Next Stop on the Reusable Bagwagon: Brunei

The list of countries taking a stand against shopping-related waste seems to grow exponentially by the day, and now yet another has joined the list: the tiny, tiny South East Asian state of Brunei. Though small (just a little bit bigger than Delaware), the nation is not to be underestimated — what it lacks in size, it makes up for in wealth and clout, and it made use of both on World Environment Day to launch its forward-thinking reusable bag campaign with a giveaway and the gracious presence of a man with possibly the greatest name in history.

The Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation, under the Ministry of Development yesterday held the launching of World Environment Day at Giant Hypermart, where 1000 reusable bags were given away.

The guest of honour at the event was Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Abdullah bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar, the Minister of Development.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Kick the Habit! Reduce the Use of Plastic Bags, Towards a Low Carbon Economy”.

Currently, Brunei’s Environmental Department estimates that plastic bags account for 16% of the country’s municipal waste, earning the bags their label as a “persistent problem.” With this in mind, and with a nod to the United Nations Environment Programme’s call to arms against greenhouse gas emissions, officials of Brunei’s Environmental Department stated that they hope the campaign will help to promote the idea of reuse within local communities. So far they have the backing of two major supermarkets — Supa Save and also-excellently-named Giant Hypermarket — who have pledged to provide reusable bags for their consumers, and an overall goal of turning this initial gesture into a long-term program of environmental awareness and solutions. Ambitious, to be sure, but we have faith in them.

Good luck, Brunei! May the reusable force be with you.

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 10:37 am and is filed under Happenings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.