Category: Materialism

Kudos to Cold Storage

22nd April 2006

Photo_0001.jpg
Before

One of my pet hates is plastic bags. They add millions of tonnes to landfill each year and can take up to 1000 years to decay. In some European countries you have to pay for them, and in other countries there are campaigns to get rid of them or reduce use. Singaporeans, meanwhile, seem to love them. It therefore came as a welcome surprise a month or two ago when my local supermarket introduced reusable shopping bags. The only problem was that they were located beyond the checkout (see above). I walked through to get some and put them on the counter and then, to my astonishment, the woman on the checkout promptly put them inside a plastic bag! I’m not much of a consumer activist, but I couldn’t let this matter drop. I contacted Mr Dennis Tan at Cold Storage Customer Service and he has very kindly intervened. As of last week the environmentally friendly shopping bags are in a prime position (in between the milk and chocolate). All Cold Storage has to do now is train its staff to encourage customers to use these bags.

After
Photo_0000.jpg

The advantages of a beard

27th October 2003

I’ve grown a beard once or twice, largely for the purpose of making a fashion statement and, to be honest, they’ve never been particularly successful. I also feel more comfortable clean-shaven. As a result, like many others, from time-to-time, I stand bemused at the razor blade section at my local supermarket trying to remember (a) which particular brand of razor I use, and (b) which type of blade fits my razor.

Read More
12