NUS students and staff use more than 54,000 plastic bags and boxes for takeaways from campus canteens every month.
Do We Really Need the Plastic Bags?
Most of these bags and boxes will be thrown away within 15 minutes of their use, forming a significant proportion of wastes generated in campus. Many of us take the bags out of habit, simply because they are offered. Yet this is clearly not sustainable.
To discourage the use of plastic bags and encourage the use of reusable alternatives, Rebate2earth will be extended to all stalls on campus*.
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As of 18th January 2010, canteen vendors will stop offering free plastic bags.
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A 10-cent tax will be imposed on each plastic bag requested from canteen vendors.
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The tax should be put into the Rebate2earth coin box at the front of each stall. |
All the money collected from this initiative will be used to fund other environmental projects on campus. The tax acts to remind people of the ecological costs of plastics - refuse plastic bags or bring your own to avoid having to pay!
Do Takeaways Often?
If you do takeaways regularly, bringing your own bag and reusable lunch boxes has its rewards! Not only do you avoid the 10-cent tax, Project Box allows you to redeem $2 off your next canteen meal after doing takeaways with a reusable container for a total of 10 times!
Simply use your own box at any participating canteen stalls for takeaways to get a Project Box redemption card. Get a sticker each subsequent time you do takeaways with your own box and complete the card to redeem the $2 discount!
Both the extension of Rebate2earth and Project Box are projects under the framework of NUS Green Canteen, a joint initiative by the Office of Estate and Development, the Office of Housing Services, the Office of Environmental Sustainability and NUSSU SAVE.
* Participating Outlets: The Deck, Technoedge, Frontier, Terrace, Central Square, PGP Foodgle Hub, K-Gourmet, PGP non air-con canteen, Supersnacks and Nanyang Supermarket.
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