Pasar Ramadhan - How much are we wasting?

During this fasting month, I'm sure many of us do drop by the ever popular Pasar Ramadhan to sort out the dishes for buka puasa. I have to admit that these markets are a good place for business during the fasting month. What I'm not happy about is the amount of waste generated from these markets. Any market that I go, I just could not imagine how many tonnes of garbage are generated from these markets especially plastic bags.

Just imagine this: A single guy who stops by Pasar Ramadhan to get his buka puasa dish. He is most likely to buy a main course dish (rice/mee), a pack of kuih and a pack of drink. That is the minimum to say the least. Now lets see how much food packaging goes into what he buys.

1. His main course dish will likely be packed by polystyrene pack. Then the pack will go into a plastic bag. If the dish comes with separate gravy or vegetable, then there will be more plastic bags involved.

2. His kuih will definitely go into a plastic bag. No questions asked.

3. His drink will certainly be packed in a plastic bag. Since the nature of the drink is cold, then the pack of drink will certainly go into another plastic bag just to avoid the moist and make the customer more comfortable handling the drink.

4. At a minimum, he will take back a polystyrene pack and 4 plastic bags. If he goes to the market for a whole straight month, then he will use up at least 120 plastic bags. That's only for a person. Just imagine how many people visit the market daily and how many markets are there in Malaysia? Do the math and you will be scared with the numbers alone. Does this shed any light on your contribution towards the environment?!

Since I believe you are not a typical Malaysian, these are a few steps that you can take to at least reduce the number of plastic bags used:

1. Bring along your shopping or cloth bag when you go to the market. Or should I say, always put a shopping bag in your car boot! Fill the shopping bags with your purchase. Put your main dish and packed drinks directly into the bags. You just don't need extra bags for these. It's a total waste! There alone you have reduced the number of plastic bags by 50%.

2. If you don't have any shopping or cloth bags, go out and buy one today! What's wrong with you?! The least you can do, recycle your plastic bags. Use it over and over again. They are durable. Instead of using 120 bags per month, you should be able to only use 2 bags for the entire month.

3. This is a little bit extreme. If you want to go an extra mile, bring along your own container (tupperware). The main dish and kuih can all go into it. That way, you will also reduce your plastic bags usage by 50%.

4. If you are a hawker at the market, encourage your customers to use their own bags. Give them an extra kuih for using their own containers. If they bring along their shopping bags, give them 20 cents discount. Is that too much to ask for?


All these are small gestures that I can think of which can go a long way in saving our environment. I'm sure you have better ideas that may have similar impact since you are not a typical Malaysian. Unless you want Malaysia to end up like what's in the picture, then continue with your "I don't care about the environment" habit. I hope you try.