Singapore Tops the list of Waste Produced per Capita in the World Hi my name is Rob, a Singaporean who lived most of my life in Singapore and grew up in the 80’s/90’s when recycling activities in school was more of a once-a-year (or twice) extra curricular activity (ECA). If I remember correctly when I was in secondary school, I would take part in our annual school recycling activity on a weekend but the irony is that after that, I would go buy my iced-milo (beverage) in a takeaway plastic cup to quench my thirst. I probably should have stayed home that day which would have been more effective. Anyway, over the years, like many of us in Singapore, I realized that many of our actions (both as a human being & as a society) tend to harm the environment and thus creating issues pertaining to climate change, pollution, & etc. Just look at the way we have been using one-time plastic to bag our groceries at supermarkets and styrofoam takeaways at eateries. We have been using them since I was a kid more than 30+ years ago (1980’s) & we are still doing that in 2020 & even more so during the Corvid-19 situation. Initially, I thought our situation in Singapore towards waste management or one-time plastic & styrofoam was not that bad and hence didn’t pay much attention to it even though there were petitions to ban them in the past but somehow didn’t get thru. However, on 11 June, I saw a Bloomberg report, & was shocked/sad/pissed to learn that we (Singapore) are the worst waste producer per capita in the world and we produce 1,400kg of waste per capita. How did we become the No 1 waste producer per capita in the world? And what does 1,400kg of waste mean, what does it look like? I did a simple calculation and here’s what it means: With 1,400kg of waste per capita, it means everyone in Singapore will generate about 1 medium-sized saloon car (made of waste) every year. Assuming the average lifespan of us is about 70 years*, each of us will then generate about 70 medium-sized saloon cars (made of waste) in our lifetime (this is just based on a simple straight line projection, which of course the number will differ in different age group. I am not a statistician or analyst by training so I am just using simple maths projections here). And if we multiply that by Singapore’s population of about 5.5M*, we would roughly produce about 385 million medium-sized saloon cars made of waste. Can you imagine 385 million cars (made of waste) in Singapore? Note: we have about 1M cars on the road in Singapore so multiply that by 385 times. Where would we find the space to store/dump this 385 million medium-sized saloon cars? And this number will continue to grow if we don’t take steps to reduce it.

Next, when I posted the Bloomberg graphic on my social media, a friend remarked that HK has already stopped the use of plastic bags in supermarket many years ago and Singapore is still lagging behind. This comment literally put the final nail in the coffin for me. We are years behind in banning one-time plastic in supermarkets. Some even may say that we are prehistoric in this action plan & I certainly hope we don’t become the last country in the world to ban single-use plastic and styrofoam. As such, I would like to ask you to help sign and share this petition requesting the government of Singapore to consider banning the use of single-use plastic and styrofoam at least in supermarket and eateries to start with.
By now, I think many of us know that it is possible to replace the use of one-time plastic and styrofoam with our reusable bags and containers when we shop or do takeaways. And next, I also know that the authorities have also commented before that the plastic bags are necessary for us to use to dispose of waste as most of us stay in HDB/condos. However I think that can be overcome with alternative waste management systems and processes which might affect the way we handle our waste materials. Just take look at some of our neighbors and you will find that there are already solutions and already in place.
Next, this Corvid-19 situation would also be the best time to do this coz many of us are doing more takeaways and grocery shopping than before and hence our one-time plastic use and styrofoam would naturally increase As well. So since we already changing the way we work and live, let’s add one more item and change the way we handle the use of single use plastic and styrofoam right now. 
Last but not least, I also strongly believe that if we manage to convince our Singapore government to do this and if our government wants to do this, they will make it work and not only that they make our system even better. Who knows? We might come out as a model for others to follow (yes I know, one thing at a time)...
So once again, I hope you can sign and share this Petition to ban single-use plastics and styrofoam in supermarkets and eateries in Singapore. I know I may not succeed this time, but this is part of the process and I hope one day (hopefully sooner than later), we can get this across the line and no longer have Singapore listed as the number 1 country on this chart.

*Note the figures here are at best estimates taken from internet sources but the point is more on the amount of waste Singapore residents would generate.