Local Gov't, Supermarket Agree on Plastic Bag Reduction

Suginami City of Tokyo and its council on plastic bag reduction concluded a regional agreement with Summit, Inc., a midsize supermarket chain operator in Japan, on October 16, 2006. This is the first agreement of its kind in Japan. They plan to work together to increase the number of shoppers bringing their own bags to supermarkets to 60 percent, a target set by Suginami City.

Aiming to reduce plastic bag use by 30 percent, Summit will start charging five yen (about 4 US cents) per plastic bag at their model shop in Naritahigashi during a trial period from January 15 through March 31, 2007. Summit will monitor customer responses and decide at the end of the trial period whether to continue charging for plastic bags and expand the program to other shops. The profit from these charges will be returned to the local people as a fund for environmental education.



Posted: 2006/12/24 11:21:45 AM
Japanese version