Takeaways from Takeaway Packaging

"Sometimes life gives us lessons sent in ridiculous packaging"

Dar Williams

As I explored on food waste last week, it only seems appropriate to discuss about the packaging coming from our food products as well. 

For food safety and quality, we observe food being packaged by airtight wrappers, perhaps to a point of excess. A few months back, a German supermarket has begun embracing the idea of zero packaging, doing away with all the packaging from their products and asking patrons to bring their own containers to hold their purchases instead. While I find the concept novel, it will likely be a while before mainstream supermarket chains like Fariprice and Giant will contemplate such a concept, and in my opinion, doing this will probably be met with much resistance by Singaporeans, who may associate a lack of food packaging with unhygienic products.

Beyond the packaging of food products itself, the bigger issue I wish to blog on would concern the amount of packaging we use for takeaway food. The number of people I observe who practise takeaway in school alone since the start of semester has been staggering. Seeing many carry their food in disposable containers issued by food stores, NUS has estimated that this has resulted in the use of some 54,000 plastic bags and containers from canteens every month (NUS, 2010).

While this takeaway culture could stem from Singapore’s cheap food as compared to cooking for yourself, what disturbs me is that takeaway, or ‘dabao’, is emerging to become a social norm, possibly even a way to accommodate a fast-paced working life. While Singaporeans love their food, what has happened with eating directly at these areas, to enjoy the surroundings whilst chowing on your favourite food?

I acknowledge that it may always be more convenient to eat in the comfort of your home, but these acts of convenience has also led to unnecessary amounts of disposables being used to store food and subsequently thrown away. Excessive packaging like this can cause for more space in Semakau Landfill to be filled up more quickly, such that the lifespan of Singapore’s only landfill will decrease. What’s worse is that food packaging will not be accepted by recycling facilities for recycling (NEA, 2011), resulting in a one-way ticket for all of these containers to the incineration plant and subsequently the landfill. 

Semakau Landfill (above) already receives about 200,000 tonnes / year of incinerated waste, and has a lifespan reaching up to 2035. Do we really want to send more than what is necessary?

However, this is not an irreversible problem, for there are Singaporean companies that seek to minimize food packaging by coming up with innovative packaging materials and design. One notable example would be Geometria, which believes in an Earth-to-Earth concept, ensuring their packaging is of biodegradable material and decomposes together with any food waste. 

While innovations like this biodegradable ‘food-carrying pyramid’ seems like a panacea to takeaway waste, F&B outlets might perceive these options as overly costly, especially when conventional packaging comes at a fraction of the price.
(Source: www.geometria.sg) 

There have also been different non-governmental efforts highlighting the problem. In 2013, a youth, Ms Tamsin Chen, formed her team of like-minded individuals and launched Operation Zero Waste Dabao, a 2-week advocacy campaign to encourage the working community to curb food packaging. However, given the short-term duration of the campaign, what I fear is that this campaign was not able to reach out to enough people, and may have been seen mostly as a one-off fad which people quickly forget.

Despite Zero Waste Dabao Singapore’s showing great success in managing to save on >40,000 disposable containers and plastic cutlery over 2 weeks, the question lies in its long-term impacts, on whether this has translated to working Singaporeans changing their mindset on disposables   
(Source: http://operationdabao.wordpress.com/) 

I believe that if we wish to curb the problem, we must be firstly have the willingness to change our personal habits, even if at expense of convenience. With reference to the takeaway culture in NUS, one habit that students can practice would be to reduce packaging would be to bring a container wherever they go. In NUS, this is encouraged by rewarding people who use re-usable food containers with stickers, which can be accumulated to get you a cheaper meal..

Bring a container, get a sticker.
Get 5 stickers, save on your next meal – it’s as simple as that!

Initially motivated by the challenge in finding a seat in crowded canteens, I decided to get a reward card and bring my container around campus, and over the weeks have managed to earn myself a few good cheap meals whilst doing my part for the environment. Despite being new to the idea of carrying a container, I find myself liking the concept very much and hope the trend catches on with other NUS students, who must be convinced that carrying an extra container in their bag is not as inconvenient as they see it to be. I can also see this idea being carried forward for the working community. In essence, takeaway if you must, but there are always environmentally friendly methods to do it.

Now some have contested that washing your personal containers after eating would waste more water, or that doing so conserves negligible amounts of resources (Marsh and Bugusu, 2007). Yet, imagine the ripple effect this can have if thousands of Singaporeans do this at least once a day, lowering our packaging waste and indicating to markets that we do not actually need so much takeaway packaging. Moreover, even if what naysayers say is actually true, why not adopt another alternatives to lower food packaging? We could always eat at the place itself, or even cook your own meal every once in a while, and these ways would equally reduce the packaging waste produced.

While the food fills your tummy, let’s not forget the waste from our food, be it food itself or the packaging in which it comes from, should be kept to a minimum, such that the landfills will never be too full of thrash.

Till the next post!

References
Marsh, K. and Bugusu, B. (2007). Food Packaging and Its Environmental Impact. IFT Science Reports - Food Technology, [online] (04.07). Available at: http://www.ift.org/knowledge-center/read-ift-publications/science-reports/scientific-status-summaries/editorial/food-packaging-and-its-environmental-impact.aspx [Accessed 19 Oct. 2014].

NEA, (2011). A Guide to 3R Practices for Households. Singapore.

NUS, (2010). [online] Available at: http://www.nus.edu.sg/oes/prog/do/greenalert/jan1910_green_initiatives.html [Accessed 19 Oct. 2014].