner, greener, safer, healthier and happier Penang.” – February 14, 2019.