Are we generating more waste with Return you Trays?

Good Intentions are Not Enough

The Return Your Tray has been going on for almost a year now, and, yes, there may be more seats with trays returned, but during lunch time, the tables are not clean.

Currently, I am starting to see more trays not returned, especially at coffee shops. It does vary with different coffee shops and for some food that are served in special containers like steamed fish with solid fuel below and curry fish head in large claypots, these are generally preferred not to be returned as customers may drop and damage the equipment.

Some food stalls selling Satay, chicken wings and other types of food with shells like prawn noodles, tend to generate a lot of waste. And most of the time, the waste is left behind.

Sadly, the tray deposit system where infrastructure was built has totally failed, and the current tray return system still does not solve the problem of dirty tables.

I’ve recently had food at several hawker centers and coffee shops, and I realized that many hawker centers are using more disposables like disposable plates and utensils.

At hawker centers, I’ve spoken to many of the stores which provide plastic spoons and forks on why they are doing it… And they responded that the vendor…