Say no to plastic bags!

Source: Santosh Mishra

Even though plastic bags are free at most supermarkets, convenience stores and food stalls in Singapore, say no to plastic bags! Knowing how environmentally harmful plastic bags are, let’s do our part in reducing the consumption of plastic bags! This can potentially protect marine animals, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the toll on Earth’s resources!

 

Use green reusable bags instead

 

 

Bring your own reusable bags to shop! In fact, they can carry heavy weight than plastic bags, and would not break so easily. They can be washed and reused too. If you forget to bring yours on the first few attempts, don’t worry! It will become natural to you once you try a few more times and form a new habit.

In Singapore, many retailers, like cold storage and IKEA sell reusable bags at an extremely affordable price if you need one.

Reusable bag | Source: Pinterest

 

Cold Storage Reusable bag | Source: Me in Blogland, Ms Megha

Use reusable food containers

 

Use reusable food containers to pack your lunch from home or take out food from a stall, if you have to eat at the office or in school! This can help reduce a lot of consumption of plastic in single-use disposable food containers. If you take out food every working day, with an average of two meals per day, you would have used 20 disposable food containers in a week without noticing much!

Furthermore, these reusable food containers are often much better for your health too as they are often BPA-free, unlike disposable food containers. This can also help you save money! If you use 20 disposable food containers in a week, this can help to save $2-3 per week! (assuming one disposable take out container is priced between 20-30 cents)

Reusable Food Containers | Source: Sarah Remmer

 

 

Buy products with less plastic packaging

 

Choose products that come in less plastic packaging. Some products come in different packaging methods, we can consciously choose  those that generate less plastic waste.

Farmhouse Milk: Plastic bottles V.S. Paper cartons

Buy refill packets instead of new bottles.

By using daily products that use less plastic packaging, we can potentially reduce a lot of plastic waste generated! To illustrate how great an impact can little reduction of plastic in the packaging of our daily products do, read the infographic below!

 

Reduction of plastic used in Milo packaging | Source: Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Singapore

 

 

 

 

Reject straws

 

Straws may seem small, but the production of straws does use up a lot of natural resources too – just like plastic bags and disposable cutlery. Furthermore, they seem so insignificant that you may not notice how many straws you’re using up!

Alternatively, you could choose using steel straws instead, which are reusable, and much more environmentally friendly.

 

Disposable Straws | Source: Event Supplies

Steel straws with washing brush | Source: Eco at Heart