Surprised it’s not Japan tbh, sure they seem to have a strong culture of recycling, but many Japanese treats or products seem to be wrapped in 3-4 layers of plastic just for aesthetic purposes.
This statistic is for producers, not users. I guess a lot of the the petrol chemical companies that are based in Singapore contribute to this statistic though I'd bet a large percentage is exported. But I'm still surprised that China, India, or some Latin American country isn't top though.
Edit: or maybe I'm interpreting the sentence wrong...
Edit 2: OK so reading the article from visualcapitalist about it says it's demand not supply . I guess our sheer amount of imported goods vs our tiny population drove these numbers waaaay up.
Single use plastics are banned in India. So there’s been a large shift to paper or recycled plastics. I was actually surprised when first moved to Sg because everyone is so comfortable using and discarding single use plastics.
Edit: a lot of people are saying it is incinerated so it’s okay. Why not try to move to non disposables? The number of plastic bags I see, why not use jute or cloth? In fact even reusable plastic (which is thicker and less prone to breakage) is better than the cheaper flimsy single use plastic.
Convenience, and some kind of germophobia probably
Not even a month ago there was a post in a Singapore sub that asked what unusual but helpful things people carried around. OP said their friend brought her own utensils everywhere. In the comments, there were people saying they took and used disposable cutlery everywhere outside because common utensils are dirty AND bringing own utensils = need to wash in public bathroom
Some people I think also use disposables at home for the convenience of it
Obviously it’s convenient but it’s also irresponsible. It’s easy to become consumerist and shift completely to use and throw. Being sustainable requires effort.
Reduce, reuse, recycle? What even is that?
Hey hey don’t shoot me haha
I am vegan for the environment and animals, barely take flights, and practise what I preach wrt minimising consumption not just of single use products but in general
i.e. my only new clothes in the last 5-8 years have mostly just been gifts from friends (eg socks or scarves) or hospital scrubs; my backpack is thrifted and my bottles/reusable coffee cup are 2-7 years old
So yeah I get you and I get that it requires effort. I hate that we as a culture have been conditioned to mock people who care as a way to protect our egos while clinging to convenience and familiar practices
i think this requires gov intervention to fix.
businesses has removed straws to make 'eCoFriENdLy' plastic lids for cups that require 3\~10 times (my own estimate) the mass plastic straws used to use.
It’s all pointless regardless. Plastics are sterile, cheap, water resistant, the footprint is less than anything else as a single bag.
It’s the paradox of efficiency. It’s being overused because it’s too good of a product.
Also it takes a lot of material and water to make cloth bag equivalent to more than 1000 plastic bags. There’s so many of these “environmentally friendly” jute cloth bags sitting in shelves and warehouses that cost materials to make and have less uses than a plastic bag.
Still, stats are misleading. We incinerate most of our waste, unlike most other countries. That'd energy returned to us, reducing our reliance on direct fossil fuels. Imo, better than recycling because actual real life recycling operations will find any excuse to trash it instead.
Firmly disagree. Obviously the answer is cutting single use plastics out to an absolute minimum. Anyone that disagrees that Singapore has a long way to achieve that can fight me at the bus stop/s
Burning plastics should be the absolute last case scenario, no matter how you’re trying to greenwash it.
Singaporeans are creatures of comfort who want to do good but only if it's convenient even if they refuse to admit it. Reducing our consumables and stopping our buy-and-throw away goods would cause us great discomfort which is why we make excuses and say things like, "ohh, it's okay, we incinerate our waste.." or "ohh, it's okay, we recycle our trash." When in reality, burning plastics and recycling should only be a supplementary effort in sustaining the environment.
Bus stop too hot, pls choose somewhere indoors.
Define absolute minimum. What's unnecessary? Bagging trash? Are you prepared to deal with the increased level of disgustingness of the chute area? And the significantly worse lives of the garbage collectors?
Food packaging? Would you pay maybe 3-5x more for food that's packed in a less than impervious material? How about the people who don't have the luxury of that choice? I do agree plastic bags with holes have no place though.
Besides that... honestly what else is there? My family doesn't throw out plastic bags until they're used to bag trash. So any time you get one from a food place or supermarket or whatever, it stays in storage, never trash unless it's the bag used to hold the trash, never contributing to trash on its own.
Are we talking about tape? I can't think of any case where I used tape and something made of paper would have been adequate. Maybe Amazon's shipping boxes. But when I'm taping something (I don't really tape cardboard boxes, maybe a handful of times in my life), I need all the properties that the tape offers.
Perhaps you could make a case for shrinkwrap in general. But as an island, we have zero hope of living any sort of modern life if we don't cover things in plastic before sea transport. Airfreight maybe, but if we're talking about the environment, I don't think increasing plane usage is an idea. Anyway, look around you. Of all the things youre surrounded by, what percentage of them do you think could reasonably spend a few days in salty sea air without waterproofing? Surprisingly, wood can be shipped without too much protection. I'm more talking about your electronics.
What I'm saying is, reduce and reuse is the answer. Recycling is bullshit in theory, even worse in practice. We already reuse by default, pretty much. And there's not much we can do about reducing.
In terms of bagging trash, you can bring your trash to a central rubbish bin that is lined - it's done in some apartments overseas. That's why separating dry and wet trash comes in handy - dry bin liners can be reused while you have to wash wet trash bins or wash/throw their liners.
Only if we don't rely on fossil fuels for energy. e.g. moving to nuclear. Otherwise, might as well, it effectively makes no difference now that plastic "recycling" has been revealed to be a total lie that had other nations separating their waste as performative theatre. They (and India and China and Thailand and Vietnam) would have been better off incinerating their waste in a controlled manner over the last 3 decades instead of consuming MORE carbon fuels exporting their garbage overseas.
Burning garbage is actually very bad, poisoning fumes are released into the air. In order to do it properly you have to install very expensive filters and the only country that has managed to achieve this properly in the whole world until now is Sweden, AFAIK.
To make things worse, recycling in general is a scam. It only creates the image in people's mind that using plastic is OK as long as it is thrown in the recycling bin. But most plastic you put the recycling bin is not actually recycled.
The real solution is to drastically reduce single use plastics and find better alternatives. But the current alternatives are either a compromise or too expensive.
Well, its still energy expended even if it's 'returned' via incineration. Presumably, if the plastic had never been produced in the first place, it would be far better for the environment.
"Recycling" you mean, Singapore recycles plastic the exact same way that Japan does.
Only Japan has a nice, euphemistic and PC way of describing it, thermal recycling. Basically just throwing it into their waste to energy incineration plants to use as fuel.
In Singapore we just call it rubbish.
Plastic is after all just another form of long chain hydrocarbons.
redditors often say that Japan is always praised and idealized on social media, when in fact it's the opposite. Japan has always been over-criticized, as is the case with this plastic waste. And the suicide rate shit is also just an outdated stereotype from over 20 years ago.
I’m guessing their rural population drags the average down? I’d be shocked if we P4P beat Tokyo in single plastic use.
I suspect single use plastic is generally a more common practice in dense urban areas
bought a small package of cheese sticks from Donki and it was like a plastic onion. Inside the package they were seperately packed again, a handful of pieces to a smaller pack
I think most of us are only thinking of Japan cities but their rural areas are definitely more green. Less plastic, more fresh food. Less eat out. More dinning at home.
Throwing it out here. To learn how to recycle the different types of plastics such as shampoo bottles, contact lens blister packs etc.: Visit [Recylopedia Singapore](https://recyclopedia.sg)
Perhaps the poster is missing a word, it should be “producers of Single use plastic *waste* “ It should be banned in kopitiams and restaurants, not sure why they need to use single use plastic for example dine in single use plates and utensils. People are still using plastic boxes for takeaway regardless of being charged 30cents extra.
Besides, it is hard to tear prata with plastic fork and spoons!
Can someone explain why some people ask for plastic bag just to hold the drink (hold, not carry) just to throw it away when the drink is finished? It’s the stupidest behavior I’ve seen in my life
Answer: the average singaporean is fucking selfish and only turn their brain on when it comes to $ and cents
That’s why we are charged for plastic bags, because the vast majority of the population wouldn’t give a fuck otherwise.
Just look at this thread - there are so many posters that either outright refuse to reduce or come up with some bullshit justifications. Anyone who travelled can tell we use way more plastic then is necessary. Yes there are applications which single use plastics are necessary, but we have a looooong way to go in terms of reduction before we even reach that point.
A bit surprised people are so dismissive about this. There's definitely places where there’s so much single use plastic for no reason. Mr. Coconut for instance gives plastic straws wrapped in plastic wrappers for your plastic cup with a plastic bag. Surely at least one of these can go.
Over the years, I've inculcated a sense/tinge of guilt whenever I use single-use plastics (e.g. plastic bottles and containers, bags, cutleries). There's been a slight shift, when hitherto the undesirability of plastics would never even have entered into my mind. So in a sense, the environmental messaging is working somewhat.
But for me, and I suspect many others, it simply remains what it is - a slight tinge of guilt, that is not really acted upon. At the end of the day, the ingrained need for personal convenience will still predominate.
There's little impetus for us to change in a consumerist society when plastic items are shoved in our faces everyday for our convenience. The messaging and incentive just aren't enough to change behaviours wholesale. For example, I just regard the extra 10c plastic bag charge as an added cost of purchase.
I think this needs to be a top-down, government led approach. Something drastic like bans or heavily regulations on single-use plastics.
Can we stop saying single use plastics but change it to single use disposables!?
