Durian season is in full swing and this year’s bumper crop means booming business for durian sellers. However, stall owners face hidden costs, as they have to fork out more cash to dispose of the durian husks.
Every day, workers at a stall in Geylang fill up four huge bins with durian husks. Each bin can accommodate about 120 kilogrammes of durian husks. Having extra bins during peak season means the stall pays about S$1,300 each month to have them disposed of – three times what it usually pays for waste collection.
There’s no way to avoid such costs, especially when most customers prefer to have their purchased durians opened and packed before they take the fruit home.
“We cannot force them to take the whole durian,” said the owner of Fruit Stop 1, Mr Teoh See Yong. “If they drive here, we suggest to them to take the whole durian home, rather than having the meat put in Styrofoam boxes.”
Typically, durian stalls are charged more for waste collection, based on the number and size of the bins needed.
It is a similar situation for one durian stall owner in Katong. He has been paying between S$600 and S$1,000 each month to get rid of the durian husks. During non-peak season, he would typically pay slightly more than S$100.
“If everybody takes durians with the husks, it will lower our costs,” said Mr Wong Yew Loon, the owner of stall 227 Katong Durian. “It will save our time, save our labour and save the price that it costs to get people to throw away the husks. It’s good to have everybody bring back the whole durian.”
SembWaste says it sees around 30 per cent more durian waste during the peak season of May to July, both from households and commercial stalls.
Member of Parliament Edwin Tong, who oversees part of Geylang, says there has been a noticeable increase in durian waste recently, particularly in the common bins near durian stalls.
However, he pointed out that, as the increase has not been overwhelming, the town council has been able to absorb it.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
