Image: No more plastic bags in Denpasar malls. Credit: hotels.com
The Head of Denpasar Environment and Sanitation Board (DLHK) held a closed meeting with representatives from the Bali Indonesia Retailer Association (Aprindo) at the DLHK Office in Denpasar on Wednesday to discuss the new regulation on plastic bags.
“A collaboration between Aprindo and Denpasar DLHK is needed. We discussed the details of the program to implement the plastic bag regulation,” said the Head of Denpasar DLHK, Ketut Wisada to tribunnews.com.
He said that the stores have responded positively to the new regulation and 97 percent of them, whether chain stores, malls or supermarkets have already applied it. If there is a problem, he said that his department will help the stores mediate and solve it.
“We haven’t had the opportunity to monitor the stores in the outskirts of town, though. Most of them are small and privately owned,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Head of Bali Aprindo, A A Ngurah Agung Agra Putra, said that they supported the new regulation and said that it has helped to increase their profit. “Aprindo supports the regulation and we will do everything to reduce the single use plastic bag consumption. We can preserve the environment and at that same time increase our profit, because we don’t need to provide plastic bags anymore which will reduce our costs,” he said.
He explained that all stores used to give single use plastic bags as a part of their customer service, as stated in the Consumer Service Law no. 8 of 1999. “But the socialization is still limited and many people still don’t understand about the new regulation, so some of them choose to cancel the transaction or reduce their purchases,” he concluded.
