ST Forum
April 25, 2007
Some suggestions on how we can achieve a plastic bag-free society
WE HAVE been talking about using fewer plastic bags to help save the environment for sometime now and we have finally put words into action by declaring every first Wednesday of the month as Bring Your Own Bag day.
In addition, some participating stores are also starting to charge the customers 10 cents per plastic bag. A good start but not enough if you are hoping that it will be a stunning success eventually.
In fact, I find this half-hearted effort is doomed to fail in the long run - the reason being that it is too much a hassle for affluent Singaporeans to remember to bring their reusable bags on every first Wednesday of the month in order to save a few cents.
I have some suggestions.
>>Instead of charging 10 cents, why not charge the customer $1 for the reusable bag which can be refunded if he returns it on his next shopping trip.
>>If he forgets, charge him another $1 for another reusable bag. He can also accumulate up to five bags and use them in exchange for goods bought.
>>It is more palatable for customers to pay if they know that no extra charge will be incurred at the end of the day as long as they cooperate and make the system work. The customers must also be told that the bags must be returned in good condition for reuse.
>>We can start off this scheme by getting all the major supermarkets to come together to agree that they charge the same price for each reusable bag and that they can be returned for a refund at all participating outlets.
If we can produce Newater, I have no doubt we can be equally successful in making Singapore a plastic bag-free society and in our own small way help to save the environment.
John Voon Zoon Choong
The talk of the town in Singapore is going plactic bags free.
We see several ass kisser supporting this move to “save the Earth”
Let me paint you a scenario, Mrs Tua JuaLong, stays somewhere in Tampines and she use to take a bus to IKEA Tampine to make her purchase. However after IKEA start to charge $0.10 for each plastic bag, Mrs Tua decided it will not be economical if she keep being charge is she need to purchase several item. So she decided to DRIVE to IKEA instead, this way she can go completely plastic-bags-less as she only need to put the IKEA cart to the car park, dump everything into her car boot and drive home.
Plastic Bag 1
Emission 0
Now how environment friendly is that?
What I am saying is that there are much much more needed to be done to really make Singapore an environment friendly country. We should be work more on education and have a efficient re-cycling system.
I am using plastic bags to line my dustbin and in a way I am re-cycling them.
If there are no free plastic bags available in the future. I still need to BUY MORE PLACTIC BAGS to line my dustbin if the waste disposal method remains the same.
Why is this harping on charging customer plastic bags? This is not tackling the root cause of the problem but only a quick way of making “grocery” plastic bags consumption go down. But soon we will see sales of dustbin plastic bags going up….
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Greed?
Too much had been written on the nets on the recent Ministers Pay Hike.So I will not write on what all Singaporean should already know about their government that they voted for.
After all these sagas over the years, I am wondering what are the benefits of being a Singaporean after all? And what the government is doing for the “Stayers”?
When I look back the years, I see fares of public transport going up countless time, GST went up from 0% to 7%, medical cost going up, people being retrenched and got a pay cut during SARS and 911, people found new ways of killing themselves with the MRT, gross management of charities (NKF, Youth Challenge), plan to increase our population to 6millions with Foreign Talents, cost of basic food stuff are going up……………..
This makes me think more seriously on migrating… I may be a second-class citizen in another country but I may be better of being a “1st class” citizen in Singapore.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was watching this charity drive on TV. They got several patients to relates on national TV how poor they are and how they need the help from the man on the street with donations. Yesterday, just saw the first wave of the gross increment for our government. How ironic…
“The world has enough for us, but not our greed”
After all these sagas over the years, I am wondering what are the benefits of being a Singaporean after all? And what the government is doing for the “Stayers”?
When I look back the years, I see fares of public transport going up countless time, GST went up from 0% to 7%, medical cost going up, people being retrenched and got a pay cut during SARS and 911, people found new ways of killing themselves with the MRT, gross management of charities (NKF, Youth Challenge), plan to increase our population to 6millions with Foreign Talents, cost of basic food stuff are going up……………..