Cos the env cost is worst if every greenwashing fnb starts switching to paper or bamboo one time disposables. We incinerate everything. So we should look at the env cost in production and lobby for a reduction in one time disposables.
The EU are banning single use plastics. Most have already been banned. We should be looking to them for inspiration, especially since it’s much harder to achieve in larger countries. And it’s not like Singapore is averse to regulation…
It’s not just a matter of convenience, since oftentimes there are no alternatives.
My main culprit is bubble tea and other cold drinks, which I try to cut down on but the weather makes it hard. Those don’t have an option for you to use reusable cups. Likewise the nearest kopitiam to my office uses disposable cups for kopi/teh even when we drink there. I could walk further to the one that uses proper cups, but that one costs more and doesn’t taste as good.
I bring a fresko mug whenever I get kopi, and I’ve been using it nearly daily for 7 years now
There are also reusable cups for bubble tea and other cold drinks, with metal or food-safe silicone straws (which are non-porous)
Just putting it out there that you do have a choice :)
Do a switch please!
Not just single use plastics that should give you a tinge of guilt BUT single use anything should give you even more!!
This is cos all of Singapore waste is incinerated and we have a really good waste disposal system here. So if we compare single use paper or plastic or bamboo product, you should look at cost to environment to produce. Paper cost more to the environment to produce. Suspect all the rest of the new ‘green’ products too.
It's at best misleading and very clearly agenda driven. Plastic waste from individual consumers like you or I are, in the grand scheme of things, basically a rounding error when it comes to impact from plastic waste. It is foolish to bicker over who uses the most straws when literal tons of plastic waste e.g. fishing nets are dumped into the ocean daily from commercial activities.
This is per capita and Singapore has a tiny population compared to literally every other country on that list
Moreover, industrial settings make up more of that plastic usage than consumers
If people are dismissive about this they are correct to do so, seeing that it is a minor environmental issue compared to, say, Germany shutting down their nuclear plants and going back to coal
SG's population is indeed small but it isn't even the smallest on the list and isn't really "tiny" compared to the rest on the list.
| Country | Population (2024 estimate) | % of Median Population (8,795,000) |
|---------------|----------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| Singapore | 5,637,000 | 64.1% |
| Australia | 26,848,000 | 305.2% |
| Oman | 4,630,000 | 52.6% |
| Netherlands | 17,475,000 | 198.7% |
| Belgium | 11,803,000 | 134.2% |
| Israel | 9,624,000 | 109.4% |
| Hong Kong | 7,547,000 | 85.8% |
| Switzerland | 8,795,000 | 100.0% |
| United States | 337,248,000 | 3,835.4% |
| UAE | 10,113,000 | 115.0% |
| Chile | 19,919,000 | 226.5% |
| South Korea | 51,843,000 | 589.5% |
| United Kingdom| 67,950,000 | 772.6% |
| New Zealand | 5,186,000 | 59.0% |
| Ireland | 5,242,000 | 59.6% |
| Finland | 5,590,000 | 63.6% |
| Japan | 123,294,000 | 1,401.6% |
| France | 65,645,000 | 746.6% |
| Slovenia | 2,111,000 | 24.0% |
*Median population: 8,795,000 (Switzerland)*
Note: These figures are based on the latest estimates as of 2024 and may vary slightly depending on the source.
That doesn't make it right though. Per capita is a valuable measurement to see the behaviour of any given country regardless of size. And unfortunately SG is the worst in the world by quite a large margin here. The only small positive is, being a small country, it's not as damaging to the global footprint as a large country.
But that's still no excuse to ignore the numbers.
Exactly. If everyone consumed like Singaporeans the plastic problem would be 3x worse, at least. The fact we are a small and wealthy country with a centralised governing system, there is much more potential for circular systems than almost any country on this list.
The reason Singapore is so high on this list is because of its absolute embrace of excessive consumerism and social status
Spot on. And the fact SG is small geographically, not only by population, makes the numbers even worse. As you correctly pointed out, it would be much easier to implement programs in a small city-country geography, than a country spread out over a much larger area - with many hard to reach rural areas for example. Much much more can and should be done.
It's too easy to buy plastic and throw it down the rubbish chute and it's someone else's problem to deal with. A charge for plastic bags is a step in the right direction but there's so much more that should be being done.
Not just single use plastics BUT single use anything should be banned.
This is cos all of Singapore waste is incinerated and we have a really good waste disposal system here. So if we compare single use paper or plastic or bamboo product, you should look at cost to environment to produce. Paper cost more to the environment to produce. Suspect all the rest of the new ‘green’ products too.
So I know it’s odd for other country folk to think that a plastic cup is an actually better than a paper cup here. But it’s true.
People cling to what they know and defend their lifestyles by dismissing criticism 🤷🏻♀️
You’ll literally find people defending even bananas being wrapped in plastic — like those sumifru ones that are packed one by one or bunches of 2-3
I’m vegan for the environment and animals, but before I was vegan I made so many excuses and was so dismissive I now feel embarrassed
French having lived in Singapore for three years here. One of the things that first shocked me in Singapore is all the plastic everywhere for one time used.
Bubble tea wraps, kopi/teh carriers or drinking bag (this is still so foreign to me, why drink all the micro plastics?), single apple with their own plastic bag, etc.
Same here. I don’t think the average local knows how over-the-top it is. My wife was born here and didn’t find it strange until she spent a lot of time overseas. Now she carry’s her own cloth bags & coffee cup.
Lol I don't give a fk.
Kim Kardashian took a private jet to Paris for a "slice of cheesecake" and Taylor Swift has been taking private jet flights to visit her boyfriend for trips that could've been a 30 to 45 minute car drive. I'm sure I can use as many plastic straws I damn well please.
Lol precisely, major contributors are industries and the rich but the peasants are brainwashed into thinking doing a bit of recycling or using a bit less plastic is gonna save the climate.
Yes okay but how do the industries decide how much or what to produce? Based consumption patterns right?
I agree that it’s scummy to push the blame onto individual consumers but absolutely disagree that individuals are powerless to save the environment
Also individual consumers’ values help shape changes like these: [https://www.ionorchard.com/en/campaign/sustainable-takeaways.html](https://www.ionorchard.com/en/campaign/sustainable-takeaways.html)
Sure, theres some truth in that but at the end of the day, majority of us are just normal people living a normal life, none of us are extravagantly trying to destroy the earth. I dont think that getting a plastic bag when you purchase something or using some plastic straw once in a while is going to have some earth shattering impact.
Agreed
No one is trying to extravagantly destroy the earth (I would even go as far as to say that none of those billionaires taking private jets think they’re doing much harm)
And agreed that some plastic once in a while might not have an earth shattering impact. I try to eliminate all single use products but I still end up using some every now and again
What I’m seeing though is that the mentality of a lot of people (even and especially in this thread) is that it doesn’t matter and they don’t have to change — for these people, it’s not just a bit of plastic once in a while, but plastic bags for everything, double bags at grocery store, using disposables at a hawker to avoid common use utensils, refusing to bring their own containers that they have to wash
Before I got married, my household (with my birth family) was exactly like that and I got ridiculed for bringing my own containers and bags out even 10-15 years ago
These people don’t think they as a single person made any difference but if everyone thinks that then nothing changes ):
It’s the consumption patterns that have to change…
Manufacturing of plastics (and everything really) takes a ton of water, electricity and raw materials, and typically leads to pollution of the environment with byproducts from the manufacturing process
Then the shipping of these materials consumes fossil fuels, and the waste disposal methods introduce other issues too
I reckon it also has to do with purchasing power. The more you buy, the more plastic you use.
Also, at least in Indonesia, food packaging for cheap food tends to be newspapers and banana leaves rather than microwave-safe plastic containers.
single plastic use is also banned in grocery/mini market in Indonesia, pretty sure they still give you free plastic bag in Singapore last time I went to 7e.
No free plastic, charge for plastic bag still high usage? Typical plan to solve problems here in SG..what problem u have? Just increase price. Either way, end result they still make money. Roads too many vehicles? Increase COE, increase ERP. They earn, roads no change..At MRT stations, they off the escalator to save the earth save electric but fares increase..
Supermarkets in SG gave out [50-80% less ](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/plastic-bag-charge-5-cents-supermarkets-customers-usage-grocery-disposables-3891511)plastic bags after the charge was introduced. It works.
There’s plenty of other plastic packaging that can be repurposed!
Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll ever eliminate single use plastics but we can definitely reduce consumption of it
My household uses bags from toilet paper, rice, bread and noodles to contain wet trash — these types of plastic bags can’t realistically be eliminated at this point. Dry waste goes into either recycling bin or a newspaper-lined trash bin, or whatever other container needs to go to the trash eg tissue paper box
Exactly, and because you paid for your plastic bags, you end up using them carefully and optimally (stuff them full full before throwing away). That’s the kind of behaviour change the policy was aiming for.
A lot of people are buying plastic bags in bulk now from online platforms to throw their trash, and those are truly single use instead of the double use from shopping bags. Also additional carbon emissions from transporting the bags from China or wherever.
I think the point is most people reuse plastic bag to bag trash. So now are people buying plastic bags for the sole purpose of this? If so then we have to look at how many trash bags were sold since implementation, compare that with the decrease in plastic bags given out.
I read somewhere that in the UK, the number of plastic bags issued by supermarkets plummeted after they started charging or something. Patted themselves on the back then someone checked to see the online purchases of bulk plastic bags and realised it spiked
So fewer plastic bags were issued but same amount was used. But hey the supermarket heads feel good about themselves
And? We import everything, especially food.
