Alvin Phua Wei Da, Arushi Gupta, Lim Yiming, Lim Zheng Xiang, Patwardhan Arica Jitendra
Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin
Plastic waste in Singapore has been increasing in recent years, with disposable plastics being one of the main types of plastic waste (NEA 2019).2 One of the sources that accumulates plastic waste is the use of disposable cutlery when consuming delivered food. Despite their possession of reusable cutlery, most consumers lack the consciousness to decline disposable cutlery when ordering food. As such, our group aims to investigate how we may get NUS students to use reusable cutlery instead, adopting a three-pronged approach to do so. We collaborated with Al Amaans, one of the most popular supper stores among NUS students, and requested for them to verify if students on the line require disposable cutlery when receiving orders. The other two approaches include the development of infographics which comprise social norm messages, and creating an additional step on supper order forms for students who opt to use disposable cutlery. Based on data gathered over the past three weeks, there has been a small but increasing proportion of students who reject disposable cutlery. These results offer an optimistic sign that the use of these prompts, reminders and messages may aid in encouraging such behavioural changes amongst NUS students.
Keywords: Responsible Consumption, Disposable Cutlery, Takeaway, Behavioural Change, Plastic Waste