<story><title>The cost of keeping Singapore squeaky clean</title><url>http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20181025-the-cost-of-keeping-singapore-squeaky-clean</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Sureai</author><text>I am right now in Singapore for a visit and personally I don&amp;#x27;t have the feeling of a very clean city. There are some things that drive me crazy as a european. I went to a hawker with some Singaporeans and we got new disposable chopsticks for every dish. Wich means I ended up with three pairs of chopsticks. All plates were disposable. Either of plastic or styrofoam. Like in the article we didn&amp;#x27;t clean our trays, a cleaner took them the second we finished eating. I asked the Singaporeans how they feel about all the plastic and they just replied that&amp;#x27;s just how it is. Especially, that you get a plastic bag for every two items in the supermarket drives me nuts. Even when I am holding a backpack directly in front of the cashier he starts packing the items faster in a plastic bag than I can say anything. They even have watered sponges for their finger tips so they can be quicker with the plastic bags.&lt;p&gt;Needless to say, that all the trash ends up somewhere. Maybe not so much in percentage, but you will definitely find litter every few meters. The difference to my hometown in Germany is, that the litter there stays for years but also not so much new litter per day is produced. Maybe the Singaporeans should place more public trash bins or get some moop bags.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mediumdeviation</author><text>Regarding disposable plates and utensils, I actually don&amp;#x27;t see much of them unless you ask for takeout. I suspect in the area you&amp;#x27;re in the cost of dish washing is more expensive than the cost of plates and refuse collection. A tax on disposables would be great.&lt;p&gt;Singapore is actually getting better on reducing disposables, though slower than I would like. Cashiers don&amp;#x27;t double bag items anymore, and try to pack as much into one as possible. Paper takeout boxes and bags have replaced styrofoam and plastic in many places, and it&amp;#x27;s currently trendy to not offer plastic straws for drinks.&lt;p&gt;Another reason for disposable chopsticks, (though this applies more in China, Taiwan and Malaysia) is that the customers may not trust the hygiene of the place they&amp;#x27;re eating in. Disposable chopsticks are cut with the centers intact so it&amp;#x27;s impossible to put them back together and resell them.</text></comment>
<story><title>The cost of keeping Singapore squeaky clean</title><url>http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20181025-the-cost-of-keeping-singapore-squeaky-clean</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Sureai</author><text>I am right now in Singapore for a visit and personally I don&amp;#x27;t have the feeling of a very clean city. There are some things that drive me crazy as a european. I went to a hawker with some Singaporeans and we got new disposable chopsticks for every dish. Wich means I ended up with three pairs of chopsticks. All plates were disposable. Either of plastic or styrofoam. Like in the article we didn&amp;#x27;t clean our trays, a cleaner took them the second we finished eating. I asked the Singaporeans how they feel about all the plastic and they just replied that&amp;#x27;s just how it is. Especially, that you get a plastic bag for every two items in the supermarket drives me nuts. Even when I am holding a backpack directly in front of the cashier he starts packing the items faster in a plastic bag than I can say anything. They even have watered sponges for their finger tips so they can be quicker with the plastic bags.&lt;p&gt;Needless to say, that all the trash ends up somewhere. Maybe not so much in percentage, but you will definitely find litter every few meters. The difference to my hometown in Germany is, that the litter there stays for years but also not so much new litter per day is produced. Maybe the Singaporeans should place more public trash bins or get some moop bags.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kirvyteo</author><text>It is definitely a &amp;quot;cleaned&amp;quot; city. The level of cleanliness has gone now and litter has increased. Public awareness of this has gone down. If you know Singapore, there has always been a history of govt-led campaigns.&lt;p&gt;15 years ago, it wasn&amp;#x27;t like that. People bring their own tupperware to do take aways. All the cutlery were washed and cleaned. This meant more time and energy from the hawkers. In the name of efficiency, low cost, disposable plastic&amp;#x2F;styrofoam&amp;#x2F;chopsticks is a convenient solution, unfortunately.</text></comment>