SINGAPORE -The ASEAN Foundation together with TikTok and SAP are proud to announce the successful completion of the Regional Workshop for ASEAN Social Enterprise Development Programme (ASEAN SEDP) 2.0 under the topic of "Empowering Social Enterprise to Drive Meaningful Change in ASEAN." The event took place in Singapore from 17 to 20 October 2023, in conjunction with the 16th ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME). During the workshop, 3 exceptional social enterprises were awarded grants totalling 30,000 USD to bring their innovative social business ideas to life and advance sustainable development goals in the ASEAN region.

The Regional Workshop featured a dynamic program that included a Demo Day and Business Matchmaking sessions, connecting visionary social entrepreneurs with potential investors, including venture capitalists and angel investors. Additionally, the workshop played host to insightful roundtable discussions and a networking dinner with ACCMSME delegates, providing participants with a platform to establish meaningful relationships, articulate their aspirations, and showcase their promising initiatives to ASEAN policymakers. The grant winners were Survival Skills Vietnam from Vietnam in the first place, Tulibot from Indonesia in the second place and Beebag from Malaysia in the third place.

"We are excited to announce the seed grant winners today, and we look forward to witnessing their growth and contribution to sustainability across the region. The Regional Workshop offers an invaluable opportunity for these social entrepreneurs to gain exposure to potential investors, actively participate in regional conversations, and network with influential policymakers across ASEAN. We are confident that all the participating social enterprises will harness the knowledge they have acquired during the programme and continue to thrive," said Dr. Piti Srisangnam, Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation. 

The ASEAN Foundation, in collaboration with TikTok and SAP, has successfully implemented the ASEAN SEDP 2.0 to empower social enterprises across the ASEAN region. The programme focuses on promoting productivity, technology, and innovation, increasing access to finance, enhancing market access and internationalisation, and fostering entrepreneurship and human capital development.

After a rigorous selection process involving 145 applicants, 20 outstanding social enterprises from ten ASEAN member countries were chosen to participate in the programme: Big BWN Project (Brunei Darussalam); ADSA Cambodia (Cambodia); Komerce, PetaNetra, PT. Disabilitas Kerja Indonesia, and Tulibot (Indonesia); Cofarm – Farm for Local (Lao PDR); Beebag, Native Discovery, PichaEats (Malaysia); CC Educare Myanmar, Taungthutada, TTTD – Farmers’ Bridge (Myanmar); Recyglo Singapore (Singapore); Lukthamdai, Moreloop, and PakDone (Thailand); Hinablon sa Cebu and Mayani (The Philippines); and Survival Skills Vietnam and Tohe Social Enterprise (Viet Nam). 

The selected social enterprises benefited from 15 customised virtual training and mentoring sessions tailored to their specific needs. One of these sessions, held in September 2023, focused on TikTok Trust and Safety, offering insights into TikTok's safety efforts, community guidelines, and user protection measures. Hasnita Taslim, Founder of PT Disabilitas Kerja, said “I am grateful to learn from TikTok’s Trust and Safety (T&amp;S) that TikTok has the strategies and measures in place to ensure users are safe on the platform. As a TikTok user, it gives me great confidence that we are well protected.” Another workshop that TikTok conducted was centred around content creation strategy, where social enterprises were equipped with skills and techniques to meaningfully connect, grow and mobilise their audience in an authentic way.   

“TikTok is proud to partner with the ASEAN Foundation to meaningfully empower social enterprises across Southeast Asia to advance inclusive economic growth and drive meaningful change in their communities. We believe that a collective partnership, involving governments, non-profits and private sector partners, can enable the next generation of entrepreneurs to grow and thrive,” said Jerry Lewis Ong, Social Impact APAC, TikTok.

As the strategic collaboration between the ASEAN Foundation and SAP continues with this programme, it aims to empower youth-led social enterprises and young talents in the ASEAN region by equipping them with essential skills to build a future-ready workforce and encouraging young social entrepreneurs to discover innovative solutions that deliver inclusive economic benefits across the region. SAP also conducted training for the selected social entrepreneurs with the themes "Powerful Collaborations: Enhancing Impact through Partnership" and “SAP 4HANA for Small and Medium businesses” in the past week.

