Louis asked the Minister for Defence (a) what measures are being taken to reduce single-use plastics in National Day Parade (NDP) 2019; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider providing only reusable items with minimal packaging in the NDP 2019 fun pack.

Dr Ng Eng Hen (MINDEF): Since 2002, the NDP Executive Committee (EXCO) has worked closely with the National Environment Agency (NEA) to organise a clean and sustainable NDP. In doing so, the EXCO takes into account the varying needs of attendees and participants, including the young and elderly as well as the need for prudent spending. The general direction is to use reusables, when available and cost-effective. For next year’s NDP, paper instead of plastic Bento boxes will be used to cater meals for our NDP participants and each fun pack will contain one larger bottled water, instead of the usual two.

While it is not feasible to have only reusable items with minimal packaging for the fun pack, NDP EXCO will work with NEA to establish collection points to encourage NDP spectators to return unused items, especially Ponchos (for wet weather) from the fun pack.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis launched the Zero Waste Masterplan his Nee Soon East constituency focus on several areas including plastic and single-use items, paper, carbon emissions, e-waste and food waste. Efforts in Nee Soon East include:

• Eliminating the use of straws, plastic bottles, plates, utensils and cups from meetings and events.

• Banners used in the district to not be simply thrown away, but to be "up-cycled" or reused to make other objects.

• Cutting down on paper waste, the printing of documents for meetings at the town council will be halted.

• Energy-saving LED light fixtures, motion sensors and air-conditioning temperature control will be used to reduce carbon emissions in the area.

• Plans to purchase electricity only from a retailer that uses renewable energy from the fourth quarter of 2020.

• Telegram chat group for residents to share leftover food.

• Sending leftover food at Nee Soon East events to food digesters for composting.

• Collaborating with non-profit organisation SG Food Rescue to distribute unsold fruit and vegetables to residents.

• Working with businesses in Nee Soon East to eliminate disposables from their day-to-day operations.

Louis delivered the following budget cuts at Committee of Supply 2019.

Details of the Zero Waste Masterplan

Louis: Sir, the Zero Waste Masterplan will be a huge step forward in the environmental protection movement in Singapore. It signals the Government’s strong commitment towards protecting our environment and ensuring that we have sustainable practices.

I hope that the main emphasis of the Masterplan is on reducing our consumption rather than on recycling what we have used.

We need to focus on the root of the problem and address our throw away culture. If we do not reduce our consumption and instead focus mainly on recycling, our efforts will be futile.

Equally important is public ownership of the Masterplan. People need to have a stake in it and we can achieve this by ensuring that people’s views and ideas – from green groups as well as the general public – are heard. 

Can the Minister share if the Masterplan is already completed? If not, will there be plans to consult the public, and when will they take place?

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan (The Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources): First, I urge everyone to participate in the public consultations for the Zero Waste Masterplan which Mr Ng and Miss Cheng asked about. Waste and resource management are issues which will impact everyone, and your views matter. We have just launched our online consultations on the Masterplan. We will jointly organise focus group discussions in April with Zero Waste SG and LepakInSG. These will form the final phase of our ongoing consultations on the Masterplan.

Reducing Disposables at Hawker Centres

Louis: One of the places where a lot of disposables are used is at our hawker centres. A lot of people takeaway their food and disposables are used since it is still rare that people bring their own containers.

We need to tackle this issue but what we should tackle first is the use of disposables for dining in. For new hawker centres, we have already disallowed the use of disposables for dining in. This has clearly resulted in a significant drop in the amount of waste generated.

Since 2019 has been designated as the year towards Zero Waste in Singapore, will Minister consider extending the ban on the use of disposables for dining in to all hawker centres? If not, will MEWR consider providing incentives or subsidies for hawkers who choose not to use disposables for dining ins? 

I do understand that disposables are used, as it is more convenient and maybe cheaper. As such, providing such incentives might encourage hawkers to make this change. 

