Encouraging Hawkers and Food Vendors to Default to Non-inclusion of Disposable Utensils for Takeout Orders

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment whether the Ministry has plans to implement an education campaign that will have hawkers and food vendors default to non-inclusion of disposable utensils in their takeout orders with customers obtaining these on an as-requested basis.

The nation-wide "Say YES to Waste Less" campaign by the National Environment Agency (NEA) encourages everyone to reduce the use of disposables. Many F&B establishments, including hawker stalls, are encouraging customers to bring their own reusable containers and decline disposable utensils for takeaways. Major food delivery companies such as GrabFood, Deliveroo and Foodpanda have made opting out of disposable utensils the default option. This was done as part of their commitment under the Plastic ACTion programme initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature, a partner of the "Say YES to Waste Less" campaign.

The Citizens’ Workgroup on Reducing Excessive Consumption of Disposables has recommended a checklist comprising good practices that F&B establishments can adopt to reduce their use of disposables. This includes providing "no cutlery" as a default for takeaways. NEA will continue working with stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations, hawker centre operators and relevant F&B associations to promote this.