GEORGE TOWN: Penang has refuted claim that plastic bag charge will be increased to 50 sen, from the current 20 sen, beginning next year.
State Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said the so-called "new charge" was only a proposal and the state government has no plan to implement the move anytime soon.
“Actually it was just a suggestion forwarded by the state government during a meeting with the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry in Putrajaya last October.
“During the meeting, all government representatives proposed their ideas in an effort to streamline the plastic bag charges nationwide.
“However, Penang state government will not be implementing it because the East Coast states have yet to charge for their plastic bags use,” he said when contacted today.
Phee said the proposal to increase the charge was made in relation to the state government’s latest ‘No To Single Use Plastic' policy.
Penang was the first state to introduce the ‘No Free Plastic Bag’ police in 2009, charging 20 sen for each plastic bag.
Under the ‘No To Single Use Plastic' initiative, the thickness of the plastic will also be increased to 40 microns from the current 15 microns.
“We want to improve the quality of the plastic bags so that they will no longer be single use bags." he said.
It was previously reported that the state government was planning to raise the price for plastic bags next year.
