Sentosa Hotels, Attractions, F&Bs to Become Disposable-free by End of 2023

Singapore is taking another step towards sustainability as they’ve committed to reduce the use of disposables across all hotels, attractions, and food and beverage businesses on Sentosa and the Southern Islands by the end of the year.

“The Sentosa Carbon Neutral Network (SCNN) members commit, by the end of 2023, to remove single-use plastic bottled water in dine-in, takeaway or events settings; and implement at least one recommended measure per category in the Playbook,” the Sentosa Playbook for Reducing Disposables reads.

In a joint effort by the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), both groups have listed specific measures under seven categories to reduce the use of disposables. Check them out below.

1. Carrier Bags

According to the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), approximately 820 million plastic carrier bags (or equivalent to the land area of 25 Sentosa islands) are used in Singapore each year. To address this problem, particularly in the retail sector, the playbook recommends the following:

• Charging a bag (for plastic or paper) so consumers will think twice about taking one
• Encouraging bring your own (BYO), borrow a bag to be returned on the customer’s next visit, or rent a bag for their retail price and give customers a choice to return it (to get their deposit back) or keep it for good
• Incentivising BYO or returning a rented bag by having a rewards system
• Switching to materials with lower environmental impact, such as recycled paper that’s certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), 75% recycled HDPE plastic, or 25% recycled HDPE plastic

2. Takeaway Food Containers

The SEC noted that each person in Singapore uses at least one to three plastic takeaway containers per week, which means they generate at least 473 million plastic disposables in a year. While takeaway meals have been convenient, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s time to hit the brakes by:

• Encouraging BYO or providing options to rent reusable F&B containers, with hygiene and clean redistribution in mind, and return them within a certain time frame
• Incentivising BYO or renting reusable F&B containers with a rewards system that runs on a central platform like an e-card
• Switching to materials with lower environmental impact, such as pressed bagasse, recycled aluminium, and aluminium for 1,000ml waterproof food containers and 75% recycled HDPE plastic for 500ml cold drinks

3. Disposable Tableware for Dine-in

Single-use disposable cutlery can’t be recycled due to possible contamination, making them end up in landfills or worse, in the ocean after use. To reduce their usage, businesses in Sentosa can do the following strategies:

• Switching to reusable plates, bowls, cups, and utensils for dine-in customers
• Outsourcing the washing of tableware if no washing facilities are available, upgrading the establishment to include a washing facility, or having a centralised washing facility
• Giving certain items only by demand, such as reusable straws and coffee stirrers
• Switching to compostable materials as a last resort when reusable tableware isn’t possible

4. Single-use Bottled Water

According to SEC, 467 million PET bottles are used and disposed of each year. This means that on average, a person in Singapore uses one to three bottles each week. To reduce the number of bottled waters being used, businesses can introduce filtered water dispensers in common areas to encourage gusts to refill their bottles. What’s more, tap water is potable in Singapore, so there’s no need to provide single-use water bottles or plastic and paper cups in guest rooms.

5. Paper Products

Paper is often seen as an alternative to plastic because people believe that it’s a more sustainable choice since it comes from trees and is biodegradable. The problem, however, is 42% of all global wood harvest is used for making paper and therefore contributing to deforestation. What’s more, the pulp and paper industry is “the world’s third largest consumer of water and fifth largest consumer of energy for their manufacturing process.” To make sure that each paper is sourced responsibly, businesses should consider switching to FSC-certified materials.

6. Packaging Waste

One-third of domestic waste in Singapore comes from packaging, which are rarely reused. Due to this, it makes more sense for businesses and their suppliers to:

• Eliminate unnecessary packaging and use less material
• Adopt reusable packaging and stop using single-use logistics packaging, such as corrugated boxes and expanded polystyrene (EPS) boxes
• Switch to eco-friendly packaging if reusable options aren’t possible to lower environmental footprint

7. Amenity Kit

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), large hotels with over 200 rooms have a low recycling rate of 8.6% and most of their waste are amenity kits, which are discarded after one use. To reduce avoidable waste, businesses can instead:

• Give amenity kits only by demand and provide wet amenities, such as shampoos and conditioners, in large bottles
• Replace small toiletries in bottles with wall-mounted dispensers
• Provide small soap tablets instead of soaps in plastic containers and whenever possible, send the soaps for recycling