When I found that out that Singaporeans generated over 7.67 million tonnes of waste last year, I was shocked. To put things into perspective, that’s equivalent to the weight of around 7 million elephants.
So, when NTUC FairPrice challenged us to go green by reducing the amount of waste we create, I was totally on board. While Kermit The Frog would say, “It’s not easy being green,” after watching the two-part series of Singaporeans Try we made, you’ll think otherwise.
In the first part, we took on the Leftover Food Challenge, where we had to make use of our leftovers as ingredients to create brand new dishes. From Sesame Rice Balls to a Cheesy Baked Fried Rice, we were definitely not short of ideas when it came to cooking up a storm with food we would usually throw out.
We even got our good friend, Sandra Riley Tang from The Sam Willows to join in the MasterChef action! See what she and the rest of us whipped up for each other to try in the video below!
As a person who loves leftovers, I would have settled with simply reheating them and eating them as they are. But with the option of innovating with your leftovers to make new dishes, what you can eat is only limited by your own creativity.
But what really struck a chord with me is how the simple act of not over-ordering can help reduce the amount of food that goes to waste. So, the next time you’re at a buffet and you’re already really full, think twice before putting that additional chicken wing on your plate.
But we didn’t stop there. While food wastage does make up 10% of the total waste generated in Singapore, we wanted to find out what else makes up the waste we generated last year and what actions we can take to reduce that.
That’s why we took on the Zero Waste Challenge, where we had to try living a week with as little waste as possible. We also took on some of the suggestions you gave us and put them to use. Watch the video below to see how well we did and maybe even incorporate some of the tips we used into your daily lives.
It may sound cliche, but “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” is my new mantra. Little things like straws and plastic bags may seem insignificant but these are the things that get thrown out at the end of the day so avoid taking them in the first place. I’ve also personally started using my own reusable containers to “dabao” my lunch and I now set aside all my recyclables so I can put them in the recycling bin – those bins are there for this purpose after all.
Take it from me – the person who accumulated the most trash during the challenge – it’s all about making small changes to your lifestyles and habits to ensure you leave a much greener footprint on this Earth.
While these challenges may seem fun, they tackle real problems that affect everyone. And through them, we realise how little steps we take can help make a difference.
In line with going green, NTUC FairPrice has made the commitment to doing more for the environment. From little steps like offering 10-cent rebates to customers who bring their shopping bags to larger commitments to reduce energy consumption and recycling waste, the neighbourhood supermarket we’ve all come to know and love is also making the planet we live on, a better one. For more information on all their initiatives, click here.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for new episodes of Singaporeans Try coming to you every Monday! Follow us on Instagram and like our brand new Facebook page, where you get exclusive behind-the-scenes clips that don’t make it to the main video. Catch you next Monday!
This post was brought to you by NTUC FairPrice.
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