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“We’ll not charge for sili-sili bags” say shop owners
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- Anura. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
By Dilushi Wijesinghe
Many shop owners claimed that they would continue handing out polythene bags to shoppers free of charge despite the special directive calling for charges to be applied to them starting yesterday.
“How can I charge someone five rupees for a bag?” questioned Anura, a shop owner at the Kollupitiya market. “It’s good if they can ban shopping bags once and for all, but we need to have an alternative. But I can’t charge my customers five rupees for a bag” he said.
The special directive was issued by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) prohibiting the issue of Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) bags when selling raw materials.
“It is hereby directed that no trader shall, at the time of selling of goods, issue free of charge to any consumer, bags made of the following raw materials,” the CAA directive stated.
The Sunday Times spoke with Kamal (name changed) a veggie distributor to high-end hotels who was carrying bundles of greens in his bare hands. “This is not fair to distributors like us. I have to carry all of this with my hands” he said pointing with his full hands at his lorry in the distance.
High-end supermarkets displayed the gazette notification to shoppers at their entrances.
Many shoppers preferred to pay for a shopping bag rather than to bring their own. “Shopping bags are something that we can’t with and can’t without” said a shopper at a supermarket near Slave Island. “It’s good if they can start distributing bio-degradable bags,” she said.
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