The publicity work of the Alliance for Burning the Dark Paper Standard Action has achieved results, and complaints about burning the Dark Paper have been reduced during the Zhongyuan Festival and the Lunar New Year. The Action Alliance announced its dissolution and the next work will be taken over by the National Environment Agency.

Chen Ying, Senior Minister of State Administration of the Ministry of Development and Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the Alliance for Burning Paper Standardization Actions held a media conference at the National Development Building on Friday (March 14) to share the progress and effectiveness of the alliance.

Chen Ying revealed that the irresponsible behavior of burning dark paper during the Lunar New Year and Zhongyuan Festival has decreased. The Zhongyuan Festival is the peak period for burning dark paper. Last year, the complaints about burning dark paper on the Zhongyuan Festival were 31% less than in 2021; the relevant complaints received this year in the Lunar New Year are also 23% less than in 2022.

The Alliance represents the Singapore Buddhist Association CEO Ke Sunko said that burning dark paper and gold and silver paper is a folk custom, not a religious behavior, and these customs should be adjusted with the new social environment.

Ke Sunke took the Singapore Shenmei Industry Chamber of Commerce as an example and pointed out that since most paper sacrificial manufacturers and suppliers are from Malaysia, the Chamber of Commerce reported the local situation to overseas merchants and recommended using bamboo to reduce the burning ash instead of using recycled paper to make the dark paper, because the recycled paper only turns black and will not turn into ashes. In addition, it is also required that the manufacturer and suppliers reduce the size of the dark paper to meet the local incineration barrel size.

Further reading

Standardized actions have achieved results This year's Lunar New Year burning of dark paper has decreased by 25%

Standardized actions have achieved results This year's Lunar New Year burning of dark paper has decreased by 25%

The Alliance for Burning of Nether Paper Standard Action Explained Standard Practices and Myths

The Alliance for Burning of Nether Paper Standard Action Explained Standard Practices and Myths

The Alliance for Burning the Dark Paper Standard Action was established in July 2022. Its work scope is to jointly discuss and formulate social norms for burning the Dark Paper, and hope to encourage the public to burn the Dark Paper responsibly through the public education campaign.

The Action Alliance posted flyers on the bulletin board of the HDB flat and broadcasted promotional videos through electronic display screens. It also cooperated with major supermarkets and retailers of Ming Paper to remind customers to burn Ming Paper correctly. The alliance also uses social network platforms and songstresses to promote relevant information.

The alliance previously mentioned that it would carry out a three- to five-year publicity work, and now it has announced that the publicity work has come to an end and has been officially dissolved after three years of its establishment. Although the subsequent publicity work on burning the dark paper will be taken over by the National Environment Administration, Chen Ying pointed out that if relevant complaints increase in the future, it is not ruled out that all parties will be gathered again to discuss the response plan together.