Anti-plastic bag campaign launched across major supermarkets in Oman is slowly gaining acceptance among customers. I have been following the trend from the last few weeks at Khimji’s Mart in Darsait, and initially when the jute bags were priced at 500 baiza apiece, no one dared to buy. Yesterday, I spotted many customers with the bag. Reason: prices of the bags were slashed to 100 baiza each. Most of them won’t mind spending 100 baisa for a bag, but 500 baiza looks a bit too much for an idea which is still in its infancy.

The store manager said some people were enquiring if they could get the jute bag absolutely free. I asked him if it makes sense to sell those bags for a meagre sum when the production cost would be much more than 100 baiza. He said the government has been providing subsidy so that the prices could be slashed and make it more affordable. Bags initially are fine, but what happens when you forget to re-use them? How do you cajole a customer to re-use a bag again and again? Do we ban plastic bags altogether at supermarkets? This tricky question needs to be addressed in the campaign.