Dr Amy Khor: Mr Ng asked about the use of disposables for dining-in at hawker centres, which is already disallowed in new hawker centres. Since September last year, disposables are also no longer permitted for dine-in when new cooked food stallholders operate at existing NEA-managed centres, that means for new stallholders, for new tenancies. NEA will continue to work with existing stallholders to not use disposables for dine-in.

Louis: The second clarification is on whether we can provide incentives or subsidies to the hawkers so that they will not use disposables for dine-ins. I know we are not using it in our new hawker centres and new stalls in old hawkers, but can we just move it to all hawker centres and maybe provide some incentives to nudge the behavioural change?

Dr Amy Khor: With regard to the question about incentivising hawkers to use disposables, we do not have any intention to do that at this present moment, but what we have done is to look at encouraging the existing hawkers to not use disposables for dine-ins.

In the case of hawker centres that are already on our Productive Hawker Centres programme – which means they use centralised dishwashing and tray return – they already will not be allowed to use disposables for dine-in. What we are hoping to do now is to work with the Hawkers Association and with the ground to encourage the hawkers to try and get them onto the Productivity Hawker Centre programme. In fact, earlier I just announced that we will be extending the subsidies for adopting CDW in the existing hawker centres by another two years, 50% and 30%. That really is to encourage more to come on-board. Those that come on-board will then not use disposables for dine-in. So, we are looking at how we can encourage more to come on-board.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Defence for the National Day Parade 2019 funpack (a) whether a reusable water bottle can be provided instead of a single-use plastic bottle; (b) whether alternatives to the plastic bag provided have been considered; and (c) whether the unused poncho collection points can be used to collect other unused funpack items or unwanted funpack bags.

Dr Ng Eng Hen (MINDEF):  In planning for each NDP, the Executive Committee (Exco) strikes a balance between sustainability goals and the comfort and well-being of Singaporeans who participate and watch the event. The Exco works with the National Environment Agency (NEA) to promote more sustainable practices for each National Day Parade.

Drinking water in reusable bottles was considered but not implemented as there were a lack of suppliers which can do so at an affordable cost. Instead, to reduce the use of single-use plastics, the Funpack will have a larger 750ml water bottle instead of the two bottles provided in previous NDPs.

To support the Keep Singapore Clean Movement, a plastic bag is included in each Funpack to facilitate the bagging and hygienic disposal of waste. Volunteers will also be at collection points to encourage spectators to leave behind unused ponchos, LED wristbands or the Funpack itself, as well as for them to deposit recyclables such as the 750ml water bottle.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis asked the Minister for Defence whether the application form used by members of the public to apply for National Day Parade (NDP) 2020 tickets can include a question for the applicant to indicate whether they want (i) a single-use plastic bottle (ii) a reusable bottle (iii) an NDP plastic bag for trash and (iv) an NDP funpack bag.

Mr Heng Chee How (for the Minister for Defence):  Mr Speaker, NDP funpacks require a longer period to cater for production, delivery and packing. Therefore, it would not be advisable to tie in the public consultation on funpack items with the ticketing process, that is, application for tickets. Each year, the NDP organising committee strikes a balance in providing for the comfort of NDP spectators, including the young and the elderly and in sourcing for sponsors who can provide environmentally-friendly options for the funpack. NDP spectators who do not want the funpack or some of the items need not have to take them. This can be then handed over to the collection points which will be established and can help the organisers gauge the requirements for planning subsequent years’ NDP shows.

Louis: Could I at least ask whether we can do away with the plastic bottle? I mean, that is the first step. Two, we have this Clean and Green message that we issue almost throughout the year that people should bring their own reusable bottles but all of a sudden at the NDP, that message disappears. So, I am just hoping for NDP 2020, we can do away with the plastic bottle. And, two, can we then issue the message out to urge people to bring their reusable bottles to NDP?

