Last weekend I participated in the Lim Chu Kang mangrove cleanup, organised by our department. What was interesting for me was to notice that most waste were either plastic bags or some sort of styrofoam, which often disintegrated when trying to remove it from the mud (which is making things worse of course), both of which can be easily eliminated from our daily lives. But what was most remarkable was how much of the rubbish could not be removed because it had become part of the vegetation. Roots and branches that had grown into plastic cups or plastic bags tightly encapsuled by plant roots.

 

Apart from that, the clean-up wasn’t exactly what I had imagined. The area we were supposed to clean-up was quite small and there were too many of us. So I didn’t really feel that my presence made a huge difference. I thought that it probably would have been more effective if we educate people about the damage that we are inflicting on nature and the environment by thoughtlessly consuming disposables. But then, it is probably not that people don’t know (at least younger people). But somehow caring for the environment isn’t the cool thing to do.

 

See, when I was a student, the word student (Student in German, with the emphasis on the second syllable) had a connotation of being anti-establishment (oh, these Studenten, they think they think they don’t have to follow the rules in our society). For instance, you were not considered a proper Student (or Studentin, as in female student) if you don’t ride your bicycle to Uni, not to mention using a car, which was out of the question for a cool student! Using your own cup that you brought from home when you make or buy a drink was considered cool. Whereas here in Singapore, asking for non-disposable cutlery or cups is often considered a nuisance. (I havn’t seen anyone bringing their own cup to Starbucks but maybe there are people who do that.)

 

In fact, I feel somewhat uncomfortable for frequently visiting and supporting places like Coffee Bean, which keeps their pastries in individual paper and plastic containers/cartons and uses disposable plastic cups for their complementary water offer. The latter is literally a crime against the environment, because every day there must be thousands of plastic cups ending up in the general waste, often after being used for as little as a few seconds.

 

I did provide feedback about this to the Coffee Bean customer service, but sadly I did not receive a reply. Which goes to show that it is kind of futile to wait for the public or private sector to do things about being environmentally friendly.

 

Ultimately, I think it is up to us to lead by example and ask our friends and family, how come you waste so many plastic cups, plastic stirrers, plastic bags. It is up to us to insist on being served non-disposables in food courts. And maybe one day it could be the cool thing to be environmentally friendly!

 

UPDATE:

I did receive a reply from Coffee Bean eventually:

But nothing has changed…

So in the end, we still need to take our own action, like this student at Coffee Bean, using a reusable straw!

 

 

Of course, in Europe plastic straws and other single-use plastics have recently been banned by the EU.