I’m (name), an (age) year-old youth who’s extremely passionate about sustainability and reducing packaging waste. I’m writing to you today with a simple request: For (company) to allow BYO again. (**The request differs for each company! See more suggestions below.)

I absolutely love (product/company) and have been a regular customer for many years. However, I was really disappointed to find out that (company) has stopped allowing BYO. I have been consciously reducing my usage of disposables given the harmful environmental impacts, and really hope to be able to continue supporting (company) while doing my part for the environment.

OPTIONAL: While I understand the heightened hygiene concerns during this period, both the National Environment Agency and Singapore Food Agency have actively encouraged Singaporeans to use their own reusable containers. Infectious diseases expert Leong Hoe Nam has also stated that “The risk is extremely remote of COVID-19 spreading through reusable containers.”

I sincerely hope you can consider (resuming support for BYO again)! This would not only contribute to sustainability efforts, but help your company to reduce some packaging cost as well. 

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!

Best regards,
(name)

–

**Alternative suggestions: 
For (company) to…

• Offer reusable crockery and cutlery for dine-in
• Stop giving plastic straws automatically
• Go lid-free

Questions you can ask:

• Do you have a roadmap in place for eliminating plastics/disposables?

Other add-ons:

• You could even consider pasting BYO Bottle SG’s stickers at your stall! They are a ground-up initiative striving to reduce the wastage of single-use plastics in Singapore. Thus far, over 200 drink stalls have joined their movement. You can get their campaign stickers free-of-charge here: byobottlesg.com/get-involved
• Consider working with brands like barePack and Muuse, which allow for waste-free take-away and deliveries! Other eateries such as Salad Stop and Pizza Express have successfully partnered with them in support of reusables.

On the first Saturday of September, BYOB organised our first outreach session. My team and I decided to cover drinks stalls around Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 and its surrounding areas. The idea of having to go up and approach the stallholders was a little intimidating for us! We weren’t sure about how they might react to being approached, and anticipated being turned down because of low awareness of ‘bring-your-own’ (BYO) initiatives. Some of my teammates’ Mandarin-speaking skills were also put to the test! However, once we were met with a couple of positive responses in the beginning, we were more encouraged to speak to the rest. Most of the stall holders were very friendly and open to the idea of having a sticker placed at their stall. It also seemed as though many were familiar with the concept of BYO. 

One stall holder, when approached, said that stickers may not be the best way encourage awareness and change in behaviour, and that directly approaching hawker centre patrons and diners would be more effective. She also mentioned that the most she can do about this matter is to implement an additional charge of 10 cents for take-away packaging, but she has only ever seen around 10 people bring along their own bottles or containers. This made me, personally, think about whether deterrence measures (implementing costs on single-use items) are the only way to encourage diners to bring their own reusable containers. Additionally, she mentioned that it would be very difficult to persuade the main demographic of diners, the elderly, to bring their own bottles and containers because of old habits and convenience. To our surprise, we did see one patron who had brought along a couple of her own bottles to purchase drinks, which was very heartening to see as it showed us that there is still a small minority of the population passionate about reducing their use of single-use plastics. Over the period of our outreach session, we bought drinks from some of these stallholders and used our own reusable bottles. Their willingness to let us use our own bottles was encouraging, as one stallholder even said she’d be happier if everyone brought their own bottles, so she wouldn’t have to wash her glass mugs!

Overall, it was a very fruitful first outreach session for us, and the first step to encouraging consumers to think about bringing their own reusable bottles instead of using disposables for their drinks. 

– Preeti Kale, BYOB Outreach Team