282 words
12 March 2008
Straits Times English
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

WE REFER to Saturday's online letter,'Curbing plastic bag usage: FairPrice, please copy Ikea', by Mr Phillip Ang Keng Hong. As a socially responsible retailer, FairPrice has been very supportive of environmentally-friendly initiatives to reduce the use of plastic bags. Indeed, we took the lead in being the first supermarket retailer in Singapore to reward customers for using their own bags when we launched the FairPrice Green Reward Scheme in July last year. Under the scheme, FairPrice rewards shoppers with an instant 10-cent rebate for a minimum purchase of $10 if they use their own bags to pack in their purchases.

Since the launch, we have given out about $92,000 in rebates to customers. Using a conservative estimate of two plastic bags per shopper, the scheme would have saved more than 1.8 million plastic bags. We believe this is a testament to the effectiveness of the scheme in curbing the use of plastic bags.

In addition to the Green Reward Scheme, we also encourage Singaporeans to go green by participating in National Environment Agency's Bring Your Own Bag Day initiative. Since the launch in April last year, we have seen an increasing number of customers who bring their own shopping bags. We also make it easier for customers to use fewer plastic bags by retailing a range of recyclable bags at our stores. In fact, FairPrice has sold more than a quarter million reusable bags. We thank Mr Ang for his feedback. We will continue to support and promote environmentally-friendly initiatives where applicable.

Angela Soo

Deputy Director, Corporate Communications

NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd

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