Mr Heng Chee How: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for the supplementary question. First of all, I think it is important for us to establish that we are actually on the same side, namely, that we agree with the Member together with many outside this Chamber who believe that we should all be more active in terms of understanding the importance of saving the environment and also each of us doing our part. And within established events including the NDP, what more can be done. So, on that we are completely together.

With respect to the plastic water bottle, in fact, for this year's NDP, for example, a specific effort was made to reduce that. The fact that the NDP shows do take a number of hours and it is held in the afternoon, so one can expect sunny weather most of the time, we do have to cater water for people to drink. What happened in past years was that there were actually two bottles of water in each funpack. For this year, taking into account, the feedback including the input and advice from the Member previously, what the Organising Committee for the NDP for this year has done is that it has reduced it to one bottle.

That is only one of the measures we have taken. But with respect to generally talking about single-use plastics, I just wanted to also provide a piece of information which is that for NDP 2019 over 1.7 million pieces of single-use plastic were saved. Seven hundred thousand pieces of plastic wrappings were avoided due to deliberate efforts made to ensure that the funpack items, where it was not necessary to individually wrap the items, then they are not. So, it is actually a combination of efforts like that.

The rest of the plastic that we managed to save from being put into the funpacks include, for example, the second water bottle that we did not put in, as well as we changed the plastic clappers and also we took away the plastic flag stands. 

So, I think what we will do is for future shows, for example, the NDP that is coming next year and the year after and so on, we will continue these efforts. We will take in seriously the feedback and suggestions from the Member and others in this area to see how we can further reinforce, both in terms of the education message to call on all of us, individually also, and beyond NDP shows in their day-to-day lives to also do the responsible thing and to minimise the use of such plastics.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

Louis hosted dialogues between green groups and the NDP 2020 EXCO to discuss ideas on how we can move towards a zero waste NDP. The activists suggested making the funpack itself more reusable and doing away with the plastic bag, single-use plastic bottle and “huge” discount booklet and the EXCO took these on board.

Louis delivered his budget cut on Banning Disposables for Public Service at Committee of Supply 2020.

Louis: Lastly, in Nee Soon East, we have launched our Zero Waste Masterplan. We have saved 39,792 disposables – single-use plates, forks, spoons, bowls and cups – since the launch of our Masterplan in April last year. We no longer use disposables at Nee Soon East CC events. This year, we will expand it to all our RC events. 

We have saved so much. At the same time, it is shocking to me that we have used so much in less than a year. If we can save so much in Nee Soon East, imagine how much we can save if more were to join us on this "Say Yes to Waste Less Journey". I know that MEWR is already doing this. Will the entire Public Service commit to end the use of all disposables at all Public Service events?

Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M (MEWR): Beyond the Ministry, the Public sector as a whole is doing more. Mr Louis Ng asked about our efforts.

In 2017, we launched the Public Sector Sustainability Plan, which charted out our strategies to reduce electricity and water consumption, and achieve Green Mark standards for 100% of our buildings. Ministries and agencies are working hard, and are on track to meet our 2020 targets.

For example, all air-conditioned Government premises should maintain indoor temperatures of 24 degrees centigrade or higher where feasible. All Ministries have also taken the climate action pledge and committed to reducing their plastic, water and electricity consumption. We are reviewing how to bring our plan to the next level.

The Deputy Prime Minister also announced our vision for all vehicles to run on cleaner energy by 2040. The Government will take the lead. From 2023, all new vehicle purchases for Government-owned fleets will be cleaner and greener where feasible. MINDEF, for example, will replace 400 administrative vehicles with hybrids and later, with electric ones when charging infrastructure is ready in 2040.

Together, with net-zero buildings, food waste management, our Army is "green" in more than in their uniforms.

This are but a few examples of what I said earlier in my speech on how the UN Climate Change Framework is shaping climate-conscious behaviours and decisions. We are also reviewing other measures such as the better management of carbon emissions and the use of disposables. More details will be announced later this year.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)

(Supplementary Question) Louis: Thank you, Sir. Let me first thank the Minister for reducing the number of items in the funpack and reaching out to the green groups and listening as well. But could I ask two clarifications?