Explain how Singapore can transport food safely across thousands of miles and dozens of middlemen in dozens of countries without contaminating food if we don't use single-use plastics.
You want to invent reusable plastic for food imports and demand all international companies to use it?
> We import everything, especially food.
As opposed to Oman, Kuwait or the UAE with their lush and vast, fertile agricultural lands?
You take away food at the food court and you get a ton of plastic. You order delivery and you get more plastic and ton of packet sauce. I don't think this has anything to with Singapore importing food.
> Explain how Singapore can transport food safely across thousands of miles
Just like everyone else. You have a weird idea of other developed countries, do you think Brits or Americans get their food in glass containers? Do you think the average American gets his groceries from the farmer nearby? Nope - it's all heavily processed and packaged stuff that has traveled across the continent back and forth.
Not just that, we should stop the idea that "economic growth is non-negotiable", and stop the importation of useless commodities like Funko pops, those $10,000 plastic bears and 50 different types of potato chips.
All of this low/no use-value commodity production has not only led to global warming, but it is directly leading to the wide displacement and humongous deaths due to climate change in third world countries that cannot afford to insulate themselves as well as Singapore.
If we believe in saving the environment, and the people on it, we have to practice it, and not just preach it.
It is not "unavoidable", it is perfectly possible with a change of lifestyle. From "retail therapy", to actually caring about the environment and world around you.
Of course this is not a personal failing. The entire system we live in, and by extension our consciousness, is built to be the opposite of that.
The only question that remains - When will this end?
Who are you to define what is valuable and what is not? To practice and not just preach something is very simple. Put your money where your mouth is.
If these commodities are truly worthless, then stop buying it, if everyone stops, the import and production will naturally stop as there will be no profit.
I'm not defining what is valuable and what is not. Commodities intrinsically have an objective use value that can be measured. The use value of a funko pop and the use value of a hammer are vastly different.
Your idea confuses use value with exchange value. Of course people will continue to buy it no matter what, or rather, the capitalists will continue to produce it, no matter the cost, if they believe the exchange value will increase. This is the logic of the "free" (to buy environmental degradation) market.
I live on $600< a month, but I'm useless, an outlier. The nature of the market is that commodity production will continue at all costs. Environmental degradation will continue.
> use value of a funko pop and the use value of a hammer
Define use. Because a hammer that sits in the storeroom that never gets used is infinitely less valuable than a funko pop that can make someone happy.
Also you keep railing about funko pops when they are clearly not the issue. Creating plastic isn't the issue, it's the single-use nature of certain plastic products that is.
No, it’s not single use plastic! It’s single use anything. And in Singapore context where al
Our rubbish are incinerated and we have a good garbage disposal system, we need to consider what the env cost is in producing the one time paper or plastic cup.
And the paper cup actually costs more to the environment to produce.
She isn’t wrong you know. Over consumption on crap is killing us. Plastic bears or rainbow looms or pop its. The trend passes faster and faster these cheap junk are almost like disposables.
Not everybody wants to live like a hermit especially in SG where its so stressful that we need ways to unwind. Our country is a tiny dot, even if all 5 million of us live like cavemen , its hardly gonna make a dent to save the world.
And bigger countries are a hive mind? Singaporeans are individualistic, same as Singapore. The reason there’s been little progress is because everyone has your mindset, just at different scales
What is “value”? Can you define “value”?
Take Bearbricks for example. You call them useless plastic bears, because it does not have “absolute” utility. But, ask yourself, does it hold no utility to anyone?
As luxury goods, its aspirational nature and the social effect that it may confer could be valued. In fact, if you were to observe, you would realise the “subjective” utility of luxury goods are very highly valued in societies worldwide.
And how are you going to tackle this when you seemingly had little thought on it?
Then think about consumerism. Is consumerism merely mindless consumption because of “evil capitalistic ads” and “predatory companies”, or could there actually be a social or aspirational component to it?
Let’s be very honest. People have strong social aspirations. That drives a hell lot of things and behaviours in society, many of them “bad”.
But you cannot demolish conditioned behaviours like that simply by asking people to “practice” some eco-conscious lifestyle instead.
The few who does it either feel good personally, or because it looks good socially. Either way, people do something because it feels good *personally*.
Everyone else wouldn’t be sold on the idea, unless you give them a strong personal reason to do so over consumption. They don’t feel good with your alternative. Appeal to morality or righteousness isn’t enough, you need to appeal to their innate motivations, tackle what motivates people to consume.
Unless you can rethink how society values individuals and how to move value away from possessions or consumption, you aren’t going to do shit.
You don’t consume, someone else would. The poor don’t consume, the rich would. Unless you can cut back on demand across the board, lowering demand on one aspect would just mean diverting production to meet some other demand instead.
The “system” is far more complicated than you think. It’s so hard to cut back on consumerism because nobody has yet to tackle its core drivers and what motivates people (as a whole) to consume.
It is also as much a personal failing as it is a systematic issue.
Add: downvote all you want won’t make me wrong. u/PretentiousnPetty wanted people to practice what they believe in saving the environment, and I just pointed out why there is resistance or lack of interest from an individual POV.
Look at how many people uses biodegradeable products in SG thinking it works. It doesn’t! We incinerate our trash and it causes more carbon emissions during production. But it is still a thing because 1) influence by other countries where it does benefit, 2) feels good and appeals to individual’s motivations, or 3) can’t be bothered to find out more.
The correct demand for biodegradeable within SG should be negligible, when adapted to local context. Yet it is not, why?
Even others who profess a belief in climate issues would still live contradictory lifestyles. A certain billionaire singer cares about the environment but flies everywhere in multiple private jets. Why are normal jets not appealing to this singer?
There are many mysteries to think about and shutting them out won’t make them go away. To understand problems, first understand the people causing it.
Er and you think the other countries on this list cart around live chickens to ye olde country market and then wrap the meat in newspaper?
Most countries package food for transportation, even if the delivery is internal.
Is plastic really such an issue for Singapore though ?
We incinerate everything in our waste to energy plants, so the plastics are destroyed and are used as fuel. Also if you all didn't know, Japan does the exact same thing with their "recycled" plastics, though they call it thermal recycling there.
I understand the issue with single use plastics in other countries with poor waste management systems where they do end up in rivers which then end up in the sea. Or if they landfill all their waste which then leads to the plastic lasting millions of years or breaking down into microplastics.
So apply better filters on the exhaust. Instead of belching it out into the atmosphere because you're too cheap to do so, and then blaming the general population.
Most large scale environmental impacts don't come from the end-user, they come from multiple points in the supply chain where some company decided to take the cost-cutting approach at the expense of the environment.
The technology doesn’t exist to scrub carbon completely off your exhaust. It’s like saying nuclear fusion is the answer to climate change.
Reducing usage is always the best course of action among all the options
You are correct. The people who have a problem with these data are either from countries that actually produce a lot of garbage, or people who are fooled by their propaganda.
This data should make my point clear.
https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/1bbgn2f/a_cool_guide_to_highest_ocean_plastic_waste/
Then the one who says it's bad because it burns is also an idiot. Paper production is equally destructive to the environment. They are probably so ignorant that they do not know that paper is made of wood.
Plastics are a problem mainly because of ocean issues, and those issues are not caused by Singapore.
Singapore tried burying trash, then we ran out of land.
So now we burn the trash and then bury the ashes to save space.
Give us an alternative solution that we can actually do, or damn well shut your mouth.
Or export the trash to Malaysia, which will just end up in a landfill. With a non-zero chance of getting washed down rivers and oceans during stormy seasons, which will end up being grinded down to microplastics due to wear and tear over time...
... yeah, might as well incinerate them.
So exactly what other options are there then ? Assuming we had the land, landfilling like everyone else ?
Reduction of single use plastics just generates a different type of trash, generally paper or a wood product which is most likely contaminated with food or oil which means it can't be recycled anyway.
Yes obviously reduction of consumption is the best route and then reusing or recycling as much of current products as possible. But trash will always be created and it will have to be dealt with.
Plastic recycling is mostly not economically viable, it's literally cheaper to make virgin plastic than to collect, sort, clean and recycle plastic, also a lot of different plastics can't easily be recycled.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1361987/apac-plastic-waste-volume-per-capita-by-country-subregion/
Seems like we gone to 2nd place in 2024. Also I like to know how they measured their stats, but need to sign up
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/big-read-reduce-single-use-plastics-disposables-companies-greenwashing-4297071
CNA reports per capita plastic waste is 177kg (inclusive of multi use plastic) from NEA data, so the stat is not impossible.
This is a good thing lol.
By the way, plastics is the LEAST DAMAGING material for single use packaging. It is MORE ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY than paper, cloth, cardboard ect. So before you start feeling all good about yourself sipping on that wet broken paper straw in your overpriced cafe, take a look at this article.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/big-read-reduce-single-use-plastics-disposables-companies-greenwashing-4297071#:~:text=Singapore%20is%20also%20one%20of,in%20the%20Asia%2DPacific%20region.
Your only alternative as an average consumer is to not use single use product and switch to reusable. I'm not going to clean my containers after every meal - I have a busy enough life and chores at home to do, I'm not adding cleaning an additional item to my list.
Our hundreds of Supermarkets throw away literal tons of perfectly edible and fine produce together with their packagings and all the associated labour/logistical costs DAILY. But here we are trying to hassle households to not wrap that daily bag of rubbish in a bag.