Lu Hongwei, Regional CSR Director, East Asia, Pacific &amp; Greater China, SAP, said “We are committed to nurturing social entrepreneurs poised to drive meaningful regional and global change. With the knowledge acquired from our program and the ongoing support of mentorship and access to our corporate supplier networks, we firmly believe in the profound impact they will achieve."

One of the selected social enterprises is Recyglo Singapore, a Singapore-based sustainability platform that provides businesses and individuals with closed-loop waste management solutions with presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. Following their motto of ‘Making the world a cleaner place’, their mission is to process material in a safe, non-hazardous manner that avoids environmental harm. 

The Regional Workshop was attended by ACCMSME-Nominated Officials, Mr. Tham Jierong, Assistant CEO and Head, Venture Building, raiSE, Singapore; Ms. Joanne Tan, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Capability Programmes &amp; Planning Group, Enterprise Singapore; Mr. M. Reza Guntara, Expert Planner, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, Indonesia. 

<h1>ASEAN Foundation, TikTok, and SAP Host ASEAN SEDP 2.0 Regional Workshop to Empower SEA Social Enterprises </h1>The ASEAN Foundation together with TikTok and SAP are proud to announce the successful completion of the Regional Workshop for ASEAN Social Enterprise Development Programme (ASEAN SEDP) 2.0 under the topic of "Empowering Social Enterprise to Drive Meaningful Change in ASEAN." The event took place recently in Singapore, in conjunction with the 16th ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME). During the workshop, 3 exceptional social enterprises were awarded grants totalling 30,000 USD to bring their innovative social business ideas to life and advance sustainable development goals in the ASEAN region.SINGAPORE -The ASEAN Foundation together with TikTok and SAP are proud to announce the successful completion of the Regional Workshop for ASEAN Social Enterprise Development Programme (ASEAN SEDP) 2.0 under the topic of "Empowering Social Enterprise to Drive Meaningful Change in ASEAN." The event took place in Singapore from 17 to 20 October 2023, in conjunction with the 16th ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME). During the workshop, 3 exceptional social enterprises were awarded grants totalling 30,000 USD to bring their innovative social business ideas to life and advance sustainable development goals in the ASEAN region.The Regional Workshop featured a dynamic program that included a Demo Day and Business Matchmaking sessions, connecting visionary social entrepreneurs with potential investors, including venture capitalists and angel investors. Additionally, the workshop played host to insightful roundtable discussions and a networking dinner with ACCMSME delegates, providing participants with a platform to establish meaningful relationships, articulate their aspirations, and showcase their promising initiatives to ASEAN policymakers. The grant winners were Survival Skills Vietnam from Vietnam in the first place, Tulibot from Indonesia in the second place and Beebag from Malaysia in the third place."We are excited to announce the seed grant winners today, and we look forward to witnessing their growth and contribution to sustainability across the region. The Regional Workshop offers an invaluable opportunity for these social entrepreneurs to gain exposure to potential investors, actively participate in regional conversations, and network with influential policymakers across ASEAN. We are confident that all the participating social enterprises will harness the knowledge they have acquired during the programme and continue to thrive," said Dr. Piti Srisangnam, Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation. The ASEAN Foundation, in collaboration with TikTok and SAP, has successfully implemented the ASEAN SEDP 2.0 to empower social enterprises across the ASEAN region. The programme focuses on promoting productivity, technology, and innovation, increasing access to finance, enhancing market access and internationalisation, and fostering entrepreneurship and human capital development.After a rigorous selection process involving 145 applicants, 20 outstanding social enterprises from ten ASEAN member countries were chosen to participate in the programme: Big BWN Project (Brunei Darussalam); ADSA Cambodia (Cambodia); Komerce, PetaNetra, PT. Disabilitas Kerja Indonesia, and Tulibot (Indonesia); Cofarm – Farm for Local (Lao PDR); Beebag, Native Discovery, PichaEats (Malaysia); CC Educare Myanmar, Taungthutada, TTTD – Farmers’ Bridge (Myanmar); Recyglo Singapore (Singapore); Lukthamdai, Moreloop, and PakDone (Thailand); Hinablon sa Cebu and Mayani (The Philippines); and Survival Skills Vietnam and Tohe Social