During each visit to the wet market, librarian Yansary Abdullah, 34, estimates she is given about 40 plastic bags, but they often end up in the bin because they held raw food. So last month, she brought her own containers to the wet market and plans to continue doing so.
“I think it is a pity to see so many bags being thrown away,” she said.
Ms Yansary joins a growing movement of individuals, institutions and businesses here that have committed to reducing their use of one-time disposables such as straws, bags and containers this year, as part of a larger zero-waste push.
For example, Hwa Chong Institution student Ang Zyn Yee, 17, started a drive in March to encourage businesses and individuals to do away with one-use straws.
In 2017, Singapore generated 7.7 million tonnes of solid waste. Although it is a decline from the 7.81 million tonnes in 2016, it is still higher than the 5.6 million tonnes generated a decade ago.
Unpackt – Singapore’s first zero-waste grocery store – opened in early May 2018, offering customers the chance to buy food without packaging.
Student care centre Kidz Treehouse encourages its 110 teachers to bring their own “eco-sentials” – food container, tote bag, cutlery and water bottle – to work every day. During a recent teachers’ training session, no disposables were provided during the buffet lunch.
“We hope that by getting teachers on board… we can influence the students and their parents too,” said group director Taufiq Yahya.
The ground-up action comes amid hazy plans to reduce the use of one-use items such as plastic bags among individuals.
In March, the National Environment Agency (NEA) released findings from a study which estimated that regular use of a reusable bag over a year could replace the need for 125 single-use plastic bags, or 52 single-use paper bags. One reusable container, used regularly over five years, could replace 3,650 single-use plates.
NEA encourages businesses to avoid unnecessary consumption of disposables. The spokesman said cashiers can be trained to ask customers if bags are needed, instead of handing them out.
Ground-up initiatives are encouraging, but government efforts would accelerate behavioural change, said a spokesman for environmental group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Singapore. Figures from individual organisations are already encouraging.
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, which charges customers 10 cents for a small plastic bag and 20 cents for a larger one, has seen results. “Each year… we collect a total of $3,000… or avoided the use of 30,000 bags,” said Mr Chin Yew Leong, chairman of the hospital’s sustainability committee.
Head chef Lee Eng Su at The Coconut Club, which has a straw-free policy, said out of the 400 to 500 customers served a day, only a few would ask for a straw.
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Source: The Straits Times, 21 May 2018