What’s not to love about Chinese New Year ? The good food, good company with distant relatives and friends, the blessings from elderly.  Of course, the past few years Chinese New Year has been different from usual, with limiting visitation and social gatherings, which dampens the mood for the festive period. Nonetheless, the spare time for the limited gatherings got me to spare a thought for the impact our actions have on ourselves and the environment.

It ain’t Chinese New Year without red packets. But according to Greeners Action (a Hong Kong based charitable environmental group), since 2014 more than 16 thousand trees are used each year to exchange 320 million red envelopes over Chinese New Year. This figure only accounts for Hong Kong and  will increase significantly if we were to count in Singapore as well in this red hot mass.  Perhaps, we could save the trees by reusing the ang paos you received last year. Alternatively, we can practice more consciousness by looking to custom make ang paos from recycled or FSC paper. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) promotes the practice of sustainable forestry worldwide. It ensures all paper is sourced in an environmentally-friendly and socially responsible way.  Local banks like OCBC and DBS are supporting a more green Chinese New Year, by collecting red packets to be recycled, so we have a home for those leftover red packets to prevent a hot red mess over this period.

This festive season is more often than not, revolves around food. However, the rate at which we are consuming is beyond indulgent. According to the National Environmental Agency (NEA), Singapore food waste accounted to 640,000 tonnes in 2018. Especially during Chinese New Year, food waste increases by up to 20 per cent. These food waste goes into either a landfill to decompose or to an incinerator, where landfills emit methane over time. Methane accounts for 23 times worse than carbon dioxide, polluting the air to a more detrimental extent. While incineration requires large volumes of energy to produce a net-energy gain that is low or non-existence. Additionally, most of our goodies and snacks we buy over the festive period, are stored in plastic containers, which are likely to be disposed after consuming the goodies in it. what’s left behind ,is the unwanted plastic containers that is being treated as waste, contributing the plastic pollution that is hard and takes long to decompose. Or perhaps, we could just be more conscious of our consumption and consume less.

Interestingly enough, over the festive period, I came across a Instagram account (Project bECOme) that aims to cut food packaging waste by promoting a circular business model. Under the programme, a small but growing group of businesses are offering refunds to customers who return them their containers after use, maximising the use of each container. Some also offer discounts if you bring your own container — an even more straightforward way to reduce waste.