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This year’s Say YES to Waste Less campaign, themed There’s a Price to Waste, reflects both the environmental and financial costs of waste, Dr Puthucheary <\/span>said.<\/p>\n “This year’s theme … is a timely reminder about the costs associated with our inappropriate production of waste. All the packaging, all the materials, everything that we consume requires resources, water, energy, materials. So if we consume inappropriately, the cost goes up.<\/span><\/p>\n “So we want to remind ourselves of that cost and what we can do to play our part in reducing that cost.”<\/span><\/p>\n Twenty-eight new partners have joined this year’s campaign, bringing initiatives to retail outlets, workplaces, schools and community spaces that range from encouraging reusable habits and reducing single-use plastics to improving food waste management and recycling.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among the new participants are AIA Singapore, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, the Institute of Technical Education and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.<\/p>\n Dr Puthucheary also noted that while Singapore has made progress in reducing domestic waste over the past decade, more still needs to be done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Domestic waste refers to waste collected from households and trade premises such as shophouses, hawker centres and educational institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n “Domestic waste per person has reduced by about 21 per cent since 2015,” he said. “That’s an important foundation. It shows that our efforts at raising awareness are having an impact.”<\/span><\/p>\n However, he noted that, each year, the amount of food waste that each person is responsible for “amounts to about 530 bowls of food per person”.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “That’s quite a lot of food waste that we are responsible for, so we can make better choices about how we consume,” he urged.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n