Starting Next Week, You'd Have To Pay 10 Cents For This H&M Paper Bag

Yup, it's time to start bringing your own bags when you go shopping at H&M. From July 25, the Swedish retail giant will no longer give out free paper bags at all its stores in Singapore.

In a bid to lead the charge towards a more sustainable fashion future and to reduce waste, H&M will now charge you $0.10 for every H&M shopping bag you take. Proceeds will be donated to WWF Singapore’s Plastic ACTion (PACT) initiative, which is an industry-wide initiative for businesses to reduce plastic and work towards “No Plastic in Nature” by 2030.

At the start of this year, H&M replaced its familiar plastic bags with white paper bags.

Also, it's not the first retailer here to charge for bags. Cotton On in Singapore also charges customers for bags.

According to H&M's press release, they are committed to eliminating unnecessary packaging, and transitioning to reusable materials and ensuring the use of recycled plastic in its packaging by 2025. Customers are urged to join the brand in being more sustainable by bringing their own reusable bags or buying one from H&M if you need a bag.

H&M also has its ongoing popular Conscious Exclusive collection, where they introduce new sustainable materials in their products. New this season is Piñatex, a natural leather alternative made from cellulose fibres extracted from pineapple leaves, BLOOM Foam, a plant-based flexible foam using algae biomass, and Orange Fiber, sustainable silk-like fabrics made from citrus juice by-products.

Here are some campaign and products visuals from the latest Conscious Exclusive collection, so we can all be inspired by how going green and being sustainable can be so beautiful.