FairPrice strengthens its sustainability commitment with participation in NParks’ OneMillionTrees Movement and implements “No Plastic Bag” to all its convenience stores
Published on
12 November 2021
S$180,000 to be donated towards National Parks Board’s OneMillionTrees movement – a concerted effort with organisations and communities to plant 1 million trees in Singapore between 2020 to 2030
600 trees will be planted together with the beneficiaries of Fei Yue Community Services as part of FairPrice’s efforts to foster community bonding
In line with its commitment to promote sustainable climate action, FairPrice will be implementing the “No Plastic Bag” initiative to all Cheers and FairPrice Xpress convenience stores from 1st January 2022. The current initiative practiced at 24 selected FairPrice, Cheers and FairPrice Xpress stores will be extended for another year
SINGAPORE, 12 November 2021 – NTUC FairPrice Foundation, the charity arm of NTUC FairPrice (FairPrice), has announced a S$180,000 contribution to the National Parks Board (NParks)’s Garden City Fund and OneMillionTrees movement* as part of efforts to transform Singapore into a City in Nature at a tree planting activity held at Bedok Reservoir earlier today. All proceeds will go towards funding the planting of 600 trees as well as outreach programmes to promote awareness on conservation and to connect more people with nature. To foster community bonding, FairPrice also partnered with Fei Yue Community Services (Fei Yue) for the upcoming tree planting activities.
The tree planting activity was attended by Mr Tan Kiat How, Minister of State, Ministry of National Development & Ministry of Communications and Information, Mr Tang Tuck Weng, Assistant CEO, Parks Management and Lifestyle Cluster at National Parks Board, Mr Seah Kian Peng, Group CEO at FairPrice Group and members of the working committee. For a start, 50 native trees were planted at the event.
Mr Seah said, “FairPrice takes a proactive approach to incorporate green practices in our operations and collaborates with the community to foster a sustainable future. This tree planting initiative is an extension of our ongoing sustainability efforts that leverage on our employee engagement programme to volunteer and befriend the beneficiaries of Fei Yue Community Services to promote community bonding.”
FairPrice has partnered with Fei Yue to plant the remaining 550 trees by the end of 2022. Both employees and beneficiaries of Fei Yue will come together under the guidance of NParks to complete these tree planting activities, in a safe and controlled manner in accordance with the latest safe management measures. Beneficiaries of Fei Yue include low-income families, children with special needs, at-risk youths, ex-offenders and elderly members.
Extension of the “No Plastic Bag” initiative
During the tree planting initiative, FairPrice also announced updates to its “No Plastic Bag” initiative that was introduced in 2019. Mr Seah added, “We took the lead in being the first supermarket in Singapore to charge for plastic bags to reduce excessive use while encouraging behavioural change in consumers, and inspiring other retailers in the industry to do their part. Through this effort, we have saved over 30 million plastic bags and more shoppers have started to BYOB at our participating stores. We will extend the initiative and build on the momentum by introducing it across our entire chain of Cheers and FairPrice Xpress stores. We encourage more customers to join us in this sustainability movement.”
Launched in November 2019, the “No Plastic Bag” initiative is part of the FairPrice Plastic Bag Management Programme which aims to reduce excessive use of plastic bags and at the same time encourage behavioural change in customers. Two years later, it saw over 30 million plastic bags saved, and seven out of 10 customers who were willing to bring their own bags.
The initiative will continue at 24 FairPrice, Cheers and FairPrice Xpress stores for another year and will be extended to include all 167 Cheers and FairPrice Xpress stores from 1 January 2022 onwards.
Plastic bags are charged at S$0.20 and S$0.10 per transaction at selected supermarkets and convenience stores respectively. All proceeds go towards supporting green initiatives including the contribution towards NParks’ OneMillionTrees movement.
Beyond the sustainability initiatives announced today, FairPrice has taken the lead in various green initiatives such as championing the reduction of food waste through its FairPrice-CSR Food Waste Reduction Framework and was also the Pioneer Partner for the BCA Green Mark Portfolio Programme. Today 40 FairPrice stores have attained Green Mark certification including two platinum awards for its stores at Zhongshan Park and Kallang Wave Mall.
The full list of participating stores can be found in Annex B.
*OneMillionTrees movement is a concerted effort to restore nature back into our city by planting 1 million trees across Singapore over a period of 10 years. Since its inception, there have been 272,232 trees planted. For more information on OneMillionTrees, visit NParks here
Annex A – Names and description of the ten tree species
Annex B – Selected stores which FairPrice charges for plastic bags
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Annex A
Details of the tree species
Ten native tree species were selected for the tree planting activity at Bedok Reservoir today. For the remaining tree planting activities taking place throughout the rest of the year, other species will be selected according to the advice of NParks.
Tree Species (Family)
Description
1
Tristaniopsis obovata (Myrtaceae)
A large tree up to 45m tall but is seldom 10m or taller in Singapore. Its trunk has flaky bark that are orange, grey to greenish. Its alternate, stalked leaves have thick leathery leaf blades that are narrowly obovate, and 5-10 by 1.8-4.5 cm. Its small, musky-scented, white-petalled flowers develop in clusters that are 2.5-5 cm long. Its capsule fruits are 6 by 5-6mm and release many flat seeds when they split open into three parts when ripe.
2
Tristaniopsis whiteana (Myrtaceae)
Tree up to 24m tall. Its bark is flakey, orange, grey and white in colour. Its alternate, stalked leathery leaves are obovate, 7-20 cm by 2-5.5 cm. Its tiny flowers are about 5 mm wide, with white petals and reddish sepals. Flowers are borne on a branched flowering shoot measuring 5-7.5 cm wide. Its fruits are small, ellipsoid, 2.5-4 mm wide.
