Coop Mart employees are busy making paper bags from used newspapers, calendars, and over-sized magazines to use on March 27. The bags will bear the “For a Green Environment” slogan.

This effort is considered to be a revolution in market bags. Over the last several years, Big C and Citimart have used both paper and plastic bags, but customers seem to favor plastic bags.  Metro sells re-useable bags (at least 6000 dong/bag), which are not favored by many customers.

Maximark Cong Hoa supermarkets in HCM City have been using self-disintegrating plastic bags for the last two years, but its director, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, admits that she is not sure whether or not these bags are really safe for the environment.

Duong Thi Quynh Trang, Big C PR manager, noted that Big C offers both self-disintegrating plastic bags and reusable bags. Big C is seeking a source to supply environmentally-friendly bags based on three criteria: non-polluting, low-cost and sufficient supply.

Using plastic bags is a habit of most housewives in Vietnam. Each time they go to the market, they return home with at least ten plastic bags. Sellers give them plastic bags for whatever they buy, like vegetables or a kilo of sugar.

Thanh Mai in HCM City explained that she knows plastic bags cause pollution, but remarked that they are very convenient. “Paper bags are not suitable for fish, meats, and vegetables, plus I’m too lazy to take a handbag to the market,” she admitted.

Kim in District 1 noted that there are many nice paper bag designs, but they are only appropriate for footwear or clothes.

Quynh Nhu in Binh Thanh district maintained that customers don’t decide whether or not they use plastic or paper bags,  -- the salespeople and companies do. She speculated said that if all supermarkets replaced plastic bags with paper ones, it would help change customer habits. “But the price for paper is still high,” Nhu added.

Lien, a Coop Mart customer, explained that, to restrict the use of plastic bags, housewives should bring their own bags to supermarkets or buy reusable bags that can be used many times. “Supermarkets should continue using paper bags after the Earth Hour campaign,” Lien suggested.

Thanh, a retired woman, recalled that, in the past plastic bags were not used and housewives took hand baskets, reticules or cloth bags to the market. Plastic bags have only become popular in the last several years.

“The Government should encourage the production of environmentally-friendly bags through tariffs,” Thanh proposed.

According to a HCM City Department of Natural Resources and Environment survey in late September 2009, residents use around 70 tons of plastic wrappings a day, including over 50 tons of plastic bags. Up to 78 percent of customers requested plastic bags.