Enterprise (Viet Nam). The selected social enterprises benefited from 15 customised virtual training and mentoring sessions tailored to their specific needs. One of these sessions, held in September 2023, focused on TikTok Trust and Safety, offering insights into TikTok's safety efforts, community guidelines, and user protection measures. Hasnita Taslim, Founder of PT Disabilitas Kerja, said “I am grateful to learn from TikTok’s Trust and Safety (T&amp;S) that TikTok has the strategies and measures in place to ensure users are safe on the platform. As a TikTok user, it gives me great confidence that we are well protected.” Another workshop that TikTok conducted was centred around content creation strategy, where social enterprises were equipped with skills and techniques to meaningfully connect, grow and mobilise their audience in an authentic way. “TikTok is proud to partner with the ASEAN Foundation to meaningfully empower social enterprises across Southeast Asia to advance inclusive economic growth and drive meaningful change in their communities. We believe that a collective partnership, involving governments, non-profits and private sector partners, can enable the next generation of entrepreneurs to grow and thrive,” said Jerry Lewis Ong, Social Impact APAC, TikTok.As the strategic collaboration between the ASEAN Foundation and SAP continues with this programme, it aims to empower youth-led social enterprises and young talents in the ASEAN region by equipping them with essential skills to build a future-ready workforce and encouraging young social entrepreneurs to discover innovative solutions that deliver inclusive economic benefits across the region. SAP also conducted training for the selected social entrepreneurs with the themes "Powerful Collaborations: Enhancing Impact through Partnership" and “SAP 4HANA for Small and Medium businesses” in the past week.Lu Hongwei, Regional CSR Director, East Asia, Pacific &amp; Greater China, SAP, said “We are committed to nurturing social entrepreneurs poised to drive meaningful regional and global change. With the knowledge acquired from our program and the ongoing support of mentorship and access to our corporate supplier networks, we firmly believe in the profound impact they will achieve."One of the selected social enterprises is Recyglo Singapore, a Singapore-based sustainability platform that provides businesses and individuals with closed-loop waste management solutions with presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. Following their motto of ‘Making the world a cleaner place’, their mission is to process material in a safe, non-hazardous manner that avoids environmental harm. The Regional Workshop was attended by ACCMSME-Nominated Officials, Mr. Tham Jierong, Assistant CEO and Head, Venture Building, raiSE, Singapore; Ms. Joanne Tan, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Capability Programmes &amp; Planning Group, Enterprise Singapore; Mr. M. Reza Guntara, Expert Planner, Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, Indonesia. <img style="max-width:100%;height:auto;" src="https://vritimes-public.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/production/f958b4483e3ba667138101dffdca71e129f0189ec29da2a096581d4514c7d8fb/Networking%20dinner%20photo%20session_formal%20style%202.jpg" alt="Image"/><img style="max-width:100%;height:auto;" src="https://vritimes-public.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/production/e9ff1c071b67bf3108ac446fa8a5117048f30e4a6b5ae738520577da37aa0668/Photo%20session%20with%20all%20the%20winners.jpg" alt="Image"/><img style="max-width:100%;height:auto;" src="https://vritimes-public.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/production/91f206aaeab42eed41f1d6518b2f99da7405695f3535cb4c668cfa6ce45cb3e6/DAY%201_photo%20session.jpg" alt="Image"/><img style="max-width:100%;height:auto;" src="https://vritimes-public.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/production/93b0cfbb7ea41a3439bd87624103a9f4b018a7f88724ce666da85d964d833b66/DAY%203_Networking%20dinner%20photo%20session_free%20style.jpg" alt="Image"/>Three decades after ASEAN was established, ASEAN leaders recognised that: there remained inadequate shared prosperity, ASEAN awareness and contact among people of ASEAN. It was of this concern that ASEAN leaders established the ASEAN Foundation during ASEAN’s 30th Anniversary Commemorative Summit in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 15 December 1997. ASEAN Foundation is an organisation from and for the people of ASEAN. The Foundation exists because of one vision: to build a cohesive and prosperous ASEAN Community. As an ASEAN body, the Foundation is tasked to support ASEAN mainly in promoting awareness, identity, interaction, and development of the people of ASEAN. For more info about the ASEAN Foundation, visit: www.aseanfoundation.org 

