So now we have to pay Rs. 5 for the bag too?

A closer look at how "eco-friendly" turned into a business model

- By Abdul Careem

FROM 1 November 2025, Sri Lankans will pay Rs. 3-5 for a simple polythene bag. The message is clear: be eco-friendly, carry your own. The reality is more complicated: eco has quietly become an economy.

For some, “eco” is a cause.

For others, it is a career.

For a growing few, it is a business model built on guilt, premiums, and headlines.

At first glance, the policy sounds logical. Polythene harms the planet, so charging for it might discourage use. But who really gains when a bag that costs a few cents to produce is sold for Rs. 3-5? Supermarkets, manufacturers, and intermediaries pocket the margin, while the consumer pays the guilt-fee. Multiply that by millions of daily transactions and “saving the planet” becomes a tidy revenue stream.

In theory, we should all carry reusable bags. In practice, life is messy. You do not carry a shopping bag to a wedding, a meeting, or a school event. On your way home you stop at a grocery store for milk and vegetables... Are we expected to keep a cloth bag in every car, handbag, backpack, and pocket? These ideas sound neat on policy papers but crumble in daily life. Behaviourally, when convenience clashes with conscience, convenience almost always wins. That is not a moral failure; it is how the brain weighs effort and reward.

Some may say, “We have to start from somewhere.” True, but a step in the wrong direction still moves us away from the goal. Bans and taxes without affordable alternatives do not solve problems; they shift the burden to ordinary people. If environmental reform is meant to help the planet, it must also be practical, fair, and inclusive. Not just symbolic.