“It’s a simple step to reduce the growing use of plastic,” he says.
Earlier this year, Bhatbhateni Super Market introduced its reusable cotton bags to its costumers, launching its “Just Say No to Plastic Bags” campaign. Posters with its plea to use such bags can still be seen on the walls of this supermarket.
Still, most shoppers are ignorant as stacks of reusable brown bags fade on the chain’s payment counters. A recent Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) report indicates that out of 300 grams waste produced per day per person in the capital, 9% is plastic.
Shoppers may choose to be ignorant but department stores around the city seem to follow suit with Bhatbhateni as the campaign is replicated in different shopping centers in and around the city.
The latest to promote such a campaign is the Bluebird Department Store. Last month, it launched its “Go Green, Say No to Plastic Bags” initiative, calling upon its customers to go green.
“We had planned the project earlier, but as we had to do our homework to implement it, it took us a little longer,” says Bluebird’s sales and marketing manager Swati Mohpal.
As a part of the campaign, two boards stand at the entrance of the store with the “Go Green, Say No to Plastic” message alongside leaflets in green glossy papers at the payment counters listing the hazards of plastic bags on environment..
The Lazimpat Departmental Store, a sister venture of Bluebird, has also followed suit.
The go-green trend has also mushroomed in Patan. It’s been a year since the Namaste Super Market at Pulchowk has had its no-plastic-bags campaign in collaboration with Looza Nepal and Resource Center for Primary Health Care (RECPHEC).
All of these shopping venues offer reusable bags for costumers. But there is a little investment they have to make in it – unlike on plastic bags, which come for free. And this seems to be quite an issue.
At Bluebird, a reusable bag costs Rs. 15. Bhatbhateni earlier offered white cotton bags for Rs. 20 each, but as it has sold out, according to the sales attendants there, it has been replaced by brown reusable bags for Rs.15 per piece. Namaste sells similar bags for Rs. 30 each.
On an average, 700 to 800 plastic bags are used per day in the grocery department of Bluebird alone. “That’s on weekdays. On weekends, the store sees an upsurge in shoppers,” informs Swati. The number is even higher at Bhatbhateni. Sales attendant Jash Deep Rai estimates, “On average, about 200 plastic bags are used per day per counter.” There are six such counters on the ground floor of this supermarket, which sees most transaction of goods, compared to the rest of the four floors that have altogether ten payment counters. “The calculation can thus be averaged,” adds Jash.
Earlier, when it started its plastic-alternative campaign, Bhatbhateni had even charged the shoppers for plastic bags for a brief period.
“It was to discourage people to use plastic bags and instead buy reusable bags,” says manager Pahal Gurung.
But the practice was abandoned as accusations and complaints from the customers blamed the supermarket for earning dubiously by selling plastic bags.
“The cost of a plastic bag is Rs. 1.74. But we charged our clientele one Rupee,” Pahal elucidates, “Moreover, this money, and even the amount collected from selling reusable bags, goes to our environment fund. We’ve planned to plant dubo grass from Naxal to the Prime Minister’s Residence at Baluwatar.”
Pahal adds, “Even then, many of our clients are happy, mainly foreigners, who commend our anti-plastic drive.”
A similar circumstance prevails at Bluebird. “Relatively, more foreigners buy reusable bags than Nepalis,” says a payment counter attendant at Bluebird.
Go green or not, but the experience of these shopping stores reveal that the price tag the reusable bags come with is quite an issue. Often, the question has been raised. Why don’t these go-green bags come for free?
Swati of Bluebird explains, “Cloth bags are expensive compared to plastic. For us, the purchasing rate of one cloth bag is Rs. 30, but we’re selling it for half of the original price.” She adds, “But if we start giving it for free, people will realize less and less the importance of reusable bags.”
At Namaste Super Market, store supervisor Rupak paints another picture. The frequency of the purchase of such bags has actually decreased, according to him. “Initially, when volunteers were mobilized, people bought such bags. But not anymore.”
In Rupak’s experience, it’s a difficult task to convince people to buy and then make them reuse cloth bags. But for Swati at Bluebird, it is just a matter of a few minutes of explanation. “People are responding to the call against anti-plastic bags,” she says.
“Buyers ask for plastic bags so that they can use it as dustbins. And there have been instances where buyers ask for extra bag so that they can double-wrap the items they purchase even if there’s no need of it,” shares Rupak, who is a little pessimistic about the anti-plastic campaign. And so feels sales attendant Jash of Bhatbhateni.
Staff nurse Sujata Budhathoki, who often shops at Bhatbhateni Supermarket, is ready to list the negative impacts of polythene bags on environment. But when asked why she prefers a plastic bag over a reusable one, she hesitates for a while, and perplexed, she answers “I can use it as a dustbin, which I don’t have in my room.”
Thus, waste management, like charity, begins at home. But sooner the understanding that plastic amounts to a larger part of waste, the better. Borrowing from KMC report again, out of 300 grams waste produced per day per person, 9% is plastic, which is likely to increase rather than decrease in the present air of general awareness.
As for now, still, despite all the go-green campaigns in major shopping centers, it seems that plastic still rules when it comes to shopping, and reusable bags just taken as a fad or a statement to go by with the chimes of time. Or perhaps it is the price that comes with going green!
A plastic paradox it indeed is.
Related story
BPA-free plastics may not be safer than regular plastics after...