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The ASEAN Foundation together with TikTok and SAP are proud to announce the successful completion of the Regional Workshop for ASEAN Social Enterprise Development Programme (ASEAN SEDP) 2.0 under the topic of "Empowering Social Enterprise to Drive Meaningful Change in ASEAN." The event took place recently in Singapore, in conjunction with the 16th ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME). During the workshop, 3 exceptional social enterprises were awarded grants totalling 30,000 USD to bring their innovative social business ideas to life and advance sustainable development goals in the ASEAN region.

ASEAN Foundation, TikTok, and SAP Host ASEAN SEDP 2.0 Regional Workshop to Empower SEA Social Enterprises 

The bag charge applies to about 400 large supermarkets, out of 600&nbsp;supermarkets&nbsp;islandwide. While cashiers will be doling out the charges at manned counters, several operators are leaving it up to customers to pay for plastic carriers that are available to them at self-checkout counters.

Such&nbsp;honesty schemes are&nbsp;being used by major operators such as&nbsp;NTUC FairPrice,&nbsp;which has over 100 stores islandwide, DFI Retail Group, which has 75 supermarkets under the Cold Storage and Giant brands, and Prime Supermarket, with 24 outlets.

Meanwhile, Sheng Siong is introducing self-checkout kiosks with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eco-business.com/tags/plastic/">plastic</a>&nbsp;bag dispensers that add the fees straight to customers’ receipts, instead of relying on shoppers to key in the number of bags they use.

The retailer is targeting&nbsp;introducing 30 such counters at six shops by next week, and 50 counters by year end. Unlike its competitors, few of Sheng Siong’s 68 supermarkets have existing self-checkout options. A spokesperson declined to reveal the setup costs of the bag dispensers.

Environmental policy observer Audrey Tan, in response to news&nbsp;of FairPrice’s plan, said it is an “unfortunate case of one step forward and 10 steps back”, and feels like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eco-business.com/tags/greenwashing/">greenwashing</a>.

Tan wrote on her LinkedIn social media page that past trials with bag charges should have made clear if customers can be trusted to pay up.

FairPrice had trialled bag charges at a few stores in 2019. A survey by the supermarket then found that just over 70 per cent of shoppers supported the initiative, with the rest believing free shopping bags&nbsp;are an expected&nbsp;free service, and that they are needed to line trash bins at home.

There are other bags available, such as bread packaging, to store wet waste, Tan told Eco-Business, adding she wonders why more supermarkets&nbsp;do not adopt plastic bag dispensers for self-checkout booths.

Environmental advocate Robin Rheaume, who runs a Singapore recycling information website, said there may be a “relatively high” number of people – she expects about 30 per cent – not paying for bags at self-checkout counters.

They could either skip the charge as a personal protest, or genuinely forget to pay in a rush, especially with “a queue of people breathing down their neck”, Rheaume said.

The bag charge would unlikely make a meaningful impact on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eco-business.com/tags/climate/">climate change</a>&nbsp;– Singapore incinerates its waste which generates carbon emissions&nbsp;– Rheaume said, but added it may have a knock-on impact on people’s sustainability behaviour.

“So how the system is implemented, and not simply having a bag charge, is worth thinking about,” she added.

Shoppers took about 820 million plastic bags from supermarkets a year, according to a 2018 study by the Singapore Environment Council. They make up part of the 200 thousand tonnes of disposables that residents tossed in 2020, against nearly 6 million tonnes of total waste produced that year, according to the National Environment Agency.

Rheaume suggested putting barcodes on plastic bags, which she had seen implemented in Iceland. A spokesperson for Prime Supermarket in Singapore said its plastic bags will come with barcodes for the five-cent charge.

Legislation for Singapore’s plastic bag charge, passed March this year, states that retailers “must” collect at least five cents for each disposable carrier bag.

Retailers could be fined up to S$10,000 (US$7,400) and jailed up to three months for flouting the rule. But if hauled to court, they are allowed to argue their innocence by showing that “reasonable care” was taken to enforce the bag charge. It has led to questions online on the legality of the supermarkets’ honour systems in implementing the plastic bag charge.

