A REVOLUTIONARY FOOD TRAY RETURN PLAN

Despite much effort in the past, the unique problem of unreturned food trays in food centers remains unresolved in Singapore.

It's time for a fresh approach. I'm proposing a counter-intuitive solution. Instead of persuading reluctant people to return their trays after their meals, we should do just the opposite.  That is, we should tell people NOT to return their trays after eating!

This novel system works this way:  A diner eats his meal with all his food in a tray. He finishes his food, leaves his tray on the table and walks away.

When a second diner comes along and wishes to sit at the same table, he has to clear that tray away lest he has nowhere to put his food later. In so doing, he also reserves the table for himself. A cleaner, now re-designated  a tray manager,  puts a numbered reservation sign on the table for him. 

After returning the tray to a tray-return station, the second diner then proceeds to get his food and returns to eat at his table. When he finishes his food, he can just walk away. 

The process then repeats itself.  In effect, every diner will return one tray during the meal experience, though the tray returned is not his own. A diner has the option of refusing to clear the tray on approaching a table, but he will have to pay a $2 tip on the spot to the tray manager who will gladly do it for him with a wide smile! 

This system has several advantages.  

First, one way or another, all food trays will be cleared eventually since every diner will clear away one tray. There is no need to broadcast reminders through speakers as clearing trays become a systemic obligation. 

Second, the problem of a tight labour market for cleaners can be overcome as fewer cleaners or tray managers need to be deployed. The incorporation of tips in the system may also motivate more people to join the cleaning industry.  

Third, clearing the trays for others gives people an uplifting feeling of pride that they are performing a useful service for others and for society at large.

Fourth, the immediate reward of an official table reservation in exchange for cooperation provides a positive psychological reinforcement to habitualize the practice.  By the way, this also solves the other perennial problem of people reserving tables with packets of tissue.

And last, over time, people will gradually learn the golden rule of caring for others in the same way that they expect others to care for them. Such an educative effect of 'love thy neighbor' may slowly spread by contagion to other areas of our lives.

This is an opportunity to trigger a general reawakening of our collective civic consciousness. Let us adopt this food tray initiative and start a social revolution!