Green groups see red over NEA‘s The Waste Cafe social experiment

But agency says it is an eye-catching illustration of amount of waste generated with disposables

Environmentalists and green groups are perplexed by a recent social experiment by the National Environment Agency NEA) which seemed to generate more waste while raising awareness about the impact of disposable ware on the environment.

On Jan 28, a coffee booth doubling as a giant installation was set up at Paya Lebar Quarter, where visitors received a free coffee drink in disposable paper and _ plastic cups.

Once they finished their drinks, visitors had to drop the used cups into the large transparent installation.

Within a few hours on Saturday afternoon, the installation called The Waste Cafe had filled up with about 2,000 disposable cups.

This was intentional, an eye catching illustration of the amount of waste that can be generated in a short period of time when disposables are used, said the NEA in response to queries.

This public outreach was part of the agency’s annual Say Yes to Waste Less campaign, which encourages the public to reduce food waste and the excessive use of disposables key waste streams that the nation has been working to address.

In 2020, about 200,000 tonnes of domestic waste generated in Singapore were disposables, and would have filled about 400 Olympic-size swimming pools.

The one-day social experiment was done in collaboration with Paya Lebar Quarter and Starbucks Singapore.

The creative conceptualisation was led by integrated creative agency DSTNCT.