All convenience stores at service stations around the country will surcharge its customers ten cents for the use of every plastic bag from the first of next month.

Fiji Fuel Retailers Association Secretary, John Philp, says this will help boost their social change campaign and inspire Fijians to properly utilize plastic bags.

“We estimate that we use about 4.3million plastic bags per annum and about fifty eight thousand plastic bags per service station. We thought with the imposition of the charge, we can reduce that in half so there’s two million less plastic bags. We always have five thousand plastic bags per day and this would mean less going into the field or less being thrown on the road or where ever people dispose them and it’s easier in service stations since most people buy one or two products.

Philp says they have been working with convenience stores on their social change campaign, focused to completely ditch the use of plastic bags that end up killing many marine lives.