Opening Remarks at the opening of FairPrice outlet at City Square Mall - Dr Amy Khor

OPENING REMARKS BY DR AMY KHOR, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, AT THE OPENING OF FAIRPRICE OUTLET AT CITY SQUARE MALL ON 30 AUGUST 2024

Mr Vipul Chawla, Group CEO, FairPrice Group

Mr Vivek Kumar, CEO, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Singapore

Distinguished guests

1 Good morning, everyone. It is my pleasure to join you today at the opening of the revamped FairPrice outlet at City Square Mall. This is FairPrice Group’s flagship store for environmentally conscious design, featuring a wide range of sustainability features and initiatives. I commend FairPrice Group for putting sustainability as a key consideration for the revamp of this store.

2 Supermarkets are an integral part of our daily lives. Beyond just places where we buy groceries, supermarkets can help to promote environmental stewardship through its business operations and practices; shape sustainable consumer behaviour through the products and services they offer; and even educate consumers, including our young, on caring for the environment through an eco-friendly shopping experience. By leveraging this influence, supermarkets can be sustainability role-models for other businesses, and nudge Singaporeans to adopt a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Let me share some examples on how supermarkets can drive positive change in terms of sustainability.

Championing sustainability through energy management

3 First, supermarkets can lead by example in energy management. Supermarkets operate large facilities that consume significant amounts of energy. By investing in energy-efficient lighting, climate-friendly cooling and refrigeration systems, and adopting renewable energy sources such as solar energy, supermarkets can not only reduce operational costs but also showcase effective ways to lower environmental impact, which inspire other businesses to follow suit.

Driving demand for sustainable products and local produce

4 Second, supermarkets can shape consumer preferences and drive demand for sustainable products and local produce. By offering a wide array of sustainable product options, shoppers are more likely to make environmentally friendly purchasing decisions, which in turn influence more suppliers to offer more of such products. Supermarkets can work with more local farms to offer locally produced food, including vegetables, eggs and fish. It is important to support local produce because helps to build up our food security, reduce the impact of overseas food supply disruptions, reduce the carbon footprint, and prevent the loss of freshness of food associated with long-distance transportation. FairPrice Group is collaborating with the Singapore Agro-Food Enterprises Federation Limited (SAFEF) on an aggregator business model to connect with more local farms and suppliers. I am pleased to note that this outlet will carry the widest range of local fresh produce delivered within 24 hours from farm-to-store, making it more compelling and easier for consumers to support local produce.

Waste reduction and promoting a circular economy

5 Another key area where supermarkets can make a significant environmental impact is that of reducing waste and promoting a circular economy. According to the National Environment Agency (NEA)’s 2023 Waste and Recycling Statistics, two of our priority waste streams, plastic and food waste, account for around 14% and 11% of total waste generated respectively. Supermarkets can play a crucial role in reducing these two waste streams.

6 FairPrice Group has taken active steps in tackling the issue of food waste including through its “Great Taste Less Waste” initiative, now known as “IMperfect Fellas”, which offers blemished but otherwise wholesome and edible fruits at a discounted rate. More than 720,000 packs of such blemished fruits and vegetables were sold last year, which prevented more than 940 tonnes of fruits from being disposed of. It is really heartening to see that increasingly people are supportingthis initiative, and more consumers are receptive towards ugly but otherwise edible food. There are several other FairPrice Group programmes to reduce food waste, such as working with food charities to donate surplus food to our lower-income families within the community.

7 Supermarkets can also encourage consumers to do their part in taking less plastic bags. In 2019, FairPrice was one of the first supermarkets chains in Singapore to charge a flat per-transaction fee for the disposable carrier bags taken. Under FairPrice’s No Plastic Bag initiative from 2019 to 2022, FairPrice provided 90 million less disposable carrier bags.

Update on Disposable Carrier Bag Charge

8 In July 2023, the disposable carrier bag charge was implemented. Under the Resource Sustainability Act, larger supermarket operators are required to charge at least five cents per disposable carrier bag provided at their outlets. The bag charge is intended as a behavioural nudge to encourage consumers to bring reusable bags for their shopping and use less disposables.

9 I am pleased to share that the disposable carrier bag charge has indeed kickstarted a promising shift in behaviour. One year on, supermarket operators who started charging for disposable carrier bags in 2023 reported a reduction of 70 to 80% in the number of disposable carrier bags provided. FairPrice saw a reduction of about 77% in the number of disposable carrier bags issued since the bag charge was implemented. In the second half of 2023, FairPrice provided about 142 million less disposable carrier bags compared to the same period in 2022.

10 What is even more encouraging is that a survey recently conducted by the NEA found that more than 90% of some 1,000 respondents brought their own reusable bags for grocery shopping. This is compared to 61% prior to the implementation of the disposable carrier bag charge. Some respondents shared that they still needed to purchase disposable carrier bags to carry their purchases, generally because they did not have sufficient reusable bags with them, or they preferred to bag wet produce separately. But on average, the number of disposable carrier bags they needed reduced from three to one per supermarket visit.

11 Beyond the reduction in the number of disposable bags used, more than a third of respondents said that the bag charge has nudged them to use less single-use disposables and plastics. This demonstrates a promising shift towards a more sustainable mindset and behaviour among our shoppers. We should continue to encourage and educate consumers to use less disposables and use more reusables.

Conclusion

12 In conclusion, supermarkets are more than just retail spaces - they can be powerful agents of change for sustainability. Through their business operations and product offerings, supermarkets can drive sustainable behaviour among suppliers and consumers on a large scale. As consumers, let us join our supermarkets on this green transition, and believe that we can all play our part – for every product we purchase and every sustainable habit we adopt, we collectively contribute to a more sustainable and climate-resilient Singapore.

Thank you.