BACKLASH!

BAHRAIN'S shoppers have blown the chance to go green by protesting about a leading store's plans to place a nominal charge of 20 fils for its plastic carrier bags to encourage them to switch over to reusable jute bags, writes Anasuya Kesavan.

Customers were so outraged at the suggestion that management at GŽant hypermarket in Sanabis was forced to abandon the environment-friendly initiative. Set to have been implemented this month, the company cowered to customer power and the risk to losing out to competitors.

It appears the majority of customers were simply not ready for change. Some of their comments were so explicit that they cannot be repeated in a family newspaper.

Management of one of Bahrain's leading hypermarkets has admitted it was baffled by the reaction of customers to plans to save the environment.

Many shoppers at GŽant were furious when told of an initiative to sell plastic carriers for 20 fils to encourage them to use reusable jute bags being sold at cost price.

A similar scheme in Dubai was implemented without any furore and bosses hoped they would get the green light here too.

GŽant Bahrain carried out a four-month long customer consultation in a bid to convince customers that the proposal was a positive measure to help save the planet for future generations.

Safi Faruqui, marketing manager, said: "Rather than getting any encouragement for the initiative we received several nasty comments.

"It's clear that most of our shoppers are not ready to change their habits and are especially not ready to pay for plastic bags.

"Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents would rather use free plastic bags of reduced quality. So we have decided to introduce thinner and lesser quality plastic bags and continue educating our customers through our various promotional campaigns.

"There is a major lack of awareness about the environmental damages caused by plastic bags in the kingdom.

"In Dubai, we were able to introduce the new scheme from day one," added Mr Faruqui. "Although in Bahrain we gave our customers four-months to get used to the idea and offered reusable jute bags of two sizes for just 500 fils and 800 fils, we don't think they are ready for it.

"These jute bags are a non-profit venture introduced by the company to genuinely work towards protecting the environment. We wanted to discourage the use of plastic bags.

"We did consider introducing bio-degradable plastics but they are far too expensive and ultimately the cost will only get passed on to the customer. We were also aware that everything will not fit in the jute bags and were happy to provide plastic bags for carrying large items."

The money raised from the sale of plastic bags would have been donated for environment projects through the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife.

GŽant is not alone in its angst about plastic carriers. After spoiling shoppers with complimentary bags that at times equal the number of items purchased, supermarkets across the kingdom are now trying a variety of ways to educate their customers and work towards a 'plastic bags' free trolley.

Currently the number of plastic bags given away just by the kingdom's hypermarkets and supermarkets is staggering.

Annually, Jawad Business Group gives away 100 tonnes of plastic bags while Al Jazeera Supermarket requires six million bags of assorted sizes and Al Osra Supermarket distributes 1.3 million plastic bags.

Monthly statistics at Megamart reveals a mind blowing 22 tonnes of plastic bags while GŽant Bahrain has a figure of seven tonnes and Lebanon Trade Centre needs four tonnes of plastic bags. Add to this the figures from the cold stores, fashion outlets and others and environmentalists fear the island could be sitting on an environmental time bomb.

Conventional plastic bags can take up to one thousand years to degrade, increasing landfill volume and contributing to the hazardous build-up of methane in landfill sites.

Astonishingly, despite many outlets offering jute and cloth bags for a small price -_and many having given them away free during promotions - only 2,000 cloth bags have been bought by customers of Al Jazeera Supermarket, 6,000 at Al Osra Supermarket and 8,000 at GŽant.

Jawad Business Group has recently moved away from the conventional plastic bag and has switched to biodegradable plastic bags instead. It also gives the option of purchasing non-woven carrier bags in two sizes for 950 fils and 750 fils.

Close on its heels Al Jazeera Supermarket, who are also providing reusable bags for BD1.500, will soon be providing biodegradable plastic bags to its customers and so will Lebanon Trade Centre. Provided by Manama Packaging, these bags are said to be fully reusable and recyclable and can degrade in as little as two years, leaving behind just natural elements: water, carbon dioxide and biomass.

Although they will be free to customers it is likely the cost will eventually be reflected in an increased price of goods on the shelves.

Megamart is planning to introduce reusable cotton bags by the end of August. Rajkumar Waghwani, general manager said that once the bags are in place the hypermarket will charge a nominal amount for plastic bags and donate the money collected to the municipality.

The bottom line however, remains the reaction of customers. Harish Sewani, general manager, Lebanon Trade Centre, said that the biggest problem faced by the supermarket is the lack of awareness amongst shoppers who do not realise the problems created by plastic bags and the fact that they use on an average 20 to 30 bags for their monthly shopping.

Lulu Hypermarket declined to comment.