A Part We Can Play!

This week, I came across an article of a speech given by Ms Grace Fu, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, during the Singapore Green Hotel Award ceremony held on 27 August 2015 (Ministry of Environment and Water Resource, 2015). In her speech, she discussed the importance of creating a sustainable and liveable environment in Singapore. She also mentioned the practices that hotel managements have adopted to become more eco-friendly. This rings a bell in my mind that we have stayed in hotels before and we could have done our part as well.

Hotels provide many items which are disposable, like toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, shaver, shower cap, body soap and shampoo. We as guest of the hotels can reuse some, or in fact all, of these items. We do not need these items to be replaced every single day. For example, back at home, we use our personal toothbrush for 6 months before changing it and we don’t throw our combs away after use. [Change only when required]

The unnecessary disposal of such items can create a large amount of waste. If a hotel had 200 occupants who stayed for 3 days and had these items replaced each day, at the end of the 3^rd day, a total of 600 sets of these items were disposed. The usage could be reduced significantly by 400 sets if each guest were to play their part in reusing these items. Furthermore, the lifespan of these disposable items are usually beyond the accommodation period and guests should bring them home rather than leaving it behind to be treated as trash.

(Of course do ensure these are reusable complimentary amenities and also take note that some items are “pay when used!)

This reminded us that we can play a part in reducing wastage through the little actions that we can contribute.

Reference

Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (2015). MEWR, News. [Online] Available at: http://www.mewr.gov.sg/news/speech-by-ms-grace-fu--second-minister-for-the-environment-and-water-resources--at-the-singapore-green-hotel-award-presentation-ceremony-on-27-august-2015--230pm-at-parkroyal-on-pickering--william-pickering-ballroom--level-2. [Accessed 29 August 2015].