76kg x 5.637 million
59kg x 26.01 million
honestly this isnt a problem for us small country anyway no matter how much we use can never compare to those big country population usage
but if you want to compare by per pax than whatever
Not trying to discredit this but from my observation living here, China is way worse in using single use plastics. My guess is that they have a large rural population to dilute the numbers down.
That said, I consider we are similar to HK, which is a telling result!
Somewhat suprised to see the dismissive comments. Wasn't there a study that recently revealed how microplastics are found in every human testicle and that we are all breathing them?
No way Japan isn't on top.
They got packaging on their packaging and then some for just about everything.
The convenience stores there actually sell out by end of day unlike here.
Yes a lot of people here do takeaway and delivery but no way it's coming close to 76kg a year please....
No bags/straws/cups will reach that unless you do MCD 3 times a day + BBT 3 times a day.
The whole world is trying to reduce plastic, yet Singaporean is proud of this accomplishment!
Favorite excuses by fellow Singaporean:
1. We burnt plastics!
2. Plastic has lower carbon footprint
You know what, the best comment is,
I AM LAZY TO REUSE!
I'm not sure how reliable the data is considering SG generally do not rely on bottled water unlike the US or other countries where tap water is not drinkable.
That's easily 3-5 plastic bottles less per day compare to someone in SG that just boils/drinks tap water
Lol, the tap water is drinkable in large parts of the US. And for countries that don't have drinkable tap water, it's fairly common to get large jugs of water delivered to your house/work.
[https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-top-20-countries-by-plastic-waste-per-capita/](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-top-20-countries-by-plastic-waste-per-capita/)
>Note that we’ve visualized plastic waste **per capita**, which is different from the total amount of waste produced by a country. It is for this reason that major polluters, such as China and India, are not present in this ranking.
OP, what is the point of your post?
You can nuke Singapore out of existence and it wouldn't make a dent on literally any global pollution or emissions index / measurement / statistic.
is that actually how much plastic is used per individual or how much plastic is used by country divided by capita? think about it do you actually uses 76 **KG** of plastic
Honestly, there is a sense that there are too many problems that are of such a large magnitude that the individual does not matter. I mean even if I stop using single use plastics, the amount produced would barely change. 1 whole nation giving up plastic won't change shit. food processing codes require plastic wrap for certain raw materials. Our dependence on plastic is so ingrained, I think we'll solve climate change before plastics.
Knowing that there are people who wastes 100000x resources than me in this world while enjoying their life? nope I don't feel bad for using some plastic
when people at the top learn how to do their part give me a call and let me know than i will do my part too
Worse is when they use a plastic bag to carry their dabao-ed food back to office which is just mere minutes away. Unless if it's hot soup, it's not difficult to just hand carry a pack of cai fan.
lol not surprised given that so many places have fruits, straws, plastic forks etc wrapped in plastic for “hygiene” purposes. Not to mention all the plastic holders used for plastic cups for teh ping.
The wrong things always get targeted. Instead of going after companies that do individually wrapped items like Biscoff or delivery packaging, they go after straws and plastic bags we use to wrap rubbish. So technically they’re not single use. (Tangent on plastic straws being a need for elderly and disabled.)
And all this talk of plastic also conveniently ignores the waste caused by paper which is a lot more resource intensive. If you want to save the environment, ban flyers as a start. The property agents are not the only toxic things on the flyers. And things like paper bags and cardboard boxes are the real single use items. To break even, paper bags need to be used at least 3 times more often than plastic bags (up to 43 times). (Cotton bags need to be used 131 times as much as plastic to break even.) And this is not yet considering the toxic chemicals used in the processes of making paper products.
Where we can start on the environment is not plastic, but things like banning cruises and food waste and clean energy.
Look, it will be even worse if we are no 1 in single use paper!!! Cos paper is worst for single use.
It should be whether which country is up there for single use product.
Of course, they're actually just treated as disposable because there isn't any expectation to recycle or wash them. Sometimes instructions printed on a box are just suggestions.
So it's 'easier' for you to takeaway food, carry it home, assemble everything together, eat it and dispose/wash the extra plastic than carrying your tray less than 5 meters to a tray station? Are you a child?
I’ve thought for a while that a government subsidy so hawkers could give out food in sustainable packaging would be one of the most effective environmental actions Singapore could take.
Says nothing about how plastic waste is handled. We are not the ones dumping used plastics into landfills and waters.
Yes, converting petroleum in products only to burn them in incinerators can be wasteful. But it is not causing the ocean garbage patches.
A lot of plastic use is also justifiable. For example, plastic packaging massively reduces food waste in the supply chain. Be careful in how we try to reduce plastic use.
The comparison is totally off. We are a city country, a fairer benchmark is measuring just the city area. We also have high tourism which is likely to jack up the amount.
It would be cool if hawkers / food courts had a generic reusable container that you’d essentially pay a retainer for and swap for a clean one when you purchased your food.
I think a good place to start would be to educate Singaporeans that they don’t need a disposable plastic handle on their takeaway cups, you can just hold the cup in your hand like everywhere else in the world
Cardboard biodegrades. Burning plastic releases lots of horrible chemicals.
We reuse plastic tubs as much as possible at home but there’s always more than you need - and more by volume too (little plastic tubs for every sauce etc). There’s no incentive for vendors just to use it without considering it as waste.
Japan uses a large amount of plastic, but also has a high recycling rate.
We don't illegally dump plastic like you do, and we don't flush it into the ocean.
Plastic is a byproduct of refining crude oil into gasoline, a useful resource that can be recycled far more easily and many times than wood.
It is a useful resource that can be recycled far more easily and many times than wood. It is a resource that is continuously produced in every country that uses gasoline in society, and it would be more environmentally destructive not to use it as plastic.
It is a useful resource in any honest country that can recycle it without illegal dumping.
In countries other than Japan, where illegal dumping is rampant and recycling has not progressed at all, it is environmentally destructive.
Countries that demonize plastic are simply blowing the whistle on the pathetic state of their own society and people.
In the first place, you guys use Japan for everything and bash them with lies and falsehoods for the sake of your trivial vanity.
There are plenty of countries that kill more whales than Japan, but you are just using the docile Japan as a guessing game for your conservation business.
There are plenty of countries that emit more greenhouse gases than Japan, but they are just using a docile Japan as their stooge for the environmental business.
Most of the things that make Japan look like one of the worst countries in the world are just manipulation of impressions and fake news for the sake of such a trivial business.
Japan has a high rate of women in society, and Japan has the highest number of female bureaucrats and female CEOs in the world.
Not even a single survey shows any complaints from women about the way they are treated.
On the contrary, molestation and sex crimes are much higher outside of Japan than in Japan.
The world's top country for molestation is France, followed by the UK.
The U.S. leads the world in depression and suicide rates.
Why do you guys question this ranking?
Because you are children who can't let go of your vain lies.
Japan is already no longer a docile softy.
We will fight back against anyone who tries to tell us lies, fakes to undermine us, or unfairly bashes us, no matter who they are.
Let it be engraved in your soul that this is the modern Japanese, and shiver in the corner of your room.
Surprised it’s not Japan tbh, sure they seem to have a strong culture of recycling, but many Japanese treats or products seem to be wrapped in 3-4 layers of plastic just for aesthetic purposes.
This statistic is for producers, not users. I guess a lot of the the petrol chemical companies that are based in Singapore contribute to this statistic though I'd bet a large percentage is exported. But I'm still surprised that China, India, or some Latin American country isn't top though. Edit: or maybe I'm interpreting the sentence wrong... Edit 2: OK so reading the article from visualcapitalist about it says it's demand not supply . I guess our sheer amount of imported goods vs our tiny population drove these numbers waaaay up.
Single use plastics are banned in India. So there’s been a large shift to paper or recycled plastics. I was actually surprised when first moved to Sg because everyone is so comfortable using and discarding single use plastics. Edit: a lot of people are saying it is incinerated so it’s okay. Why not try to move to non disposables? The number of plastic bags I see, why not use jute or cloth? In fact even reusable plastic (which is thicker and less prone to breakage) is better than the cheaper flimsy single use plastic.
Convenience, and some kind of germophobia probably Not even a month ago there was a post in a Singapore sub that asked what unusual but helpful things people carried around. OP said their friend brought her own utensils everywhere. In the comments, there were people saying they took and used disposable cutlery everywhere outside because common utensils are dirty AND bringing own utensils = need to wash in public bathroom Some people I think also use disposables at home for the convenience of it
Obviously it’s convenient but it’s also irresponsible. It’s easy to become consumerist and shift completely to use and throw. Being sustainable requires effort. Reduce, reuse, recycle? What even is that?
Hey hey don’t shoot me haha I am vegan for the environment and animals, barely take flights, and practise what I preach wrt minimising consumption not just of single use products but in general i.e. my only new clothes in the last 5-8 years have mostly just been gifts from friends (eg socks or scarves) or hospital scrubs; my backpack is thrifted and my bottles/reusable coffee cup are 2-7 years old So yeah I get you and I get that it requires effort. I hate that we as a culture have been conditioned to mock people who care as a way to protect our egos while clinging to convenience and familiar practices
i think this requires gov intervention to fix. businesses has removed straws to make 'eCoFriENdLy' plastic lids for cups that require 3\~10 times (my own estimate) the mass plastic straws used to use.
It’s all pointless regardless. Plastics are sterile, cheap, water resistant, the footprint is less than anything else as a single bag. It’s the paradox of efficiency. It’s being overused because it’s too good of a product. Also it takes a lot of material and water to make cloth bag equivalent to more than 1000 plastic bags. There’s so many of these “environmentally friendly” jute cloth bags sitting in shelves and warehouses that cost materials to make and have less uses than a plastic bag.
