Revenues from Carrier Bag Charges

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether the revenues received for carrier bag charges are received by the Ministry or are retained by the retailer; and (b) whether profits from such charges net of bag costs have been designated for environmental transition programmes.

Under the Resource Sustainability Act, larger supermarket operators with an annual turnover of more than $100 million are required to charge at least five cents for each disposable carrier bag provided at their Singapore Food Agency-licensed supermarkets. For public accountability and transparency, they are also required to publish information on how the proceeds were used. The Government strongly encourages supermarket operators to channel the proceeds from the bag charge to environmental or social causes and all supermarket operators have indicated that they intend to do so.