A waste to see handheld Singapore flags discarded after celebrations

It was my first time and I felt privileged to have attended the National Day concert as a parent at Woodlands Ring Secondary School on 8 Aug.

The whole show was run by students, from emcees to performers. The students were taught to respect the handheld flags they were waving and vigilant teachers in the hall kept an eye out on what the students were doing with the flags.

What was most remarkable was that at the end of the concert, all the miniature flags were returned to the school. I thought it was a great initiative to reuse them.

For many years, I have been attending the National Day dinners organised by grassroots committees for residents. Each year, we receive similar handheld miniature flags, sometimes whistles and other things so that attendees may wave their flags along with the performances. But at the end of each dinner, these flags would be lying around tables and floors.

We have been taught to respect the flag as a national emblem. Even though these are mini reproductions of the flag, may I suggest to future organising committees, whether for National Day residents' dinner or the parade, to provide boxes for attendees to return the flags?

I cannot bear to think of the wastage every year as thousands of miniature flags become trash after the celebrations.