This makes me think more seriously on migrating… I may be a second-class citizen in another country but I may be better of being a “1st class” citizen in Singapore.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was watching this charity drive on TV. They got several patients to relates on national TV how poor they are and how they need the help from the man on the street with donations. Yesterday, just saw the first wave of the gross increment for our government. How ironic…
“The world has enough for us, but not our greed”
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Flag Days
April 3, 2007
Many turn blind eye to Flag Day collection
MARCH 31 was 'Flag Day' - a day for all St John cadets, island-wide, to go around collecting donations.
My squad mates and I set off for various places with positive attitudes, hoping to collect donations, only to face disappointment and frustration.
My senior and I were positioned outside Queensway shopping mall. The human traffic there was fantastic. But whenever I approached any of them, they shunned me and quickened their pace in a bid to avoid me.
Out of 20 people, one came forward. There were some people who turned the other way when I was walking towards them. This left me shocked and appalled.
Would it do any harm to come forward to make a donation, regardless of the amount?
There were even passers-by commenting that we may be the second NKF, and our motive was to con them. I was utterly wordless upon hearing this.
I hope people will take on a more positive mindset when donating and let bygones just be bygones.
Lim Jia Yan Jasmine (Miss)
I got to admit I have stopped donating on flag days.
One reason is that I find the government is not doing enough to help charity organisations. Instead they are giving themselves a fat paycheck.
Also there are too many flag days in Singapore. We used to seem them on Saturdays only but now sometime weekdays are swamped with flag days.
I also wonder how many of these charities are properly managed.
I can suggest a good solution. Get the cabinet to donate 10% of their monthly salaries to a pool. Member of the public can also donate as well.
Then which ever organisation need to raise fund, they can write a proposal or report to the group managing the pool of money. The goup will then decide how much to give to this applicant.
Why should the poor man on the street give when the rich man in the room don’t?
I think we should think about this before complaining on the poor response on flag days.
Many turn blind eye to Flag Day collection
MARCH 31 was 'Flag Day' - a day for all St John cadets, island-wide, to go around collecting donations.
My squad mates and I set off for various places with positive attitudes, hoping to collect donations, only to face disappointment and frustration.
My senior and I were positioned outside Queensway shopping mall. The human traffic there was fantastic. But whenever I approached any of them, they shunned me and quickened their pace in a bid to avoid me.
Out of 20 people, one came forward. There were some people who turned the other way when I was walking towards them. This left me shocked and appalled.
Would it do any harm to come forward to make a donation, regardless of the amount?
There were even passers-by commenting that we may be the second NKF, and our motive was to con them. I was utterly wordless upon hearing this.
I hope people will take on a more positive mindset when donating and let bygones just be bygones.
Lim Jia Yan Jasmine (Miss)
I got to admit I have stopped donating on flag days.
One reason is that I find the government is not doing enough to help charity organisations. Instead they are giving themselves a fat paycheck.
Also there are too many flag days in Singapore. We used to seem them on Saturdays only but now sometime weekdays are swamped with flag days.
I also wonder how many of these charities are properly managed.
I can suggest a good solution. Get the cabinet to donate 10% of their monthly salaries to a pool. Member of the public can also donate as well.
Then which ever organisation need to raise fund, they can write a proposal or report to the group managing the pool of money. The goup will then decide how much to give to this applicant.
Why should the poor man on the street give when the rich man in the room don’t?
I think we should think about this before complaining on the poor response on flag days.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Why not to have a Nokia
Was at Wheelock place on Saturday afternoon. (One of my rare weekend in Orchard road, can’t stand the crowd.) And walk passed Nokia Service Center.
The place was really packed!
I concluded that either there are many Nokia Phone user in Singapore or the phone are not reliable.
Look around… how many of your friends are still using Nokia HP?
The place was really packed!
I concluded that either there are many Nokia Phone user in Singapore or the phone are not reliable.
Look around… how many of your friends are still using Nokia HP?
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