Tiong Teck Wee, a partner at law firm WongPartnership, said it is not possible to say whether supermarkets have complied with the&nbsp;laws governing the plastic bag charge, just based on them adopting an honour system.

Tiong noted that there are already staff assisting shoppers at self-checkout counters today.

“It is hard to say at the moment where on the spectrum supermarkets are going to land [on enforcing the plastic bag charge], but they do not appear to be on either extreme [of being too stringent or&nbsp;lax],”&nbsp;he&nbsp;said.

But Meryl Koh, director of intellectual property and dispute resolution at law firm Drew &amp; Napier, said retailers could indeed be breaching the law if they cannot charge for every plastic bag used.

Retailers opting for honour systems could find it hard to prove they have taken reasonable care, since some shoppers can slip through the system, though it is still unclear what “reasonable care” actually means in practice, Koh said.

Retailers could get staff to do additional checks on customers’ plastic bag payments, or hand out bags to shoppers only after payment, Koh suggested.

A Singapore lawyer, speaking anonymously due to existing work with retail clients, said a sizable mismatch between the number of bags dispensed and charge collected could denote&nbsp;a lack of reasonable care.

Retailers need to report such figures annually to the government. They could be asked to implement stronger measures if a large mismatch is reported, the lawyer said.

A FairPrice Group spokesperson said frontline staff have been trained to be “vigilant” in getting customers to adhere to the charge, and that checkout areas are already manned by security cameras.

The spokesperson said FairPrice will monitor its honour-based system and assess if modifications are needed.&nbsp;FairPrice had earlier said no extra staff will be rostered at the self-checkout counters to monitor that shoppers pay their plastic bag fees,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/honour-system-for-bag-charge-at-fairprice-self-checkouts-from-july-3" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to local newspaper The Straits Times.

A DFI Retail Group spokesperson said all team members are briefed and trained on necessary procedures around the bag charge. A Prime Supermarket spokesperson said staff are on-hand to assist customers at self-checkout counters.

Singapore’s National Environmental Agency (NEA) said it will do compliance checks, and that the information retailers publish on bags dispensed and fees collected needs to be audited. The agency will direct operators with incomplete or inaccurate information to rectify or recompute their numbers, its spokesperson noted.

Dozens of jurisdictions globally charge for plastic bags, and some have likewise grappled with getting customers to pay up.&nbsp;

Hong Kong doubled its plastic bag charge to HK$1 (US$0.12) at the end of last year. The government told retailers to put plastic bags further from self-checkout counters, and conducted plainclothes spot checks,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/hong-kong/article/3204200/hongkongers-pay-hk1-plastic-bag-supermarkets-next-week-operators-given-1-month-grace-period" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to newspaper South China Morning Post.

Officials in Denver, Colorado in the United States have also&nbsp;<a href="https://original.newsbreak.com/@david-heitz-561257/2842322015387-shoppers-not-paying-for-bags-at-self-checkouts-official-says" target="_blank">admitted</a>&nbsp;some shoppers jump the bag charge at self-checkout counters, where they self-declare how many bags they are taking.

Single-use plastics are major culprits in global marine pollution. They are also produced from fossil fuels, the dominant cause of&nbsp;man-made global warming.

In Singapore, the concern is that incinerating such waste adds to its carbon emissions, and takes up space in its only landfill, which&nbsp;the authorities are trying to extend the lifespan of past 2035. Only 6 per cent of&nbsp;Singapore’s plastics were recycled last year and the city-state’s domestic recycling rate dropped from 13 per cent to 12 per cent last year.

Free plastic bags have been slowly disappearing in Singapore. Many convenience store chains already have plastic bag charges in place. Furniture retailer Ikea&nbsp;pulled free bags from its megastores in the city-state a decade ago.

<h1>Singapore eco-advocates question efficacy of supermarkets’ ‘honour’-based plastic bag charge</h1>In a week’s time, Singapore shoppers without their own shopping bags will need to top up supermarket purchases with spare change, as a five-cent (US$0.04) plastic bag charge goes live across the country.

