Packaging Matters
- khai
- Sep 12, 2019
- 4 min read
Last Monday, 9th of September 2019, I set foot for the very first time to the National Museum of Singapore. I was there to view the Packaging Matters exhibition at the Stamford Gallery. It was an exhibition held to commemorate Singapore's Bicentennial.
When I said it was my very first time there, it meant I have never been there before in all my 30++ life. I have heard of it but have never made time to visit it till.....
All I can say now is that my bucket list goes on and on......
The National Museum of Singapore is a quaint building boasting post colonial architecture and structure in its vicinity. There is a lot of stairs up and down the different levels of the museum. But fret not they do have escalators for you to use should you get tired from all the climbing.
The exhibition is free for Singaporean Citizens or Permanent Residents. You can also get updated information on their current exhibits or display here https://www.nationalmuseum.sg/
I was in awe!!! Captivated by the beauty of the building which was located in the middle of modern Singapore City.
Since it was the September holidays, I brought my 4 minions along for some sightseeing cum historical learning journey. They were equally excited by what they saw.
Back to the exhibition, Packaging Matters explores the world of food packaging in Singapore, from the early bottling and canning factories in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, to the light industries of the 1960s -70s when food was manufactured in factories.
To meet the demand for food supply, new food factories with automated machinery were also set up in the various industrial estates around the island.
In those days where technology was scarce and pretty minimal, there were many different ways of packaging food in factories.
The manufacturing of metal cans, bottles, paper boxes and other packaging materials grew to support the various food and beverages being produced in Singapore.
One thing that caught my attention was that some of the food packaging are still around today. Some of these food products are well known household brands that I love to eat when I was a child in the late 80's such as the Van Houten Chocolate. Back then, once the chocolate tin has served its purpose, it was used as a compartment for storing sewing materials or knitting kits.
It is not so common to use chocolate tins as an alternative storage compartment these days, but some housewives do make use of modern food packaging such as ice cream containers to store frozen foods. Imagine the horror of finding raw chicken in your ice cream tub when you unwittingly open it up for a bit of cooling dessert.
As I moved on further into the exhibition, I learnt that supermarkets such as Cold Storage and NTUC Fairprice only existed in the last 100 years! Wow.
Supermarkets make it a lot easier for people to buy a large variety of food products.
However more packaging materials are needed to pack and transport items to the supermarkets, as compared to when people bought food from traditional wet markets and individual food sellers.
With the advancement in technology, the food packaging material has since evolved with packaging designs that are more intricate and complex to communicate and influence our experiences of consuming food and drinks. This inevitably results in an increased demand for food packaging leading to an increased number of plastics used as packaging materials.
It is scary to think how each additional packaging material will affect the environment. The packaging materials come in different shapes and sizes such as plastic bags, bottles, metal cans and Styrofoam boxes. Some of these rubbish floats out to sea, polluting the oceans and choking sea creatures.
The effects of plastic pollution on the environment namely the ocean was captured on video by a British diver who swam in the waters of Bali, Indonesia. Much of the waste came from plastic materials such as plastic bags which are not biodegradable and may have been around for years!!!!!
Most of the thrash we throw into the dustbins are burnt up in places like the incinerators and the ashes then buried in landfills. However the landfills in Singapore may soon run out of space. In 2017 alone 1.67 million tonnes of waste were collected.
So how can we help to save the environment?
We can use products that come in less packaging materials and accredited with this logo.
As mentioned on the NEA website, this eco-label not only empowers consumers who wish to make a conscious choice to purchase products that generate less waste, but provides recognition to signatories who have gone the extra mile to minimize packaging waste. Consumers are encouraged to look out for the logo on consumer products and support these companies by opting to purchase products with reduced packaging.
Next we can opt to reuse some of the packaging materials such as plastic bags to collect rubbish. We can also use glass and plastic bottles for growing plants.
Lastly recycling is another way for us to save the environment. We can bring our own shopping bags when we go grocery shopping at the supermarkets. In this way we reduce the demand for plastic bags. In addition to that we can also recycle suitable packaging materials to minimize waste.
Well that is a lot of information overload for now. Huhu.
Anyway if you wish to view other exhibitions in the National Museum, you can also make a pit stop to the LED Wall near the Salon to view the moving memories display.
Moving Memories presents seven of Yip Yew Chong’s life-sized murals in 3D form which seek to express the romance of “places and moments… that blend sights, sounds, smell and tastes”.
The Moving memories display will be around till 1st April 2020. However the Packaging matters exhibition will end this Sunday 15th September 2019. So hurry hurry!
That's all for my entry today. Till the next post friends!
Wow. Some familiar and nostalgic items I can spot! Thanks for the info n pics. Will hit the museum soon!