Saigon Co.op becomes first retailer to stop selling plastic straws

More than 600 nationwide supermarkets and convenience stores of the Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives (Saigon Co.op) have taken the leap to remove all plastic straws from their shelves this month.

Thursday, May 09, 2019 21:00

Saigon Co.op becomes first retailer to stop selling plastic straws ảnh 1

Banana leaves are used to wrap vegetables at a supermarket (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – More than 600 nationwide supermarketsand convenience stores of the Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives (SaigonCo.op) have taken the leap to remove all plastic straws from their shelves thismonth.

This is the first retail system in Vietnam tostop selling plastic straws.

Deputy Director General of Saigon Co.op NguyenAnh Duc said that in the long run, his firm will also remove plastic strawsattached to its private label products. It will ask retailers inside its storesto minimise the use of plastic straws.

Saigon Co.op is also replacing plastic bags withbanana leaves as an environmentally-friendly material to wrap food, he added.

In 2011, the firm became the first to replace single-useplastic bags with bio-degradable ones.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said the useof bio-degradable bags and banana leaves to wrap food is amongst thesignificant efforts by Saigon Co.op to reduce the quantity of plastic bags incirculation to help protect the environment.

Many countries like the US, the Republic ofKorea, and China have banned or issued a roadmap for prohibiting the use ofthis type of plastic product.

In Vietnam, the Government has imposed an environmentaltax rate of 100-250 percent of the production cost of 1 kg of single-useplastic bags. However, problems in tax collection have hampered the developmentof bio-degradable bag producers.

According to international organisations,Vietnam is one of Asia’s five worst polluters of ocean plastic waste. With 13million tonnes of waste released into the ocean every year, the country ranks17th in the world for ocean plastic waste pollution.

The Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment estimated that a staggering 80 tonnes of plastic waste and bags arethrown away every day in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City alone.

The ministry aimed to reduce 65 percent of single-useplastic bags used at supermarkets and shopping malls by 2020 compared to 2010. Vietnamhopes to eliminate disposable plastic bags by 2026. –VNA

VNA

#Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives #Saigon Co.op #plastic straws #plastic bags #single-use plastic bags #bio-degradable bags #plastic products #plastic pollution #updated Vietnam news #Vietnamplus #Vietnam News Agency

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