State Trading Organisation (STO) has announced that it will begin charging for plastic bags at the STO People’ Choice Supermart from July 17.
STO made the decision as part of the "Plastic Noon Gotheh" campaign to advocate for alternatives to single-use plastic bags. As such, customers at the STO People’s Choice Supermart will be charged USD0.16 for a plastic bag and USD0.13 for a paper bag. STO urged customers to bring environment-friendly reusable tote bags when coming to shop at the supermarket.
STO also initiated a campaign in April to reward customers for shopping at the STO People’s Choice Supermart using reusable bags. STO began giving out the rewards as part of the "Plastic Noon Gotheh" campaign. The organisation is participating in the campaign in collaboration with Maldives Authentic Crafts Cooperative Society and Dhiraagu, a local telecommunications company.
As part of the campaign, STO is giving out over 500 reusable bags embedded with near-field communication (NFC) chips. Customers are able to obtain points by downloading a mobile application and scanning the bag after shopping at the STO People's Choice Supermart and receive rewards such as Dhiraagu data and STO products priced between USD7 and USD32 when they earn enough points.
STO stated that it has eliminated the use of plastic bags at its pharmacies last year, which had amounted to one million plastic bags, and that minimising the use of plastic bags at the STO People’s Choice Supermart will prevent the use of two million plastic bags per year.