Desirable Change4

Imposing Fines on improper disposal of plastic bags: Due to the hazardous effects of plastic bags to the environment and their nonbiodegradability, other countries have already implemented the fining of improper disposal of plastic bags. A charge has been imposed on plastic bags in South Africa, which have assumed a new identity as the ‘national flower’ as a result of many getting caught up in trees and fences. Causing negative effects impacts on the environment and depleted natural and environmental resources. The fining is to make people aware of the cause and effect of littering and the improper disposal of it. Our task is to try and convince the government on implementing and put into effect of these actions in Brunei. Step 1: Find out who’s in charged of proposing fines Our first step on making an effort to implement the fining of plastic bags is to find out who’s in charge of proposing the Law fines in Brunei. We’re going to make phone calls and try to search more on the details of doing so. For now, what we found out was that the authorities that are responsible for giving out the Laws are the Ministry of Laws (Kementerian Undang-Undang) which is under the Prime Minister’s Office. On its website, the PMO agencies section has not been updated since May 2005. We are also to find out if any laws that has already been enforced by the Department of Environment and Municipal Boards for such behaviour. I have downloaded a copy of Laws in Brunei by the Municipal Board act and there is no mentioning of fining on littering and improper disposal of rubbish especially plastic bags. Step 2: Drafting the letter On success of the first step, we’re going to make a letter to the authorities on implementing the actions of imposing the fines. The draft of the letter has to be checked and approved by Dr. Irene before it has to be sent to the Ministry of Laws. This should be done before October 1st.

Step 3: Educate Suppliers and Consumers On waiting the approval of the letter from the authorities, the final step is to inform suppliers and also consumers on the cause and effect of improper disposal of these plastic bags and why we should propose the laws in the first place. This could be done by doing air live shows on the radio. Before doing so, we need to address this manner to the radio station at RTB. Hopefully this could be done on the week 8 or week 9 of the semester. Thus thorough research should be done and prepare all the resources for the show before the radio session.