[6/6: Conclusion] SG's plastic use.

Conclusion

While in so many ways we are an accomplished city with international acclaim in education and healthcare and housing and even in the ability to balance economic and environmental needs, our plastic problem is a daily reminder of the absence of a national concern for the environment. The problem goes a little more complex than just pollution problems associated with plastic, which is why it can get so difficult to argue we must reduce our plastic use.

But allowing this excessively durable material to proliferate without restraint in Singapore - it continues to cultivate a mindset of indifference towards environmental issues, even engenders a sense of entitlement in using limited resources.

For many, throwing waste in excess remains a right, even if it should create wicked problems - both locally and overseas - that no one knows how to solve. It makes environmentalism stand out like a sore thumb; a series of complicated, inconvenient actions taken up by an idealistic, geeky minority. Our plastic overuse spills over to issues of recycling contamination, littering and a poor e-waste recycling rate. It fosters, too, a sense of powerlessness in those who wonder whether their efforts really do count.

That is the most harmful impact of plastic. A versatile, innocuous product we touch everyday, it has cemented into an individualistic mindset no one can change. That greatly handicaps our green movement. To begin afresh, excessive plastic must first be swept out of the way.