How about 'returning trays' is our social responsibility?

A simple act of returning our trays after eating has generated much debate.

A tray deposit? Some are irked. Coercion will not work, they said.

What will work then? Persuasion? But persuasion has not worked in the past despite campaigns.

And then there are some who say the tray deposit will not work because people who find it a hassle to return their tray will just treat the deposit as a 'service fee'.

Really? We'll only know for sure with time. 

A ST forum writer, Thomas Lee Hock Seng suggests using money as a reward or incentive for returning trays. Give a voucher for a free meal or item, such as a dessert of one's choice, for tray return, he said.

Just imagine, have a meal, return a tray, gets a voucher for a free meal. Good deal for the patron. It's like a one-for-one meal. 😂😂

But that will surely drive up costs for the hawkers who will then pass on that cost to patrons.

Well, of course the reward system could be in the form of points accumulation. A certain number of points will earn you a free drink or something like that.

If it takes too long to accumulate enough points, it might not be much of an incentive unless you make sure you eat at the same hawker centre every day.

The question remains. Why is returning our tray such a difficult thing to do? It wouldn't take more than a minute, would it, even if the tray station is at the far end?

How about 'returning our tray after eating' is our social responsibility and the mark of a first world citizen?

Deposit or not, let's return our trays.