Single-Serving Culture

Remember that scene from Fight Club where Edward Norton talks about his single-serving life?

"Everywhere I travel -- tiny life.

Single-serving sugar, single-serving

cream, single pat of butter."

Well, the culture in the Philippines embodies this single-serving principle.

Everything at the market and the ubiquitous sari-sari stores all comes in single-serving packets.

Oil, sugar, flour, lentils, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, vinegar, soy sauce, spices, coffee, cookies, they all come in one size serves all tiny packets.

Even the cell phone business is single-serving. No one here is on a monthly plan. Instead they buy 20 pesos of talk and text time.  This lasts for a day or two and they load up the phone again.

Is all this single-serving lifestyle convenient?  Sure.  But deadly.  Here is the result of all those single-serving packets:

Garbage ends up everywhere.

Heres how the cycle works.  Someone buys some cookies.  They toss the wrapper onto the street. The wind and rain propel it into the waterways. There it pollutes and clogs the flow of the water which causes mass flooding during the rainy season and typhoons. 

There are no public garbage cans. And there is no national or personal conscience that instills shame for being a litter bug.

Give a hoot, don't pollute? Not in the Philippines.

Everyone here is dropping their trash into the street. Why? Because someone will literally come along and sweep it up.  

So who cares?  You don't want to take someone's job do you?