Cultures, in my point of view, are standard systems of behaviour that have evolved independently in various human societies over time. People of different countries have different behavioural types based on how they were brought up and the society they were in. In tiny Singapore, where the diversity of people is celebrated, one does not have to forage to observe or even encounter a difference in how people behave, eat and live their lives.
For me, my own intercultural experience happened not in Singapore, but in Taiwan when I was doing my national service 3 years ago.
Taiwan is a unique country with several unique practises. Their musical garbage truck, for example, is one of the most intriguing practises I have seen! Another interesting observation was that 7-11s could be found almost at every turn.
My first visit to a 7-11 was during one of the rare night outs that we have, and I bought so much groceries from there I looked like I was stocking up for war! When I was at the counter doing a payment, I was unpleasantly surprised when the person at the counter did not put my groceries into a plastic bag.
“No plastic bag?” I asked in mandarin.
“IF you want a bag, you pay!” the cashier ordered.
I have to pay for a plastic bag? I bought so many items, shouldn’t I be an exception and get bags for free? Is that part of a global ENVIRONMENTAL MOVMENT to save bags to save our oceans, trees etc?
Frankly I was not very pleased that that I had to pay close to SGD$1 for my plastic bags when I could get bags for free in Singapore. Even after repeated pleas he stood by the policy and I eventually gave in. If I had the luxury of time that day, I would have stayed and argued with him.
Outside the store, my bunkmate explained to me that it was part of a nationwide policy introduced in the 1990s to reduce the amount of waste generated in Taiwan. To my surprise, plastic bags are charged everywhere, and most Taiwanese have accepted and adhered to this policy. No wonder we usually see people carrying their own bags around in Taiwan. What was even more astonishing was that residents were required to buy specially printed blue bin bags to place their garbage and the municipal waste management department only collects rubbish placed within these special bags, and there are almost no trash bins by the side of the street.
There is a sense of ownership in the citizens to reduce the waste they create, and everyone contributes, like how the cashier enforced the policy. Looking back in Singapore, I guess our wasteful culture revolved more around consumer convenience and individual benefits rather than consideration for our landfills. With the convenience of rubbish chutes, I think it is difficult to change our behaviour and habits.
Can we evolve to have a more environmentally sustainable culture or are we doomed to have a culture shock when we go overseas?
Hey Calvin,
ReplyDeleteIt was refreshing to read your post as it talks about the difference in the environmental aspect of the culture between Singapore and Taiwan. Through forced circumstances, the Taiwanese have no choice but to adopt the new culture of carrying their own bags for their groceries.
As such, I feel that the wasteful culture in Singapore could be changed for the better as well, and I am confident that with new environmental initiatives surfacing, we can soon put an end to our wasteful culture. For example, plastic bags in all the canteens in NUS cost 10cents now. With more and more environmental initiatives coming up and being enforced,I and positive that we too can cultivate a healthy environmental friendly culture just like Taiwan.
Melvis, thank you for your encouragement, and I'm really sorry if I nagged all my friends to recycling. To me, with Pulau Semakau filling up pretty soon, I'm really not sure how long our wasteful behaviour can continue before we need to look for another island to put our rubbish.
ReplyDeleteHey Calvin, your blog post reminds me of my trip to Taiwan as well. Their garbage trucks always have that happy tune to signal their arrival, which was really funny.
ReplyDeleteWe should definitely play our part for the environment. Current efforts by the government are actually pretty pathetic, and I believe much more can be done by everyone to save the environment.
Hi Calvin,
ReplyDeleteMost people know about the consequence of using plastic bag, especially its non-biodegradable property. However, many of them would not take initiative to stop using plastic bag. People would only bring their own recycle bags when the shops or supermarkets do not supply plastic bag on certain weekday. The government or private sectors can definitely impose this rule to daily basis and encourage people to bring their own recycle bag.
Supermarket like NTUC actually deducts 10 cents from your total expenses when you use recycle bags to carry your goods. More initiatives like this should be taken to encouraged the public to be more environmentally friendly.
Hi Jun Xiong,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your view that everyone plays a part for our environment. Most Singaporeans expect our government to take care of all aspects of our lives. When Singapore is not as environmentally friendly as it should be, we blame our government, while we still see many people in the supermarkets asking for plastic bags.
Hi Wanting,
I cannot agree with you more, but I do question the effectiveness of NTUC since they deduct 10cents only when the person spends $10.