KOTA KINABALU, Aug 1 — The state capital’s ban on single-use plastic bags starting today is hoped to eventually be expanded to the entire state, said assistant minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datuk Abidin Madingkir.

He lauded the move by the City Hall to ban the use of plastic bags across some 858 business premises in the city and said that he hoped that other local authorities across the state would take it up in an effort to clean up the environment and promote more sustainable living.

"We will need the local authorities to agree and work together on this, but we are confident the Local Government and Housing ministry will support this and get them involved.

"After all, there is nothing to lose here and everything to gain. We will have beautiful towns and cities and clean waterways that is something we can proudly show to tourists,” he said.

Abidin, who is a former mayor of Kota Kinabalu, said that he encouraged City Hall to look into enacting by-laws that would enable them to enforce the move to ban single use plastic bags in the city in the near future.

"We know it is hard to legislate, but there should be laws to prevent the use of these plastic bags to support this effort. For now, they will issue ‘friendly warnings’ but we hope that this move will be able to shift the mindset of the community into more recycling and better waste management,” he said.

City Hall has been implementing the no plastic bag campaign since September last year, encouraging shoppers in supermarkets, hypermarkets and more to reduce their consumption.

Major businesses voluntarily stopped the use of plastic bags on three days of the week - Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays - to ease the transition and provide shoppers the option of buying recyclable bags or bringing their own.

"The results have been very positive. We have a reduction of 11,000 tonnes or 30 percent of plastic waste in the period between September 2023 and June 2024.

"This campaign has entered the final phase and we have found that it has received a positive response from all parties as a result of informational sessions and education to the public through social and local media in addition to face-to-face approach by DBKK officials with the traders and associations involved,” said mayor Datuk Sabin Samitah.

"With the new ban in place, we are looking at a reduction of perhaps 90 per cent,” said City Hall assistant operations chief and campaign lead Robert Lipon.

Lipon said that the campaign now includes no plastic bags at all in supermarkets including hypermarkets, department stores, chain stores, pharmacies, convenience stores, grocery stores, gas station convenience stores, bakeries or clothing stores.

Only raw material vendors such as those selling fish, meat, and seafood in markets are allowed to use plastic materials for packaging purposes.

However, the concept has been extended to the Menggatal Inanam and Telipok markets who have been supportive of the effort and some have shifted to using biodegradable plastic bags.

"As we move forward, DBKK will further expand the implementation of this campaign to all other types of business premises, including all restaurant premises, fast food restaurants, hardware stores, beauty and sports shops.

"We call upon all other state government agencies, particularly the Local Government and Housing ministry and the Tourism, Culture and Environment ministry, to join DBKK in becoming pioneers of similar campaigns in all other districts in Sabah.