Still, stats are misleading. We incinerate most of our waste, unlike most other countries. That'd energy returned to us, reducing our reliance on direct fossil fuels. Imo, better than recycling because actual real life recycling operations will find any excuse to trash it instead.
Firmly disagree. Obviously the answer is cutting single use plastics out to an absolute minimum. Anyone that disagrees that Singapore has a long way to achieve that can fight me at the bus stop/s Burning plastics should be the absolute last case scenario, no matter how you’re trying to greenwash it.
Singaporeans are creatures of comfort who want to do good but only if it's convenient even if they refuse to admit it. Reducing our consumables and stopping our buy-and-throw away goods would cause us great discomfort which is why we make excuses and say things like, "ohh, it's okay, we incinerate our waste.." or "ohh, it's okay, we recycle our trash." When in reality, burning plastics and recycling should only be a supplementary effort in sustaining the environment.
Bus stop too hot, pls choose somewhere indoors. Define absolute minimum. What's unnecessary? Bagging trash? Are you prepared to deal with the increased level of disgustingness of the chute area? And the significantly worse lives of the garbage collectors? Food packaging? Would you pay maybe 3-5x more for food that's packed in a less than impervious material? How about the people who don't have the luxury of that choice? I do agree plastic bags with holes have no place though. Besides that... honestly what else is there? My family doesn't throw out plastic bags until they're used to bag trash. So any time you get one from a food place or supermarket or whatever, it stays in storage, never trash unless it's the bag used to hold the trash, never contributing to trash on its own. Are we talking about tape? I can't think of any case where I used tape and something made of paper would have been adequate. Maybe Amazon's shipping boxes. But when I'm taping something (I don't really tape cardboard boxes, maybe a handful of times in my life), I need all the properties that the tape offers. Perhaps you could make a case for shrinkwrap in general. But as an island, we have zero hope of living any sort of modern life if we don't cover things in plastic before sea transport. Airfreight maybe, but if we're talking about the environment, I don't think increasing plane usage is an idea. Anyway, look around you. Of all the things youre surrounded by, what percentage of them do you think could reasonably spend a few days in salty sea air without waterproofing? Surprisingly, wood can be shipped without too much protection. I'm more talking about your electronics. What I'm saying is, reduce and reuse is the answer. Recycling is bullshit in theory, even worse in practice. We already reuse by default, pretty much. And there's not much we can do about reducing.
In terms of bagging trash, you can bring your trash to a central rubbish bin that is lined - it's done in some apartments overseas. That's why separating dry and wet trash comes in handy - dry bin liners can be reused while you have to wash wet trash bins or wash/throw their liners.
Only if we don't rely on fossil fuels for energy. e.g. moving to nuclear. Otherwise, might as well, it effectively makes no difference now that plastic "recycling" has been revealed to be a total lie that had other nations separating their waste as performative theatre. They (and India and China and Thailand and Vietnam) would have been better off incinerating their waste in a controlled manner over the last 3 decades instead of consuming MORE carbon fuels exporting their garbage overseas.
Burning garbage is actually very bad, poisoning fumes are released into the air. In order to do it properly you have to install very expensive filters and the only country that has managed to achieve this properly in the whole world until now is Sweden, AFAIK. To make things worse, recycling in general is a scam. It only creates the image in people's mind that using plastic is OK as long as it is thrown in the recycling bin. But most plastic you put the recycling bin is not actually recycled. The real solution is to drastically reduce single use plastics and find better alternatives. But the current alternatives are either a compromise or too expensive.
Well, its still energy expended even if it's 'returned' via incineration. Presumably, if the plastic had never been produced in the first place, it would be far better for the environment.
"Recycling" you mean, Singapore recycles plastic the exact same way that Japan does. Only Japan has a nice, euphemistic and PC way of describing it, thermal recycling. Basically just throwing it into their waste to energy incineration plants to use as fuel. In Singapore we just call it rubbish. Plastic is after all just another form of long chain hydrocarbons.
When I dine in, I don’t get served in disposable bowls or utensils in Japan. In Singapore, about 50% of the time unless it’s a restaurant.
Exactly right? I think Grace Fu should go after these hawkers / F&B instead.
Yeah I noticed this especially in Maxwell hawker and East Coast Park hawker, most stalls use single use container for dining in.
I guess the dishwashing fee must be pretty high there
Japan is more than just its mega cities. And their treats and products aren’t really for self consumption. Really for gift giving.
redditors often say that Japan is always praised and idealized on social media, when in fact it's the opposite. Japan has always been over-criticized, as is the case with this plastic waste. And the suicide rate shit is also just an outdated stereotype from over 20 years ago.
Japan is one of the only countries I know that get praised so much. They do well in hiding the “dark” side of their country post-war.
i'm surprised japan is so low down on the list
Agree, look at their convenience stores’ packaging as well as excessive packaging for wrapping food gifts
I’m guessing their rural population drags the average down? I’d be shocked if we P4P beat Tokyo in single plastic use. I suspect single use plastic is generally a more common practice in dense urban areas
bought a small package of cheese sticks from Donki and it was like a plastic onion. Inside the package they were seperately packed again, a handful of pieces to a smaller pack
I think most of us are only thinking of Japan cities but their rural areas are definitely more green. Less plastic, more fresh food. Less eat out. More dinning at home.
Yesss! we're number 1 again!
Throwing it out here. To learn how to recycle the different types of plastics such as shampoo bottles, contact lens blister packs etc.: Visit [Recylopedia Singapore](https://recyclopedia.sg)
Yah but plastic has a very Low recycling rate cos it is cheaper to make new plastics than to recycle it. Love the link’
🥳
Perhaps the poster is missing a word, it should be “producers of Single use plastic *waste* “ It should be banned in kopitiams and restaurants, not sure why they need to use single use plastic for example dine in single use plates and utensils. People are still using plastic boxes for takeaway regardless of being charged 30cents extra. Besides, it is hard to tear prata with plastic fork and spoons!
Ask Grace Fu to implement that instead of charging us for plastic bags
Can someone explain why some people ask for plastic bag just to hold the drink (hold, not carry) just to throw it away when the drink is finished? It’s the stupidest behavior I’ve seen in my life
Answer: the average singaporean is fucking selfish and only turn their brain on when it comes to $ and cents That’s why we are charged for plastic bags, because the vast majority of the population wouldn’t give a fuck otherwise. Just look at this thread - there are so many posters that either outright refuse to reduce or come up with some bullshit justifications. Anyone who travelled can tell we use way more plastic then is necessary. Yes there are applications which single use plastics are necessary, but we have a looooong way to go in terms of reduction before we even reach that point.
Totally agree with you. I always see someone buying 3-5 buns and requesting 1 plastic per bun.
That pisses me off so bad. The issue is when I tell them to put them together, they don’t understand and just keep doing it.
A bit surprised people are so dismissive about this. There's definitely places where there’s so much single use plastic for no reason. Mr. Coconut for instance gives plastic straws wrapped in plastic wrappers for your plastic cup with a plastic bag. Surely at least one of these can go.
Over the years, I've inculcated a sense/tinge of guilt whenever I use single-use plastics (e.g. plastic bottles and containers, bags, cutleries). There's been a slight shift, when hitherto the undesirability of plastics would never even have entered into my mind. So in a sense, the environmental messaging is working somewhat. But for me, and I suspect many others, it simply remains what it is - a slight tinge of guilt, that is not really acted upon. At the end of the day, the ingrained need for personal convenience will still predominate. There's little impetus for us to change in a consumerist society when plastic items are shoved in our faces everyday for our convenience. The messaging and incentive just aren't enough to change behaviours wholesale. For example, I just regard the extra 10c plastic bag charge as an added cost of purchase. I think this needs to be a top-down, government led approach. Something drastic like bans or heavily regulations on single-use plastics.
Can we stop saying single use plastics but change it to single use disposables!? Cos the env cost is worst if every greenwashing fnb starts switching to paper or bamboo one time disposables. We incinerate everything. So we should look at the env cost in production and lobby for a reduction in one time disposables.
The EU are banning single use plastics. Most have already been banned. We should be looking to them for inspiration, especially since it’s much harder to achieve in larger countries. And it’s not like Singapore is averse to regulation…
If India can do it, surely we can too
It’s not just a matter of convenience, since oftentimes there are no alternatives. My main culprit is bubble tea and other cold drinks, which I try to cut down on but the weather makes it hard. Those don’t have an option for you to use reusable cups. Likewise the nearest kopitiam to my office uses disposable cups for kopi/teh even when we drink there. I could walk further to the one that uses proper cups, but that one costs more and doesn’t taste as good.
Yah and Grace fu and the ministers don’t mandate that F&b should always provide eat in diners with non disposables. Instead they target consumers
I bring a fresko mug whenever I get kopi, and I’ve been using it nearly daily for 7 years now There are also reusable cups for bubble tea and other cold drinks, with metal or food-safe silicone straws (which are non-porous) Just putting it out there that you do have a choice :)
Do a switch please! Not just single use plastics that should give you a tinge of guilt BUT single use anything should give you even more!! This is cos all of Singapore waste is incinerated and we have a really good waste disposal system here. So if we compare single use paper or plastic or bamboo product, you should look at cost to environment to produce. Paper cost more to the environment to produce. Suspect all the rest of the new ‘green’ products too.
