Belief 1: Singapore is very clean
When I first saw Samantha Thian (founder of Seastainable and lead of Stridy) picking up rubbish in her neighbourhood to promote her app, I was intrigued by the idea but also confused. In Singapore, rubbish bins are everywhere and public areas are scheduled to be cleaned regularly. How much litter could there possibly be?
Well, I was in for a surprise! It was only when I started looking for trash last week did I realise how much of it there was. So far, we’ve found all sorts of trash at void decks, carparks, green spaces, and in water bodies. On this hour-long walk, we collected a total of three plastic bags worth of trash. It was frustrating to think that some people are still choosing to throw their trash on the ground when there are plenty of rubbish bins available. Even if I were to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that the wind blew some rubbish out of bins or rubbish trucks, the evidence seems to suggest otherwise. Why else would there be more than five cat food tins in one spot, and over 20 plastic bags tucked away in a corner? 🤔
Belief 2: Someone else will clean it up
If you’re in Singapore, chances are you would have heard of the notion that we don’t need to pick up litter because “someone else will do it”, typically someone who was paid to do so. I’m one of those who subscribed to this belief for a long time. After all, this litter was also thrown by someone else. Why is it my job to pick it up?
The simple answer is that there is just too much trash around. If the regular cleanings were enough, then our neighbourhoods would be spotless. After this walk, I’ve found that not to be the case. Where I live, the cleaner is an elderly Uncle who seems to be doing this job to pass the time. I admire his dedication but this task is too big for him to tackle alone. 🤗
Belief 3: It doesn’t benefit me
If you still aren’t convinced that you have a part to play, here are some other reasons to reconsider:
- Keep our reservoirs clean– If no one picks up the litter in Singapore, it will likely find its way into our many drains and water bodies. Eventually, this trash could end up in our reservoirs, which are one of our drinking water sources. While the water is cleaned before we drink it, it just doesn’t feel good to know that leaving trash on the ground could contribute to water pollution.
- Deter pests – On our trash walk, we found food items and a half-empty bottle of Coke. These items attract pests such as cockroaches and rats. Other items like pieces of tissue and wet wipes should also be properly discarded as they could carry germs or viruses.
- Enjoy a more beautiful neighbourhood– After Mr Bao and I cleaned up along a shared walking path, those pesky bits of trash that have been there for weeks or months have finally been cleared. They were a sight for sore eyes and now everyone can enjoy the full beauty of our green spaces.
- Do a good deed – It’s an undeniably good thing to to make your living spaces more enjoyable for everyone (Well unless your neighbour is Oscar the grouch). 😝
- Make friends and chat with people – On our walk, an older Auntie came up to us to commend us for helping to clean up the neighourhood. It was fun to chat with her and learn more about her life. I’m more reserved by nature but it just felt good that we were able to open up a conversation about litter in the neighbourhood and the idea of helping to clean up.
- Bond and have fun with friends or family – I think grabbing a friend or family member to pick up trash in your neighbourhood can be kind of fun! Mr Bao and I did this when we were in our two week no exercising period after our Booster shot. This was a fun way to get some light exercise and help the neighbourhood at the same time.
- Do this for free – You actually can. If you have any spare tongs or gloves you don’t need. And spare plastic bags which should be pretty easy to come by.
While I don’t think I’m going to do this all the time, I think it’s something worth doing at least once. It’s good for me to go out and soak in some Vitamin D but I think the biggest barrier is not wanting to draw attention from the public. While some people say you can just shift your mindset and think that doing acts publicly makes it less weird, my solution is to just make someone else look weird with me. 😇
What do you need to get started?
- Tongs/Grabbers – Since most of the trash is on the ground, you’re going to have to bend down quite a lot if you don’t have one of these. Since I didn’t have these at home, I did end up buying them from a neighbourhood shop at the market. The tongs are affordable and I believe they can be recycled at the end of their life since they’re completely made of metal. The trash picker was more expensive and is made up of both plastic and metal parts. I’m not sure whether it can be recycled.
- Kiap kiap: This had good gripping strength and was better when we needed more control. However, it didn’t have a good reach so we found ourselves having to bend over more often.
- Grippy grabber: This one had the opposite problem! It had really good reach which helped us to clear a mountain of plastic bags wedged behind a construction wall. We also didn’t have to bend down so much. But because we weren’t grabbing the trash “directly”, the strength and control of this one was not as good.
- Gloves – We didn’t use gloves but please use these if you’re going to pick up the trash by hand. Some of the trash we found were things like cans, which could be rusty and have sharp edges. Things like wet wipes and tissues could still have germs on them so wear gloves to be on the safe side.
- Bags – We used regular old grocery bags but they were honestly quite small. The size of bag you want to bring depends on how long you plan to collect trash and which area you’re collecting in. Having a larger bag means that you can keep your hands away from the trash for as long as possible. However, a larger bag may get bulky to bring around. If you’re going out in a group, I think it’s easier to have each person hold onto one bag because it’s tiring to keep walking to the person with the trash bag. But try it out and see what works for your trash-picking party! 🥳
😧Trashy things we found on these two trips
- Swim goggles
- Tins and tins of cat food from a well-meaning but littering cat feeder
- Cable ties leftover from celebration light-ups put up by the neighbourhood in-charge
- Plastic sparkling confetti, most of which we couldn’t pick up
- Half drunk bottle of coke
- At least 20 plastic bags wedged at the corner of a construction site
- Cigarette butts abound, often found in clusters
- Cigarette boxes abound
- Several plastic bags used for tapao-ing drinks and their straws
- A cute keychain
- Pellets from what appears to be nerf guns (toy guns)
- A neatly tied up muddy shoelace
- A nose stick
💜 jy
About An Imperfect Green
This is a series in which I document my journey of sustainable living. This can include topics such as buying secondhand, reading books about sustainability, learning more about biodiversity etc. I started this series because I hope to keep a record of my green journey and create a resource that others may find useful.