One, I do understand we are producing 80% of funpacks for the Singapore households. So, there is already a reduction but that is based, as Minister said, on estimations and based on past experience. Would it not be better to just ask Singaporeans whether they want to opt out of receiving the funpack, so that we can get a more accurate figure that will reduce the wastage?

The second clarification is what Member Cheng Li Hui asked previously, what will we be doing with the excess funpacks that are not collected?

Third, let me record my appreciation of thanks to the NDP Exco 2020. I worked with them for the last six months. As what NCMP Leon Perera has asked, we actually have been on the ground for the last six months getting feedback from the green groups and working together with them. In fact, this morning, we had another Zoom call with them to explain why we had a funpack, why we had certain items in there, and it was a very positive conversation that we had. I want to thank the NDP Exco for the forward-thinking, for really listening. It has been a privilege working with the Chairman, Brigadier-General Frederick Choo. In fact, I would suggest that the Minister make him NDP Exco Chairman in 2021 since he did not get to organise a full NDP this year, and he really has done an amazing job trying to find the middle ground and making very difficult decisions.

Dr Ng Eng Hen (MINDEF):  Let me thank Member Louis Ng for those kind comments. I had known that he had been involved and helped us for the last six months. But I chose not to cite his help in the reply to Mr Leon Perera because, it is better that Mr Ng himself said it. Otherwise, they will say, you know, whatever they will say. I thank Mr Ng for the suggestion that General Choo should be considered to be NDP 2021, in Hokkien, we say, "Ho Gai Siao" or a good recommendation. I am not sure if he would want it, but nonetheless, we will think about it.

Member Mr Ng's point was more substantial. Why not have, before each NDP, a full public consultation as I think was the point that Mr Perera made. Just for practical purposes – Members of this House lead organisations, you are in businesses or in your organisations, you should know – there is a limit beyond which analysis becomes paralysis. You want to have feedback but you have to ultimately make a decision. Because why just a funpack? I cite this but I am not suggesting you make this an issue, but in terms of carbon production, my fighter planes probably produce more. While we "rah rah" to the zoom of fighter aircraft, jet fuel is being burnt up there.

Why focus just on the funpack? It could be many other things.

So, I think there is a limit to consultation. We will be forward-leaning, we will take in views, but there is a balance to be struck.

There is a time for every activity, a season for everything under the heavens. That is the ecclesiastical injunction.

What is this year a time for? Twenty-twenty. What is this year a time for? We have been divided like never before by a little organism, barely 0.125 microns. Relatives have been separated, grandparents from their grandchildren, couples, even spouses. For the healthcare workers, some were so fearful. They were not fearful about going to work but they were so fearful that they would pass on their infections if they got infected to their families, that they chose to stay away from their families, and the hospitals facilitated and found hotel rooms for them to stay alone.

Never a time have we been so physically divided. Never a time have we been so psychologically affected. And I say this to you not to frighten you, but the months ahead will be harder. This is not a time to show up our divisions. It does not mean we do not ask for feedback. But this is maybe a time, in gentle tones, to put aside some of our differences and come together.

Louis: Sorry, Sir, there really is just a remaining concern which is what will we do with the excess packs? I think I understand we might be donating them or giving them to some other groups. But many are asking what are we doing with the excess funpacks that are not collected.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: I do not know that there will be excess packs. As I said, the mood may change. Let us all hope, maybe come August – given the wonderful job that my colleagues at the Multi-Ministry Task Force have done and Singaporeans taking necessary precautions – that actually come August, there will be a mood to come out of this and people want these packs because they want to join in the celebrations.

But if they are excess bags, 80% is less than what we have usually produced – there will be no shortage of avenues to distribute to, say, to certain homes or institutions, so they would not be wasted.

Source: Hansard (Parliament of Singapore)