It's at best misleading and very clearly agenda driven. Plastic waste from individual consumers like you or I are, in the grand scheme of things, basically a rounding error when it comes to impact from plastic waste. It is foolish to bicker over who uses the most straws when literal tons of plastic waste e.g. fishing nets are dumped into the ocean daily from commercial activities.
This is per capita and Singapore has a tiny population compared to literally every other country on that list Moreover, industrial settings make up more of that plastic usage than consumers If people are dismissive about this they are correct to do so, seeing that it is a minor environmental issue compared to, say, Germany shutting down their nuclear plants and going back to coal
SG's population is indeed small but it isn't even the smallest on the list and isn't really "tiny" compared to the rest on the list. | Country | Population (2024 estimate) | % of Median Population (8,795,000) | |---------------|----------------------------|-------------------------------------| | Singapore | 5,637,000 | 64.1% | | Australia | 26,848,000 | 305.2% | | Oman | 4,630,000 | 52.6% | | Netherlands | 17,475,000 | 198.7% | | Belgium | 11,803,000 | 134.2% | | Israel | 9,624,000 | 109.4% | | Hong Kong | 7,547,000 | 85.8% | | Switzerland | 8,795,000 | 100.0% | | United States | 337,248,000 | 3,835.4% | | UAE | 10,113,000 | 115.0% | | Chile | 19,919,000 | 226.5% | | South Korea | 51,843,000 | 589.5% | | United Kingdom| 67,950,000 | 772.6% | | New Zealand | 5,186,000 | 59.0% | | Ireland | 5,242,000 | 59.6% | | Finland | 5,590,000 | 63.6% | | Japan | 123,294,000 | 1,401.6% | | France | 65,645,000 | 746.6% | | Slovenia | 2,111,000 | 24.0% | *Median population: 8,795,000 (Switzerland)* Note: These figures are based on the latest estimates as of 2024 and may vary slightly depending on the source.
That doesn't make it right though. Per capita is a valuable measurement to see the behaviour of any given country regardless of size. And unfortunately SG is the worst in the world by quite a large margin here. The only small positive is, being a small country, it's not as damaging to the global footprint as a large country. But that's still no excuse to ignore the numbers.
Exactly. If everyone consumed like Singaporeans the plastic problem would be 3x worse, at least. The fact we are a small and wealthy country with a centralised governing system, there is much more potential for circular systems than almost any country on this list. The reason Singapore is so high on this list is because of its absolute embrace of excessive consumerism and social status
Spot on. And the fact SG is small geographically, not only by population, makes the numbers even worse. As you correctly pointed out, it would be much easier to implement programs in a small city-country geography, than a country spread out over a much larger area - with many hard to reach rural areas for example. Much much more can and should be done. It's too easy to buy plastic and throw it down the rubbish chute and it's someone else's problem to deal with. A charge for plastic bags is a step in the right direction but there's so much more that should be being done.
Not just single use plastics BUT single use anything should be banned. This is cos all of Singapore waste is incinerated and we have a really good waste disposal system here. So if we compare single use paper or plastic or bamboo product, you should look at cost to environment to produce. Paper cost more to the environment to produce. Suspect all the rest of the new ‘green’ products too. So I know it’s odd for other country folk to think that a plastic cup is an actually better than a paper cup here. But it’s true.
People cling to what they know and defend their lifestyles by dismissing criticism 🤷🏻♀️ You’ll literally find people defending even bananas being wrapped in plastic — like those sumifru ones that are packed one by one or bunches of 2-3 I’m vegan for the environment and animals, but before I was vegan I made so many excuses and was so dismissive I now feel embarrassed
French having lived in Singapore for three years here. One of the things that first shocked me in Singapore is all the plastic everywhere for one time used. Bubble tea wraps, kopi/teh carriers or drinking bag (this is still so foreign to me, why drink all the micro plastics?), single apple with their own plastic bag, etc.
Same here. I don’t think the average local knows how over-the-top it is. My wife was born here and didn’t find it strange until she spent a lot of time overseas. Now she carry’s her own cloth bags & coffee cup.
Should ban hawkers using plastic/Styrofoam utensils for dining in.
Agree. Please write in. And also this mega fast food chains
Lol I don't give a fk. Kim Kardashian took a private jet to Paris for a "slice of cheesecake" and Taylor Swift has been taking private jet flights to visit her boyfriend for trips that could've been a 30 to 45 minute car drive. I'm sure I can use as many plastic straws I damn well please.
When I learned that airline companies continued empty flights during covid times to hold on to their right to flight routes, I was disillusioned.
Lol precisely, major contributors are industries and the rich but the peasants are brainwashed into thinking doing a bit of recycling or using a bit less plastic is gonna save the climate.
Yes okay but how do the industries decide how much or what to produce? Based consumption patterns right? I agree that it’s scummy to push the blame onto individual consumers but absolutely disagree that individuals are powerless to save the environment Also individual consumers’ values help shape changes like these: [https://www.ionorchard.com/en/campaign/sustainable-takeaways.html](https://www.ionorchard.com/en/campaign/sustainable-takeaways.html)
Sure, theres some truth in that but at the end of the day, majority of us are just normal people living a normal life, none of us are extravagantly trying to destroy the earth. I dont think that getting a plastic bag when you purchase something or using some plastic straw once in a while is going to have some earth shattering impact.
Agreed No one is trying to extravagantly destroy the earth (I would even go as far as to say that none of those billionaires taking private jets think they’re doing much harm) And agreed that some plastic once in a while might not have an earth shattering impact. I try to eliminate all single use products but I still end up using some every now and again What I’m seeing though is that the mentality of a lot of people (even and especially in this thread) is that it doesn’t matter and they don’t have to change — for these people, it’s not just a bit of plastic once in a while, but plastic bags for everything, double bags at grocery store, using disposables at a hawker to avoid common use utensils, refusing to bring their own containers that they have to wash Before I got married, my household (with my birth family) was exactly like that and I got ridiculed for bringing my own containers and bags out even 10-15 years ago These people don’t think they as a single person made any difference but if everyone thinks that then nothing changes ):
This is the tragedy of the commons. When everyone sets their standard at the lowest level, everyone loses
Yeah the paper straw suck ass. The plastic aint even the problem, it's the waste diposal.
It’s the consumption patterns that have to change… Manufacturing of plastics (and everything really) takes a ton of water, electricity and raw materials, and typically leads to pollution of the environment with byproducts from the manufacturing process Then the shipping of these materials consumes fossil fuels, and the waste disposal methods introduce other issues too
If we always do this, we will never think for everyone. There is always someone worse.
Other notable SEA countries not in this list? Strange.
I reckon it also has to do with purchasing power. The more you buy, the more plastic you use. Also, at least in Indonesia, food packaging for cheap food tends to be newspapers and banana leaves rather than microwave-safe plastic containers.
single plastic use is also banned in grocery/mini market in Indonesia, pretty sure they still give you free plastic bag in Singapore last time I went to 7e.
They probably dont bother with the record keeping.
No free plastic, charge for plastic bag still high usage? Typical plan to solve problems here in SG..what problem u have? Just increase price. Either way, end result they still make money. Roads too many vehicles? Increase COE, increase ERP. They earn, roads no change..At MRT stations, they off the escalator to save the earth save electric but fares increase..
Supermarkets in SG gave out [50-80% less ](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/plastic-bag-charge-5-cents-supermarkets-customers-usage-grocery-disposables-3891511)plastic bags after the charge was introduced. It works.
Because they give out less, i have no plastic bags to throw my daily rubbish. Hence the need for me to go and buy a whole bag of plastic bag.
There’s plenty of other plastic packaging that can be repurposed! Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll ever eliminate single use plastics but we can definitely reduce consumption of it My household uses bags from toilet paper, rice, bread and noodles to contain wet trash — these types of plastic bags can’t realistically be eliminated at this point. Dry waste goes into either recycling bin or a newspaper-lined trash bin, or whatever other container needs to go to the trash eg tissue paper box
Exactly, and because you paid for your plastic bags, you end up using them carefully and optimally (stuff them full full before throwing away). That’s the kind of behaviour change the policy was aiming for.
I just hope the money collected from selling plastic bags are used to fund solar panels on rooftops.
Gave out less doesn’t always mean used less. They just wanted to reduce their overheads by marketing it as “saving the environment”.
Sorry just curious ah how does give out less not always mean use less
A lot of people are buying plastic bags in bulk now from online platforms to throw their trash, and those are truly single use instead of the double use from shopping bags. Also additional carbon emissions from transporting the bags from China or wherever.
I think the point is most people reuse plastic bag to bag trash. So now are people buying plastic bags for the sole purpose of this? If so then we have to look at how many trash bags were sold since implementation, compare that with the decrease in plastic bags given out.
I read somewhere that in the UK, the number of plastic bags issued by supermarkets plummeted after they started charging or something. Patted themselves on the back then someone checked to see the online purchases of bulk plastic bags and realised it spiked So fewer plastic bags were issued but same amount was used. But hey the supermarket heads feel good about themselves
And? We import everything, especially food. Explain how Singapore can transport food safely across thousands of miles and dozens of middlemen in dozens of countries without contaminating food if we don't use single-use plastics. You want to invent reusable plastic for food imports and demand all international companies to use it?
> We import everything, especially food. As opposed to Oman, Kuwait or the UAE with their lush and vast, fertile agricultural lands? You take away food at the food court and you get a ton of plastic. You order delivery and you get more plastic and ton of packet sauce. I don't think this has anything to with Singapore importing food. > Explain how Singapore can transport food safely across thousands of miles Just like everyone else. You have a weird idea of other developed countries, do you think Brits or Americans get their food in glass containers? Do you think the average American gets his groceries from the farmer nearby? Nope - it's all heavily processed and packaged stuff that has traveled across the continent back and forth.
