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  Straits Times 5 May 07
Spread the 3R message - reduce, reuse, recycle
Letter form Dr Lee Siew Peng Middlesex, UK

Straits Times 5 May 07
Why must self-check-out machine require items to be put into a plastic bag?
Letter from Chen Junyi

New Paper 5 May 07
Some shoppers avoid supermarkets on Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) Day
Others say... Great, now there's no queue

BRING your own bag or donate 10cents when you shop for groceries on BYOB Day? No thanks, say some who prefer to do their shopping on another day.

There seemed to be fewer shoppers at several popular supermarkets visited by The New Paper on BYOB day, the first Wednesday of the month.

When contacted, a spokesman for FairPrice, the biggest supermarket chain here, said they had noted a drop in sales on the first BYOB Day last month. They were yet to get the figures for the second BYOB Day.

However, Cold Storage said its sales had not been affected. Carrefour Singapore said it was too early to tell whether theirs had been.

Among those who avoided shopping on BYOB Day was Madam Orokrah Mohamed, 58, a retiree. She said it would be troublesome to carry a reusable bag especially because her shopping trips were often unplanned.

She felt the campaign was unfair to people like herself, who do recycle plastic bags. 'I use the plastic bags for bagging rubbish,' she said. 'The campaign is targeting people who throw away plastic bags, but what percentage of the population does that?'

She pointed out that though the donation is voluntary, it would be embarrassing to refuse.

CHEAPSKATE

She said: 'The cashier will think I am a cheapskate, and why do I want to put myself through that? I will simply avoid shopping on BYOB Days.'

Mr Lee Leng Siang, 29, a business analyst, who also avoided supermarket shopping on Wednesday, felt the same. He said the donation of 10 cents per bag was not justified. 'I do my part for the environment, I separate my rubbish, and make an effort to take plastic bottles to the recycling bins. But I feel this donation for plastic bags is compulsory because the cashier is going to think I am a cheapskate for not donating.'

But other shoppers were happy that there were shorter queues on BYOB day. At the FairPrice supermarket at Hougang Street 21, housewife Joanna Ang, 52, was seen with a trolley full of groceries.

Mrs Ang, who had come prepared with three of her own reusable bags, said: 'It is quieter than usual, but all the better for me, since I don't have to queue.' But FairPrice Bedok was still bustling with shoppers at 5pm.

Several shoppers The New Paper spoke to were not aware it was BYOB Day, but said they would shop anyway. Housewife Lily Erlina, 34, who was at FairPrice at Bedok North Street1, had a trolley load of groceries in plastic bags. She said: 'I would rather donate for the plastic bags. The petrol would cost me more if I drive home now and come again tomorrow.'

The BYOB day has had a positive impact on one item though - reusable bags. According to FairPrice, sales of the bag, at $1 each, jumped from 14,000 on the first BYOB Day last month to 20,000 on Wednesday.

Housewife S G Lim, 45, who was spotted toting her reusable bag, thinks it's a matter of getting used to it. She said: 'Singaporeans tend to resist change, but it can become part of our lives. It's just a matter of folding the bag and taking it with you when you go shopping.'

Straits Times 5 May 07
Why must self-check-out machine require items to be put into a plastic bag?
Letter from Chen Junyi

ON APRIL 29, I was at the supermarket at Great World City.

All I wanted to get was a can of cold drinks, and I did not need a plastic bag. Heading to the self-check-out machine though, I was unable to complete the transaction until I was informed by the supermarket staff that after scanning the item, I had to (1) put the item into the plastic bag, and then (2) take away the plastic bag from its stand.

The staff suggested I return the plastic bag to a manned counter if I do not need it.

I gave up and went to a manned check-out counter instead to make my purchase where the cashier asked in advance before taking out a plastic bag.

I have been to the supermarket at Tanglin Mall which comes under the same parent group as Great World City's supermarket. The self-check-out machine in the former did not have such a requirement.

The design of the self-check-out machine at Great World leaves much to be desired. Making it mandatory to use the plastic bag only increases the consumption of these plastic bags. I think the supermarket can do better by improving the design of the self-check-out process.

Straits Times 5 May 07
Spread the 3R message - reduce, reuse, recycle
Letter form Dr Lee Siew Peng Middlesex, UK

MR CHIA Hern Keng raised a very good question to my letter, 'Live without plastic bags? Here's how it can be done' (ST, April 28) about whether biodegradable bags are any better.

I, too, have my doubts. Older versions of degradable bags require light to degrade. So putting these in landfill is no good. Newer bags made from corn starch are touted as a greener alternative.

Between the devil and the deep blue sea, however, the biodegradable bag is 'better' than the conventional.

But I think it woeful that food that can be grown to feed the starving millions is used instead to feed our insatiable habits for convenience. By the same token, I think it is undesirable that bio-fuels are promoted as the alternative to fossil fuels.

It is not ethical that even more (subsistence farmers on little family plots) will starve as their lands are acquired by big corporations to grow food to turn into fuel. Typically the cash the farmer get runs out quickly, they have nothing to feed themselves, one or more members of the family migrate to the city, often landing up in the sordid criminal margins of society there.

If we are happy that our desired lifestyle has those effects on other parts of humanity, then yes, choose bio-fuel.

The real alternative is 'drive less', or use more public transport, or cycle. Walk.

Using less is the 'reduce' part of the '3R' strategy. I never suggested that 'thick plastic-padded envelopes, empty cereal boxes, plasticised juice cartons, plastic bags that come with loaves of bread, deliveries, junk mail, tissue-paper rolls' were 'free' in any way.

However, if they are already in existence then instead of throwing these away empty into landfill sites it is far better to 'reuse' them a second or even third time.

My point was: There is no need to fret over not having plastic bags for our rubbish as we already have alternatives.

My late mother, like others in her generation who went through the Japanese Occupation and experienced deprivation, taught me how to reuse everything. (Yaat mutt yee yung in Cantonese.) She didn't throw away a single jute string, rubber band, newspaper, plastic bag, et cetera, that came into the flat.

She also taught me how to 'recycle'. We did not use the flush mechanism in our toilet as Mum kept bath water and washing machine water in buckets for flushing the toilet.

Even food was recycled. Leftovers were cooked up again, slightly differently and any real waste was put in a 'swill bin' to be collected by the swill collector.

I grew up rebelling against the clutter she was making in our small flat. Now I realise the wisdom of her ways. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
links

Bring Your Own Bag Day on the NEA website

Are biodegradable bags that much better than normal plastic bags? Letter from Chia Hern Keng Straits Times Forum 2 May 07

Letters to the press about Bring Your Own Bag Day

Related articles on Singapore: plastic bags
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