222 words
7 April 2008
Straits Times English
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

IT IS heartening to know Singaporeans are increasingly aware of events like Earth Day and Earth Hour, but much can still be done to educate the public and businesses about the dangers of environment-unfriendly and wasteful practices.

In particular, I was horrified by the excessive use of plastic bags by some bakeries. They adopt the atrocious practice of one plastic bag per pastry. So if one buys 10 pastries, they will use 11 plastic bags, one for each pastry and a bigger one for all of them. Imagine the number of plastic bags used every minute and every hour. Imagine the number used in a week. It could well run into thousands, especially if some of the big boys in the industry adopting such bad practices.

If cafes can use paper bags and paper boxs for takeaway orders, why can't bakeries do likewise? Financial considerations may not be the issue here, as some have expanded their operations overseas, thus taking this horrendous practice overseas as well.

I hope something will be done about this soon. A pastry lover myself, I now shudder when I pass bakeries with such unacceptable practice. I have decided not to support them, no matter how tempting their pastries are.

Heidi Lee-Leong (Mrs)

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