Or some of them could try to slip through the “honour”-based system that many retailers have chosen to implement at the ubiquitous self-checkout counters, environmentalists fear, denting the effectiveness of a major initiative to cut down on single-use plastics in the city-state. Plastic bags are one of the major contributors to Singapore’s domestic plastic waste stream.The bag charge applies to about 400 large supermarkets, out of 600&nbsp;supermarkets&nbsp;islandwide. While cashiers will be doling out the charges at manned counters, several operators are leaving it up to customers to pay for plastic carriers that are available to them at self-checkout counters.Such&nbsp;honesty schemes are&nbsp;being used by major operators such as&nbsp;NTUC FairPrice,&nbsp;which has over 100 stores islandwide, DFI Retail Group, which has 75 supermarkets under the Cold Storage and Giant brands, and Prime Supermarket, with 24 outlets.Meanwhile, Sheng Siong is introducing self-checkout kiosks with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eco-business.com/tags/plastic/">plastic</a>&nbsp;bag dispensers that add the fees straight to customers’ receipts, instead of relying on shoppers to key in the number of bags they use.The retailer is targeting&nbsp;introducing 30 such counters at six shops by next week, and 50 counters by year end. Unlike its competitors, few of Sheng Siong’s 68 supermarkets have existing self-checkout options. A spokesperson declined to reveal the setup costs of the bag dispensers.Environmental policy observer Audrey Tan, in response to news&nbsp;of FairPrice’s plan, said it is an “unfortunate case of one step forward and 10 steps back”, and feels like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eco-business.com/tags/greenwashing/">greenwashing</a>.Tan wrote on her LinkedIn social media page that past trials with bag charges should have made clear if customers can be trusted to pay up.FairPrice had trialled bag charges at a few stores in 2019. A survey by the supermarket then found that just over 70 per cent of shoppers supported the initiative, with the rest believing free shopping bags&nbsp;are an expected&nbsp;free service, and that they are needed to line trash bins at home.There are other bags available, such as bread packaging, to store wet waste, Tan told Eco-Business, adding she wonders why more supermarkets&nbsp;do not adopt plastic bag dispensers for self-checkout booths.Environmental advocate Robin Rheaume, who runs a Singapore recycling information website, said there may be a “relatively high” number of people – she expects about 30 per cent – not paying for bags at self-checkout counters.They could either skip the charge as a personal protest, or genuinely forget to pay in a rush, especially with “a queue of people breathing down their neck”, Rheaume said.The bag charge would unlikely make a meaningful impact on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eco-business.com/tags/climate/">climate change</a>&nbsp;– Singapore incinerates its waste which generates carbon emissions&nbsp;– Rheaume said, but added it may have a knock-on impact on people’s sustainability behaviour.“So how the system is implemented, and not simply having a bag charge, is worth thinking about,” she added.Shoppers took about 820 million plastic bags from supermarkets a year, according to a 2018 study by the Singapore Environment Council. They make up part of the 200 thousand tonnes of disposables that residents tossed in 2020, against nearly 6 million tonnes of total waste produced that year, according to the National Environment Agency.Rheaume suggested putting barcodes on plastic bags, which she had seen implemented in Iceland. A spokesperson for Prime Supermarket in Singapore said its plastic bags will come with barcodes for the five-cent charge.<h4>Are honour-based systems legal?</h4>Legislation for Singapore’s plastic bag charge, passed March this year, states that retailers “must” collect at least five cents for each disposable carrier bag.Retailers could be fined up to S$10,000 (US$7,400) and jailed up to three months for flouting the rule. But if hauled to court, they are allowed to argue their innocence by showing that “reasonable care” was taken to enforce the bag charge. It has led to questions online on the legality of the supermarkets’ honour systems in implementing the plastic bag charge.Tiong Teck Wee, a partner at law firm WongPartnership, said it is not possible to say whether supermarkets have complied with the&nbsp;laws governing the plastic bag charge, just based on them adopting an honour system.Tiong noted that there are already staff assisting shoppers at self-checkout counters today.