ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Johor government has expressed its commitment to eliminating the use of polystyrene packaging and plastic bags in supermarkets and other businesses, given its January 2018 target to fully implement the ruling.
State Health and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said a state government-initiated roadmap to eliminate the usage of polystyrene and plastic packaging is being drafted, and it will contain policies that will encourage businesses to gradually switch to biodegradable packaging alternatives.
"By June 2017, all large supermarkets in the state will be encouraged to replace the usage of plastics and polystyrene packaging and replace them with paper bags or other biodegradable alternatives. Many supermarkets have done so now as there is the no-plastic bag day on Saturdays with a 20 sen charge if customers still want a plastic bag.
"But by 2018, the state government will fully implement (the ban) for plastics and polystyrene," said Ayub in a press conference at the Dato Jaafar Muhammad Building in Kota Iskandar, here today.
In April this year, Ayub had told the state assembly that the Johor government planned to replace the use of polystyrene and plastic packaging for food with biodegradable alternatives.