Single use plastic has developed to become an essential to our every day lives. Every piece of plastic that has ever been produced still exists in some shape or form today. It’s durability is what makes it so great for us to use, but it is also what is destroying our planet.

One way that UWC consumes single use plastic on a daily basis is by ordering food. Every day, a fraction of UWC students order takeaway food at lunch or after school, even though they are provided with meals by the school. Students in grade 11 and 12 also have the option to walk across the road and eat at the hawker center which is cheap, easily accessible and much more sustainable. Yet they still choose to order takeaway food, which unfortunately, comes with a large amount of single use plastic and many negative consequences. As soon as students finish eating their lunch, the waste and packaging is thrown in the rubbish bins. Where does all this plastic go?

Singapore is not a country which recycles it’s waste. It is either burnt or sent to other countries. When garbage like this is burnt, it releases harmful pollutants into the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide. Every day when students order food to school, they are essentially giving other countries garbage or worse, destroying the atmosphere. They are forcing our planet to have to face these extreme consequences, just for themselves to eat a meal which they will only ever think about during that day. After eating it, the meal becomes nothing to them. But to our planet, it means destruction and a long term threat.

A fraction of students at UWC choose to order takeaway meals and have the world experience these consequences, when they could just simply eat the perfectly good meals provided by the schools.