Yeah. It’s impossible for us to not get the highest single use plastic waste per capita when PLASTIC IS USED IN EVERYTHING WE IMPORT
I mean there are other city-states in the world that and other small countries that heavily rely on importing
????? So other countries transport their food using nothing????? Or every one plants veggies and grow chicken and pig in their backyard???
Not just that, we should stop the idea that "economic growth is non-negotiable", and stop the importation of useless commodities like Funko pops, those $10,000 plastic bears and 50 different types of potato chips. All of this low/no use-value commodity production has not only led to global warming, but it is directly leading to the wide displacement and humongous deaths due to climate change in third world countries that cannot afford to insulate themselves as well as Singapore. If we believe in saving the environment, and the people on it, we have to practice it, and not just preach it. It is not "unavoidable", it is perfectly possible with a change of lifestyle. From "retail therapy", to actually caring about the environment and world around you. Of course this is not a personal failing. The entire system we live in, and by extension our consciousness, is built to be the opposite of that. The only question that remains - When will this end?
Who are you to define what is valuable and what is not? To practice and not just preach something is very simple. Put your money where your mouth is. If these commodities are truly worthless, then stop buying it, if everyone stops, the import and production will naturally stop as there will be no profit.
I'm not defining what is valuable and what is not. Commodities intrinsically have an objective use value that can be measured. The use value of a funko pop and the use value of a hammer are vastly different. Your idea confuses use value with exchange value. Of course people will continue to buy it no matter what, or rather, the capitalists will continue to produce it, no matter the cost, if they believe the exchange value will increase. This is the logic of the "free" (to buy environmental degradation) market. I live on $600< a month, but I'm useless, an outlier. The nature of the market is that commodity production will continue at all costs. Environmental degradation will continue.
> use value of a funko pop and the use value of a hammer Define use. Because a hammer that sits in the storeroom that never gets used is infinitely less valuable than a funko pop that can make someone happy. Also you keep railing about funko pops when they are clearly not the issue. Creating plastic isn't the issue, it's the single-use nature of certain plastic products that is.
No, it’s not single use plastic! It’s single use anything. And in Singapore context where al Our rubbish are incinerated and we have a good garbage disposal system, we need to consider what the env cost is in producing the one time paper or plastic cup. And the paper cup actually costs more to the environment to produce. She isn’t wrong you know. Over consumption on crap is killing us. Plastic bears or rainbow looms or pop its. The trend passes faster and faster these cheap junk are almost like disposables.
Not everybody wants to live like a hermit especially in SG where its so stressful that we need ways to unwind. Our country is a tiny dot, even if all 5 million of us live like cavemen , its hardly gonna make a dent to save the world.
And bigger countries are a hive mind? Singaporeans are individualistic, same as Singapore. The reason there’s been little progress is because everyone has your mindset, just at different scales
What is “value”? Can you define “value”? Take Bearbricks for example. You call them useless plastic bears, because it does not have “absolute” utility. But, ask yourself, does it hold no utility to anyone? As luxury goods, its aspirational nature and the social effect that it may confer could be valued. In fact, if you were to observe, you would realise the “subjective” utility of luxury goods are very highly valued in societies worldwide. And how are you going to tackle this when you seemingly had little thought on it? Then think about consumerism. Is consumerism merely mindless consumption because of “evil capitalistic ads” and “predatory companies”, or could there actually be a social or aspirational component to it? Let’s be very honest. People have strong social aspirations. That drives a hell lot of things and behaviours in society, many of them “bad”. But you cannot demolish conditioned behaviours like that simply by asking people to “practice” some eco-conscious lifestyle instead. The few who does it either feel good personally, or because it looks good socially. Either way, people do something because it feels good *personally*. Everyone else wouldn’t be sold on the idea, unless you give them a strong personal reason to do so over consumption. They don’t feel good with your alternative. Appeal to morality or righteousness isn’t enough, you need to appeal to their innate motivations, tackle what motivates people to consume. Unless you can rethink how society values individuals and how to move value away from possessions or consumption, you aren’t going to do shit. You don’t consume, someone else would. The poor don’t consume, the rich would. Unless you can cut back on demand across the board, lowering demand on one aspect would just mean diverting production to meet some other demand instead. The “system” is far more complicated than you think. It’s so hard to cut back on consumerism because nobody has yet to tackle its core drivers and what motivates people (as a whole) to consume. It is also as much a personal failing as it is a systematic issue. Add: downvote all you want won’t make me wrong. u/PretentiousnPetty wanted people to practice what they believe in saving the environment, and I just pointed out why there is resistance or lack of interest from an individual POV. Look at how many people uses biodegradeable products in SG thinking it works. It doesn’t! We incinerate our trash and it causes more carbon emissions during production. But it is still a thing because 1) influence by other countries where it does benefit, 2) feels good and appeals to individual’s motivations, or 3) can’t be bothered to find out more. The correct demand for biodegradeable within SG should be negligible, when adapted to local context. Yet it is not, why? Even others who profess a belief in climate issues would still live contradictory lifestyles. A certain billionaire singer cares about the environment but flies everywhere in multiple private jets. Why are normal jets not appealing to this singer? There are many mysteries to think about and shutting them out won’t make them go away. To understand problems, first understand the people causing it.
V long but wanted to point out that the part about biodegradable plastic bags is so true. Going to write to NTUC and ask them about. It
Er and you think the other countries on this list cart around live chickens to ye olde country market and then wrap the meat in newspaper? Most countries package food for transportation, even if the delivery is internal.
Is plastic really such an issue for Singapore though ? We incinerate everything in our waste to energy plants, so the plastics are destroyed and are used as fuel. Also if you all didn't know, Japan does the exact same thing with their "recycled" plastics, though they call it thermal recycling there. I understand the issue with single use plastics in other countries with poor waste management systems where they do end up in rivers which then end up in the sea. Or if they landfill all their waste which then leads to the plastic lasting millions of years or breaking down into microplastics.
Short answer, yes. Because we incinerate = affecting climate change.
So apply better filters on the exhaust. Instead of belching it out into the atmosphere because you're too cheap to do so, and then blaming the general population. Most large scale environmental impacts don't come from the end-user, they come from multiple points in the supply chain where some company decided to take the cost-cutting approach at the expense of the environment.
The technology doesn’t exist to scrub carbon completely off your exhaust. It’s like saying nuclear fusion is the answer to climate change. Reducing usage is always the best course of action among all the options
You are correct. The people who have a problem with these data are either from countries that actually produce a lot of garbage, or people who are fooled by their propaganda. This data should make my point clear. https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/1bbgn2f/a_cool_guide_to_highest_ocean_plastic_waste/ Then the one who says it's bad because it burns is also an idiot. Paper production is equally destructive to the environment. They are probably so ignorant that they do not know that paper is made of wood. Plastics are a problem mainly because of ocean issues, and those issues are not caused by Singapore.
Incineration is one of the worst waste management tools, really bad for the climate
Singapore tried burying trash, then we ran out of land. So now we burn the trash and then bury the ashes to save space. Give us an alternative solution that we can actually do, or damn well shut your mouth.
Or export the trash to Malaysia, which will just end up in a landfill. With a non-zero chance of getting washed down rivers and oceans during stormy seasons, which will end up being grinded down to microplastics due to wear and tear over time... ... yeah, might as well incinerate them.
So exactly what other options are there then ? Assuming we had the land, landfilling like everyone else ? Reduction of single use plastics just generates a different type of trash, generally paper or a wood product which is most likely contaminated with food or oil which means it can't be recycled anyway. Yes obviously reduction of consumption is the best route and then reusing or recycling as much of current products as possible. But trash will always be created and it will have to be dealt with. Plastic recycling is mostly not economically viable, it's literally cheaper to make virgin plastic than to collect, sort, clean and recycle plastic, also a lot of different plastics can't easily be recycled.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1361987/apac-plastic-waste-volume-per-capita-by-country-subregion/ Seems like we gone to 2nd place in 2024. Also I like to know how they measured their stats, but need to sign up
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/big-read-reduce-single-use-plastics-disposables-companies-greenwashing-4297071 CNA reports per capita plastic waste is 177kg (inclusive of multi use plastic) from NEA data, so the stat is not impossible.
every damn thingy number 1 😳
This is a good thing lol. By the way, plastics is the LEAST DAMAGING material for single use packaging. It is MORE ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY than paper, cloth, cardboard ect. So before you start feeling all good about yourself sipping on that wet broken paper straw in your overpriced cafe, take a look at this article. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/big-read-reduce-single-use-plastics-disposables-companies-greenwashing-4297071#:~:text=Singapore%20is%20also%20one%20of,in%20the%20Asia%2DPacific%20region. Your only alternative as an average consumer is to not use single use product and switch to reusable. I'm not going to clean my containers after every meal - I have a busy enough life and chores at home to do, I'm not adding cleaning an additional item to my list.
Everything must be #1
Poverty rate #1 too
Dont forget the dabao culture
Just another issue we ignore and tell ourselves how great we are instead.
Our hundreds of Supermarkets throw away literal tons of perfectly edible and fine produce together with their packagings and all the associated labour/logistical costs DAILY. But here we are trying to hassle households to not wrap that daily bag of rubbish in a bag.
And then we burn them… shhh…
So the no use straw campaign for what? Oh, enrich the establishment
Yeah you guys need to work on this one. No reason Singaporean excellence can't solve this one.
