I’d never cared if the elastic bands seen in daily life would be of any use or any value to keep. I often got them when purchased take away food in plastic bags, thinking it was convenient for myself  when all I needed to do was putting the food on the plate, eating and  throwing away the bags and the bands when finished.

Until one day, a friend and I went for a lunch out at a bistro. As soon as we were full we decided to order some take away for tea. We had tea together at my friend’s place that evening when I noticed how she collected every elastic band into a tiny glass bottle as if they were her collection. I asked why she did that; the answer was, she kept them for a vendor at her regular beverage booth. "They’re still useful. Better give them to the vendor to re-use than to throw them away”, she said.

From my friend’s words, I realised that, many times we might ignore or forget to pay attention to small things, even when they could be useful in various ways. Then I started to collect elastic bands that came with the food in a tiny glass bottle, like my friend did. Once the bottle was filled up, I gave the bands to the vendor at my regular noodle shop. The first time I gave them to her, she smiled widely and happily, saying they were very useful and that they helped her saving some money. I smiled back, thinking I’d keep collecting them for her.

I can never imagine how many millions elastic bands traveling with buyers each day only to end up at some place on earth for they do not decay easily or how many have been burnt for they are so thin and tiny. People may think that getting rid of the elastic bands by burning wouldn’t cause any harm or radical affect to global environment which is becoming increasingly critical everyday.

And I don’t know if keeping the elastic bands for vendors would help stopping them from turning into garbage. It only feels good to see them being re-used and helpful as much as they possibly can.

And I’ve been feeling even better recently, seeing how my elastic band collection doesn’t fill up the glass bottle as quickly as they used to since I’ve been using my own tiffin carrier for take away food instead of the shops’ plastic bags.