3
Tristaniopsis merguensis (Myrtaceae)
Tree up to 30 m tall, with its smooth, light-brown, trunk bark flaking off in large, spiral, scroll-like pieces. Its leaves are spirally arranged at the end of twigs. The leathery leaf blades are variable in shape, blunt or pointed, and 3–17 by 2–7 cm, with the bases tapering to very short stalks. Its young leaves have pink leaf blades that have distinct, ear-like lobes encircling the twigs. Its small flowers are yellow, each with 5 white petals. They are found singly or in stalked clusters at the leaf axils. These clusters are up to 12 cm long and branched up to 5 times. Its round, woody fruits are up to 13 mm across, and half-immersed in a persistent, cup-like calyx. The fruits split into 3 parts when ripe to release many flat, winged seeds. Its ellipsoid seeds are 9 by 4 mm and are wind dispersed.
4
Cratoxylum cochinchinense (Hypericaceae)
Small to medium sized tree up to 30m tall but is usually 10 m or shorter in Singapore. The crown form is generally drooping. The bark is smooth and flaky, light buff colour to pale brownish yellow. Its opposite, stalked leaves possess fleshy to papery leaf blades that are oval to oblong or lance-shaped, and 3–13 by 1–4.4 cm, with minute gland-dots. Its mature leaf blades are green above, and distinctly covered with a bloom on the grey-green undersides. Its leaf blades are also deep purple, then pinkish-brown when young. Its faintly fragrant flowers are 1.3–2.5 cm wide, with deep crimson to pink or pinkish-orange petals. They are usually found in pairs, on 5.1–15 cm-long flowering shoots occurring at branch tips, or the angles of leaves. Its brown fruits are oval, 8–13 by 4–5 mm, and covered for two-thirds to three-quarters of its lengths by the sepals. Its seeds are narrowly drop-shaped to oval or oblong, 6–8 by 2–3 mm, and many per fruit. The seeds are released when the ripe fruit splits.
5
Koompassia malaccensis (Fabaceae)
A large tree that is able to grow 60 m tall that has pinnate leaves have 5–14 leaflets each. The alternate, stalked leaflets have thinly to rigidly leathery leaf blades that are egg-shaped-oval, oval-oblong or lance-shaped. Its flower can grow up to 12 cm long, branched flowering shoot develops from the end of leafy twigs, and is densely covered with white flowers. Its indehiscent fruit is a pod that is flat, oblong, thin and papery. The fruit contains 1 flat seed that is purplish-black and shallowly wrinkled.
6
Elaeocarpus mastersii (Elaeocarpaceae)
Tree up to 20m tall. It’s spirally arranged stalked leaves have leathery leaf blades that are toothed, oblong-lance-shaped, tipped, dark green, turning red when withering, and 4.3–14 by 1.3–5 cm. Its tiny flowers are creamy-white or greenish and about 2.5–4 by 0.4–0.5 cm. They are found on 0.7–5.1 cm long flowering shoots at the leaf axils. Its greyish-blue fruits are drupes, round-oval, and up to 1.5 by 0.8 cm.
7
Buchanania arborescens (Anacardiaceae)
Tree up to 35m tall, sometimes with buttresses up to 1m high. It’s spirally arranged, stalked leaves have leathery leaf blades that are green, oval to narrowly drop-shaped or drop-shaped, and 4–35 by 1.8–9.5 cm, with a blunt tip, and network-like venation. Its flowering shoots are 5.5–22 cm long, and bear cream-white flowers. Its fruits are lens-shaped, red tinged green, and up to 10 mm wide. When the tree is flowering, the plant is easily noticed by its distinct, creamy white coloured crown.
8
Pentaspadon motleyi (Anacardiaceae)
Tree up to 51m tall. Alternate, pinnately compound leaves are composed of oblong leaflets with a sharply pointed tip. They usually have domatia which provide shelter for beneficial insects.The rachis (stalk of a compound leaf) is purplish red. The purplish red branches are densely covered in round to linear, tan-coloured lenticels (corky structures that promote gas exchange between the tree and surrounding air). Small, star-shaped flower (0.4 cm wide) is composed of 5 white to cream-coloured petals with rounded tips. Flowers are arranged in dense, branched clusters known as panicles which have purplish red stalks. Fleshy fruits with stones are known as drupes (4 cm long).
9
Dipterocarpus grandiflorus (Dipterocarpaceae)
This large tree is able to reach a maximum height of 45 m when grown. Its flowers are found on unbranched, slender shoots that are up to 18 cm long. Its stalked leaves have thick leathery leaf blades that are broadly elliptic.
10
Horsfieldia irya (Myristicaceae)
This tree is a medium-large tree with a maximum height of 25 m to 30 m. The plant is dioecious. Its flowers develop in flowering shoots (inflorescence). Its fruiting bodies (infructescences) contain 2–8 fruits each. Its fruits are round, hairless, finely granular, yellowish orange.
Annex B
Selected stores where charges for plastic bags apply
#
Store Format
Address
1
FairPrice Xtra @ Hougang One
No. 1 Hougang St 91 #02-01 Hougang 1 Singapore 538692
2
FairPrice Xtra @ Kallang Wave Mall
1 Stadium Place Level 1, #01-29 Singapore 397628
3
FairPrice Finest @ 100AM
100 Tras Street #B1-01, 100AM, Singapore 079027
4
FairPrice Finest @ Zhong Shan Park
20 Ah Hood Road #02-01 Zhong Shan Park Singapore 329984
