Bags of Fun! Eco Practices East and West

OK, possibly not all that much fun... 

I've been in Malaysia recently, and noted with some pleasedness that plastic bags were in short supply. Now, some supermarkets make you pay if you want a plastic bag; and most other outlets will ask you ambiguously 'Plastic?' when you purchase an item. ('Plastic?' being typical SE Asian economy-English for 'Would you like a plastic bag for that?') The cutback is apparently a new national directive. And most of the time we indeed do not require 'plastic'. 

The UK and other countries in Europe have had more stringent practices for some years. Plastic bags - most of which are non-bio-degradable, but also bio-degradable ones - cause big problems worldwide. Improperly disposed-of, they clog drainage (I recently worked with a project in the Philippines, where this was the issue and put communities at huge risk during flood times) and have all sorts of detrimental effects on wildlife on land and in the ocean. Even when they're thrown away properly they bung up landfill, and the eventual breakdown releases polluting chemicals into the soil. In fact, even their ingredients and manufacture degrade the environment, and emit polluting chemicals. Bio-degradable bags are not much better. They still require manufacture - with sometimes even more toxic ingredients - and 'bio-degrading' can just mean they release their  pollutants faster. Some conditions and climates mean they won't break down at all. 'Bio-degradable', it seems, does not mean the same as 'eco-friendly'.
 
Of course, for consumer convenience, no bags can be pain in the arse. In the UK, you usually cannot answer 'yes' and get a plastic bag - you have to pay. Large chain supermarkets will charge you 5p (or 5 cents or equivalent) for each plastic bag if you have forgotten to keep a recyclable alternative in your own handbag. The big brand chains probably profit from this; the whole deal is certainly a better bet for them financially, regardless of whether they care for the environment or not (and I would hazard a guess that 'not' applies in many cases, though they might try to greenwash it!) But the cash savings are an incentive to make them comply. Some studies have also shown that if certain areas have bag bans, consumers are more likely to shop just outside that area, for their own convenience (though admittedly the source for one study was Plastics Today ^^). So, the directives have to be blanket, and nationwide. 

I am not a particular eco-warrior. I just grew up in a region where eco has been a big, legislated, educationally-supported, deal for some decades. I got used to carrying my backpack, or an extra tote, around in London. It wasn't 100% convenient, but everyone had to do it, so fair enough. (We pack our own groceries in UK supermarkets, btw - in Asia, cashiers often do it for you.) 

Having been in Asia for a while and learned a little more, I feel a bit more strongly. I am a keen SCUBA diver - which is something I highly recommend, especially in SE Asia, a world hotspot for fantastic marine life. But it's depressing to see bags (and plastic bottles) littering the shores. Or plastic wrapped around remote corals and other suffering marine life. Some are also mistaken for jellyfish and eaten, leading to death for the unsuspecting creature. These are improperly disposed-of bags, of course. And the entire bag-pollution problem is a complex mix of social, educational, economic and political factors which I'm not qualified to outline. But if there are a lot less bags circulating, one can only hope there is a lot less to 'mis-dispose' of too.

Meanwhile...
Next door to newly bag-free Malaysia, affluent Singapore is a very different story. I was shocked when I first moved there and discovered that you get plastic bags with everything - sometimes a double layer! - and in supermarkets, nearly every item will be bagged separately. For a modest six-item shop, for example, you could easily carry four separate plastic bags home. I spent months annoying queuing shoppers and cashiers alike, by trying to insist on one bag only. (I've since discovered that SE Asian economy-English 'No need!' is required for this too. A polite English 'It's OK, I really only need one bag for the groceries!' gets you nowhere! But it's still often an unpopular request.)

More perplexing still, most supermarket bags in Singapore are printed with something like 'Let's protect our environment!' or 'Use bags sparingly'. When the supermarkets practice the exact opposite! A trip to Fairprice or Cold Storage can start to resemble an ironic performance art piece.

So what's going on there? In general, wealthy Singapore tends to be a few steps head of its poorer neighbours, and things are also usually fairly smartly organised. (In fact, on balance, I'd often say better organised than in the UK). But I've not noticed much genuine eco-awareness there yet. There's a bit of 'lifestyle' eco-awareness - ie it's fashionable in some circles to be seen as modern and eco-aware; and corporates do clumsy 'bolt-on' CSR projects to pick up litter etc. But whether this translates into daily eco-aware routine and action, I'm not sure. Recycling at household level seems to be a fairly superficial process, and it's not widely done. I also remember being told off at my office several times, for not reboiling a full kettle each time I made coffee. Because somebody might want to reheat it and make a drink later in the day. This is considerate to potential coffee drinkers, but I'd been taught since teen years in the UK, that you should only boil as much as you need. To avoid waste (of fuel/energy). And be more environmentally positive. In Europe, boiling a full kettle for no direct purpose is viewed as hugely irresponsible!

In fact, Singapore is currently listed at 14 in the global Environmental Performance Index. It is the only Asian nation in the top 30! (Japan comes in next, at 39. Malaysia is no. 63)(And yes, the top 10 are all in Europe!) So something must be being done right at Singapore's higher levels. But day-to-day eco awareness, and certainly the misuse of plastic bags, seems to require some work. 


You can check out the 2016 EPI rankings and report here: http://epi.yale.edu/country-rankings


*FYI for English-learners, 'pleasedness' is not an official word. It is 'poetic license' as neither 'satisfaction' nor 'pleasure' had quite the correct meaning!