“It is hard to say at the moment where on the spectrum supermarkets are going to land [on enforcing the plastic bag charge], but they do not appear to be on either extreme [of being too stringent or&nbsp;lax],”&nbsp;he&nbsp;said.But Meryl Koh, director of intellectual property and dispute resolution at law firm Drew &amp; Napier, said retailers could indeed be breaching the law if they cannot charge for every plastic bag used.Retailers opting for honour systems could find it hard to prove they have taken reasonable care, since some shoppers can slip through the system, though it is still unclear what “reasonable care” actually means in practice, Koh said.Retailers could get staff to do additional checks on customers’ plastic bag payments, or hand out bags to shoppers only after payment, Koh suggested.A Singapore lawyer, speaking anonymously due to existing work with retail clients, said a sizable mismatch between the number of bags dispensed and charge collected could denote&nbsp;a lack of reasonable care.Retailers need to report such figures annually to the government. They could be asked to implement stronger measures if a large mismatch is reported, the lawyer said.A FairPrice Group spokesperson said frontline staff have been trained to be “vigilant” in getting customers to adhere to the charge, and that checkout areas are already manned by security cameras.The spokesperson said FairPrice will monitor its honour-based system and assess if modifications are needed.&nbsp;FairPrice had earlier said no extra staff will be rostered at the self-checkout counters to monitor that shoppers pay their plastic bag fees,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/honour-system-for-bag-charge-at-fairprice-self-checkouts-from-july-3" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to local newspaper The Straits Times.A DFI Retail Group spokesperson said all team members are briefed and trained on necessary procedures around the bag charge. A Prime Supermarket spokesperson said staff are on-hand to assist customers at self-checkout counters.Singapore’s National Environmental Agency (NEA) said it will do compliance checks, and that the information retailers publish on bags dispensed and fees collected needs to be audited. The agency will direct operators with incomplete or inaccurate information to rectify or recompute their numbers, its spokesperson noted.Dozens of jurisdictions globally charge for plastic bags, and some have likewise grappled with getting customers to pay up.&nbsp;Hong Kong doubled its plastic bag charge to HK$1 (US$0.12) at the end of last year. The government told retailers to put plastic bags further from self-checkout counters, and conducted plainclothes spot checks,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/hong-kong/article/3204200/hongkongers-pay-hk1-plastic-bag-supermarkets-next-week-operators-given-1-month-grace-period" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to newspaper South China Morning Post.Officials in Denver, Colorado in the United States have also&nbsp;<a href="https://original.newsbreak.com/@david-heitz-561257/2842322015387-shoppers-not-paying-for-bags-at-self-checkouts-official-says" target="_blank">admitted</a>&nbsp;some shoppers jump the bag charge at self-checkout counters, where they self-declare how many bags they are taking.Single-use plastics are major culprits in global marine pollution. They are also produced from fossil fuels, the dominant cause of&nbsp;man-made global warming.In Singapore, the concern is that incinerating such waste adds to its carbon emissions, and takes up space in its only landfill, which&nbsp;the authorities are trying to extend the lifespan of past 2035. Only 6 per cent of&nbsp;Singapore’s plastics were recycled last year and the city-state’s domestic recycling rate dropped from 13 per cent to 12 per cent last year.Free plastic bags have been slowly disappearing in Singapore. Many convenience store chains already have plastic bag charges in place. Furniture retailer Ikea&nbsp;pulled free bags from its megastores in the city-state a decade ago.Established in 2009, Eco-Business is Asia Pacific’s largest media and business intelligence organisation dedicated to sustainable development and ESG performance.

We are the only organisation in the region with a news, advisory and innovation business that spans across the entire sustainability ecosystem.

Our award-winning news platform delivers high quality trusted content to a senior audience around the world, while our ESG Intelligence team provides affordable advisory and training services to a wide range of organisations.

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In a week’s time, Singapore shoppers without their own shopping bags will need to top up supermarket purchases with spare change, as a five-cent (US$0.04) plastic bag charge goes live across the country.

Or some of them could try to slip through the “honour”-based system that many retailers have chosen to implement at the ubiquitous self-checkout counters, environmentalists fear, denting the effectiveness of a major initiative to cut down on single-use plastics in the city-state. Plastic bags are one of the major contributors to Singapore’s domestic plastic waste stream.