SINGAPORE: Sheng Siong and FairPrice customers paid more than S$2.44 million (US$1.79 million) for almost 49 million disposable bags in the latter half of 2023, data from the two supermarket chains showed.

Of this sum, more than S$2.26 million went to social and environmental causes.

Singapore on Jul 3, 2023, implemented a mandatory disposable carrier bag charge at supermarkets as part of efforts to reduce the use of plastic bags and promote recycling.

The move required supermarket operators to publish information on the number of bags they issued, the proceeds they received from the bag charge and how these proceeds were used.

A report by Sheng Siong released on Friday showed that its customers bought 15,202,129 disposable carrier bags between Jul 3, 2023, and Dec 31, 2023, paying a total of S$760,106.45 for them.

Of the amount collected, S$703,802.27 was donated to the President's Challenge, a charity-funding platform, while the remaining S$56.304.18 was paid to the government as tax.

The FairPrice Group, meanwhile, in a report released on Dec 20, said that FairPrice customers bought 33,630,364 disposable bags during the same period, paying a total of S$1,681,518.20 for them.

About S$1 million went to support FairPrice Foundation programmes, in particular to those related to improving social welfare, health and nutrition among vulnerable groups.

A total of S$124,556.90 was paid to the government in tax, while the remaining proceeds went to organisations that champion sustainability such as the World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore.

Taken together, FairPrice and Sheng Siong supermarkets collected a total of S$2,260,763.57 for social and environmental causes, their data showed.

According to a 2018 study by the Singapore Environment Council, consumers in Singapore took about 820 million plastic bags from supermarkets each year, or about 146 bags per person per year.

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said in January this year that the mandatory disposable carrier bag charge had reduced the number of plastic bags taken by consumers by about 50 per cent to 80 per cent.

Under the law, all supermarket operators with an annual turnover of more than S$100 million must charge at least 5 cents per disposable carrier bag.

These include FairPrice, Cold Storage, Giant, Sheng Siong, Prime Supermarket, Don Don Donki, Hao Mart, Redman and Ang Mo Supermarket.