Students give out free reusable cutlery to reduce plastic waste

15 Oct 2018

By Michelle Racho and Jeanne Mah

A student-led campaign is hoping to reduce disposable plastic use in NTU by giving away 1,000 free reusable cutlery sets on 19 Oct.

The initiative, called Ciao Cutlery, Bye!, is organised by five third-year students from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. It aims to reduce waste generated by single-use plastic cutlery.

“Cutting down on plastics is the most accessible way for people to be more eco-friendly, especially since it is not that drastic a change in lifestyle or culture,” said Vanessa Tan, 22, the team’s leader.

NTU students, faculty members and staff can redeem a set of cutlery after filing in a survey. The set includes a spoon, fork and a set of chopsticks made from biodegradable wheat straw and starch.

The team, who is funded by the NTU CoLab4Good Fund for Community Projects and supported by the National Environment Agency, will also put up posters at food outlets and canteens on campus to encourage the use of reusable cutlery when taking away food.

The cutlery giveaway will take place between 10am to 4pm on 19 Oct at North Spine Plaza, as part of an event organised by the oneNTU initiative, ECHO.

The idea of implementing social change first came to Tan and fellow team member, Jade Wong, 21, during a public service campaign module they took while on their exchange programme in Philadelphia, in the US.

Despite initially wanting to create a campaign to improve the recycling culture in Singapore, they eventually decided that they wanted a change that was “quicker and more effective”.

“Reducing the use of disposable cutlery in NTU is a small step towards making an environmental impact,” said Tan.

In a survey conducted by the team among 164 students, more than 60 per cent of respondents said they were open to using reusable cutlery in school.

One such student is Farhanah Iqubal, 22, a final-year student from the School of Biological Sciences. He said: “I will make a conscious effort to use the cutlery set whenever I take away my food because it means there will be less trash in the landfill.”

However, there are others who are less receptive to the idea.

“If I use reusable cutlery, I will have to wash it and find ways to store it so it remains clean,” said final-year School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences student Cheong Hui Shi.

The 23-year-old added: “Disposable ones are less troublesome because you can just throw them away after using them.”

Melissa Choong, a second-year student from the Nanyang Business School, also found the use of reusable cutlery troublesome.

“I don’t think it is realistic to bring along my lunchbox or a reusable cutlery set every time I go out,” said the 20-year-old.

Instead, Choong makes an effort to limit her use of disposables by only taking what she needs.

“I do not use plastic bags to store my food as well,” she added.

Future plans

Moving forward, the team hopes to push for a weekly ban on disposable cutlery across NTU.

But Tan hopes that this “forceful move” will not be needed.

“Most people are aware of the environmental issues we are facing. We know we have to do something, that we can do something, and that it’s about time we do something,” Tan said. “We just need to find it in ourselves to take action.”

After the University’s recent push toward reusable metal straws, Tan hopes the campaign will spark a similar movement of bringing one’s own cutlery to school.

Tan acknowledged that producing and packaging reusable cutlery has an environmental impact as well, but said this cutlery is needed to kickstart the movement.

She hopes that the campaign will result in long-term behavioural changes.

“If people bring their own cutlery from home, such distribution won’t be needed in the future,” she said.