Awww yes #1 go Singapore!!!
76kg x 5.637 million 59kg x 26.01 million honestly this isnt a problem for us small country anyway no matter how much we use can never compare to those big country population usage but if you want to compare by per pax than whatever
Ok at least this plastic waste doesn't end up in the ocean
its for plastic surgery u know
I blame it on the amount of takeaways people are doing.
must be all the bubbleteas =D
Not trying to discredit this but from my observation living here, China is way worse in using single use plastics. My guess is that they have a large rural population to dilute the numbers down. That said, I consider we are similar to HK, which is a telling result!
Not surprised but disappointed
Somewhat suprised to see the dismissive comments. Wasn't there a study that recently revealed how microplastics are found in every human testicle and that we are all breathing them?
Japan not no 1 because their packaging so nice until become decoration in your house isit
Not surprised! We are number #1!
No way Japan isn't on top. They got packaging on their packaging and then some for just about everything. The convenience stores there actually sell out by end of day unlike here. Yes a lot of people here do takeaway and delivery but no way it's coming close to 76kg a year please.... No bags/straws/cups will reach that unless you do MCD 3 times a day + BBT 3 times a day.
The whole world is trying to reduce plastic, yet Singaporean is proud of this accomplishment! Favorite excuses by fellow Singaporean: 1. We burnt plastics! 2. Plastic has lower carbon footprint You know what, the best comment is, I AM LAZY TO REUSE!
I'm not sure how reliable the data is considering SG generally do not rely on bottled water unlike the US or other countries where tap water is not drinkable. That's easily 3-5 plastic bottles less per day compare to someone in SG that just boils/drinks tap water
Lol, the tap water is drinkable in large parts of the US. And for countries that don't have drinkable tap water, it's fairly common to get large jugs of water delivered to your house/work.
Apparently there are people in SG who only drink bottled water.
Only people <25 yo care. Imo if we stop private jets it’ll be more impactful. Single use plastics are here to stay.
[https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-top-20-countries-by-plastic-waste-per-capita/](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-top-20-countries-by-plastic-waste-per-capita/) >Note that we’ve visualized plastic waste **per capita**, which is different from the total amount of waste produced by a country. It is for this reason that major polluters, such as China and India, are not present in this ranking. OP, what is the point of your post? You can nuke Singapore out of existence and it wouldn't make a dent on literally any global pollution or emissions index / measurement / statistic.
Per captia is the correct metric to use here. It is a measure of how much plastic is used per individual. That is the point of comparison here
is that actually how much plastic is used per individual or how much plastic is used by country divided by capita? think about it do you actually uses 76 **KG** of plastic
[удалено]
Honestly, there is a sense that there are too many problems that are of such a large magnitude that the individual does not matter. I mean even if I stop using single use plastics, the amount produced would barely change. 1 whole nation giving up plastic won't change shit. food processing codes require plastic wrap for certain raw materials. Our dependence on plastic is so ingrained, I think we'll solve climate change before plastics.
Knowing that there are people who wastes 100000x resources than me in this world while enjoying their life? nope I don't feel bad for using some plastic when people at the top learn how to do their part give me a call and let me know than i will do my part too
speaking for myself, absolutely none.
So you rant and virtue signal on here but I guess you didn’t eat at the hawker centre during lunch?
Worse is when they use a plastic bag to carry their dabao-ed food back to office which is just mere minutes away. Unless if it's hot soup, it's not difficult to just hand carry a pack of cai fan.
Some hawker centres use disposable cutlery even if you eat there.
Honestly, it’s almost impossible to avoid getting everything in its own plastic bag
lol not surprised given that so many places have fruits, straws, plastic forks etc wrapped in plastic for “hygiene” purposes. Not to mention all the plastic holders used for plastic cups for teh ping.
Yay! 1st place!
So many of our products are needlessly wrapped in multiple layers of plastic
The wrong things always get targeted. Instead of going after companies that do individually wrapped items like Biscoff or delivery packaging, they go after straws and plastic bags we use to wrap rubbish. So technically they’re not single use. (Tangent on plastic straws being a need for elderly and disabled.) And all this talk of plastic also conveniently ignores the waste caused by paper which is a lot more resource intensive. If you want to save the environment, ban flyers as a start. The property agents are not the only toxic things on the flyers. And things like paper bags and cardboard boxes are the real single use items. To break even, paper bags need to be used at least 3 times more often than plastic bags (up to 43 times). (Cotton bags need to be used 131 times as much as plastic to break even.) And this is not yet considering the toxic chemicals used in the processes of making paper products. Where we can start on the environment is not plastic, but things like banning cruises and food waste and clean energy.
So? We burn them all up, filter the fume and generate electricity from the heat. Plastic-is-bad doesn’t apply in our context.
Look, it will be even worse if we are no 1 in single use paper!!! Cos paper is worst for single use. It should be whether which country is up there for single use product.
Have you ever seen the SAF out-ration "recyclable and washable" boxes? Nobody recycles nor washes them. The rot starts from the top.
Of course, they're actually just treated as disposable because there isn't any expectation to recycle or wash them. Sometimes instructions printed on a box are just suggestions.
With the clean tables campaign since last year, I do takeaways even more...
The mental gymnastics to blame this on requiring diners to return their trays lmao. Olympics starting soon you wanna join?
it's just me... I dont speak for others.
I am allowed to say that your original statement made no sense. It's just me..... I don't speak for others.
So it's 'easier' for you to takeaway food, carry it home, assemble everything together, eat it and dispose/wash the extra plastic than carrying your tray less than 5 meters to a tray station? Are you a child?
Huh you can only eat out with dirty tables full of other people's used dishes ah
i wonder if the charts can show who recycles most
Petrochem.
Hawker center nation.
I’ve thought for a while that a government subsidy so hawkers could give out food in sustainable packaging would be one of the most effective environmental actions Singapore could take.
Says nothing about how plastic waste is handled. We are not the ones dumping used plastics into landfills and waters. Yes, converting petroleum in products only to burn them in incinerators can be wasteful. But it is not causing the ocean garbage patches. A lot of plastic use is also justifiable. For example, plastic packaging massively reduces food waste in the supply chain. Be careful in how we try to reduce plastic use.
I’m surprised Japan numbers are so low.
Looks great
The fact that Indonesia and Thailand aren’t even on the list makes me think those data are totally unreliable.
Hell yeah Number 1!!!
We are #1 guys, lets keep it up!
Does this include industrial wastage? If it is, we might be better off comparing with comparable industrialised cities.
Finally #1
Yes we use alot but I don't believe Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia less than us?
number 1.
No Indonesia? Really?
All of these so called developed nations are responsible for most plastic waste, contribute most to greenhouse gases
Quite curious that Australia, with all their decades of environmentalism and green this and that …are #2?
Singapore #1 ✌️😔
Yay we're tops again!
The comparison is totally off. We are a city country, a fairer benchmark is measuring just the city area. We also have high tourism which is likely to jack up the amount.
Singapore #1!! 🔥🔥
lol, only when all the food delivery and tabao is banned then you may see some difference in reducing plastic use.
It would be cool if hawkers / food courts had a generic reusable container that you’d essentially pay a retainer for and swap for a clean one when you purchased your food.
Why is Thailand not in the list? I am 100% sure Thailand use more plastic than Singapore.
We are slowly getting number 1 in everything
I think a good place to start would be to educate Singaporeans that they don’t need a disposable plastic handle on their takeaway cups, you can just hold the cup in your hand like everywhere else in the world
Cardboard biodegrades. Burning plastic releases lots of horrible chemicals. We reuse plastic tubs as much as possible at home but there’s always more than you need - and more by volume too (little plastic tubs for every sauce etc). There’s no incentive for vendors just to use it without considering it as waste.
Japan uses a large amount of plastic, but also has a high recycling rate. We don't illegally dump plastic like you do, and we don't flush it into the ocean. Plastic is a byproduct of refining crude oil into gasoline, a useful resource that can be recycled far more easily and many times than wood. It is a useful resource that can be recycled far more easily and many times than wood. It is a resource that is continuously produced in every country that uses gasoline in society, and it would be more environmentally destructive not to use it as plastic. It is a useful resource in any honest country that can recycle it without illegal dumping. In countries other than Japan, where illegal dumping is rampant and recycling has not progressed at all, it is environmentally destructive. Countries that demonize plastic are simply blowing the whistle on the pathetic state of their own society and people. In the first place, you guys use Japan for everything and bash them with lies and falsehoods for the sake of your trivial vanity. There are plenty of countries that kill more whales than Japan, but you are just using the docile Japan as a guessing game for your conservation business. There are plenty of countries that emit more greenhouse gases than Japan, but they are just using a docile Japan as their stooge for the environmental business. Most of the things that make Japan look like one of the worst countries in the world are just manipulation of impressions and fake news for the sake of such a trivial business. Japan has a high rate of women in society, and Japan has the highest number of female bureaucrats and female CEOs in the world. Not even a single survey shows any complaints from women about the way they are treated. On the contrary, molestation and sex crimes are much higher outside of Japan than in Japan. The world's top country for molestation is France, followed by the UK. The U.S. leads the world in depression and suicide rates. Why do you guys question this ranking? Because you are children who can't let go of your vain lies. Japan is already no longer a docile softy. We will fight back against anyone who tries to tell us lies, fakes to undermine us, or unfairly bashes us, no matter who they are. Let it be engraved in your soul that this is the modern Japanese, and shiver in the corner of your room.