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Businesses on Sentosa island have committed to remove single-use plastic bottled water from guest rooms, dine-in, takeaway, and events settings by the end of 2023.

These businesses include hotels, attractions and food and beverage (F&B) operators.

No more plastic bottles

Instead of bottled water, businesses will prioritise providing piped water through filtered taps and the provision of water jugs.

FSC-graded tetra-packs will also be used to replace bottled water, but only if quantities are lower than the original number of plastic bottled water provided.

For example, The Outpost Hotel Sentosa and Village Hotel Sentosa will replace bottled water with in-room Hyflux filtered water taps.

The Outpost Hotel Sentosa and Oasia Resort Sentosa will also be switching out individually-bottled shower amenities to wall-mounted containers in all guest rooms starting May 2023.

Additionally, at the Barracks Hotel Sentosa, still and sparkling water will be provided in glass bottles.

Two million bottles used each year

This policy is estimated to cut down on the use of at least two million bottles per year on the island, according to Sentosa.

Each person in Singapore uses at least one to three plastic takeaways per week, according to a study by the Singapore Environment Council in 2018.

This results in 473 million plastic disposables used in a year, enough to cover an area three times the size of Sentosa.

Members of the Sentosa Carbon Neutral Network (SCNN), which consists of 25 businesses and partners on Sentosa, have committed to this goal.

The collective carbon output of the alliance makes up 97 per cent of the island’s carbon emissions.

Measures to reduce other disposables

The elimination of single-use plastic bottles is one of 16 measures listed in Sentosa Development Corporation's guidebook on reducing disposables on the island.

Formulated in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore (WWF-Singapore), the guidelines are meant for businesses to understand best practices in sustainability and monitor their progress in adopting them.

The measures fall under six categories: Carrier bags, takeaway food containers, disposable tableware for dine-in, paper products, packaging waste and amenity kit.

All SCNN members are to implement at least one measure per category by 2023.

Some examples of measures include:

• Levying a charge for disposable bags
• Switching to materials with lower environmental impact for food takeaway containers and carrier bags
• Eliminating unnecessary packaging
• Switching to bulk liquid dispensers

Some businesses on Sentosa have already been working to cut down on disposables.

Since 2018, Resorts World Sentosa has been restricting the use of disposable plastic items such as straws, bottled water, takeaway food containers and tableware. Collectively, it cut down on over 100 tonnes of plastic waste each year.

They also have four onsite food waste digesters, reducing the volume of waste and saving approximately 72,000 plastic bin liners each year.

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Top image via Canva.