By Doreen Lai Bin Hui
26 September, 2019
I was happy to read TODAY’s Trash Talk features on how Singaporeans can do their part to reduce waste.
I have two ideas that I hope can bring Singapore closer to its zero-waste target.
Despite being a developed country,
our environmental consciousness trails even some developing nations.
[Note: what she considers "environmental consciousness" is basically the latest fads promoted by so-called "environmentalists". More later.]
Recently,
I took a six-month break.
[Just curious. Did you fly, or bike, or take a "zero-emissions" boat? Whatever that is.] Through my travels, I saw how the effects of global warming and erratic climatic changes have caused glaciers to recede at an alarming rate, and places such as Alaska becoming much warmer than they should.
[Oh yes. Come see the glaciers before they are all gone!]
We need to step up our environmental consciousness to safeguard our planet for future generations.
During my travels, I encountered many excellent ideas of how we can help to reduce waste.
START A GROCERY OUTLET
In the United States, there is a successful supermarket chain called Grocery Outlet selling heavily discounted brand-name groceries and products that are either overstocked or close to their use-by date.
[In Singapore, there is a chain of budget shops called "Value $ Shop". Their tagline is "Closing Down Sale!" and "Fire Sale"! And they are NOT the only bargain budget shops.]
I patronised this supermarket often because its items were cheap and I was going to consume the produce pretty soon anyway.
It makes sense for one of the big supermarket chains here — or, better still, an alliance of them — to create such an outlet to reduce waste. It can also be a part of their corporate-social-responsibility efforts to bring affordable groceries to the masses.
[Or see what they are already doing. From a Facebook comment:
Supermarkets are already doing this for some products. Fresh meat have a shelf life (or a sell by date) of just 3 days. [When] they are close to their sell-by date, some supermarkets slash their prices. But you often have to use the meat on the same day. This is not always possible (for me), so I cannot take advantage of this. And this (offering discounts within the store) is a better solution than having a specialty store selling say 2-day old meat. This requires the originating store to send the meat to the specialty discount store, who will need to check that the meat (or other products) are still saleable, re-tag the merchandise, and put it on display. All these take time, transport, logistics, and labour and adds to the costs. Re-tagging the soon to expire meat within the originating store is speedier (unless the specialty store is right next to the originating store and a subsidiary of the originating store or parent company).
DEPOSITS FOR BOTTLES AND CANS
In Europe and North America, it is common to see glass or plastic bottles and steel or aluminium cans being sold with a deposit. Consumers can get their money back when they return these to a machine that is usually at the entrance of supermarkets.
This scheme will boost recycling collection rates and attitudes towards recycling.
[Hate to break the news to you but... Recycling is a scam. But don't take my word for it. Find a recycling plant in Singapore. Not a recycling materials collection and sorting facility. These simply "export" our "recyclables overseas. Where a large proportion of them are either left to rot, burned haphazardly, or tossed into the oceans. Find an ACTUAL plant that takes recyclables (say aluminium cans), and actually process the recyclables and make NEW products with it. There are no such plants in SG. (I got a hint that there is a "local steel mill" that can recycle ferrous metal - not aluminium. But I have NO idea where it is, or if recycling is a major component of its business model.)
As for plastic, it helps to believe that you can recycle plastic. But the truth is, it is very difficult to recycle a plastic bottle and imagine that it would come back as a bottle. Plastics are hard to recycle. The best you can do is down cycle it.]
Recent news that supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice is charging for plastic bags in a trial at selected stores is also a step in the right direction.
Singapore is already behind many countries in this area. Others, including many African states, have banned single-use plastic bags. A report from the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Resources Institute found that at least 127 out of 192 countries have adopted some form of legislation to regulate plastic bags as of July last year.
I sincerely urge Singaporeans to be more environmentally conscious because every little step matters.
[More from the FaceBook comment:
As for other goods (over-stocked goods) this is already being done if the writer would simply open her eyes and understand what she is seeing. "Value $ Shop" with their perpetual "Closing Down Sale" or "Fire Sale" (despite the lack of evidence of fire, unless they are exploiting the Haze) ARE in fact discount stores for overstocked goods. Yeah, sure they have lots of parallel imports from countries with lower costs of living (Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia), but they also have overstocked goods. "Halls XS" are about $1.40 at Fairprice. They were once sold at Value $ Shop for 50 cents (no stock now).
This letter is an example of "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" or at least a useless thing. Or will get you to do useless things that will make you feel good about yourself.
The War on Plastic is futile. And people are doing it for the wrong reasons. If we stop using plastic, the world will NOT become a better place. We would NOT stop climate change or global warming. If you think giving up plastic will save the world from climate change, you are a victim of "a little knowledge" and the wrong kind of knowledge.
Same for giving up plastic straws.]
