Explore Simple and Cost-Effective Ways to Maximise the Use of Our Existing Recycling Infrastructure

Grace Chua from the Straits Times wrote an article yesterday on Recycling: Time to get our act together. She suggested some laws and improvements to increase the recycling efforts of households and businesses.

Before considering her suggestions for households, I would suggest that the National Environment Agency (NEA) explore simple and cost-effective ways to maximise the use of our existing recycling infrastructure, which often is underutilised or misused.

The National Recycling Programme (NRP) has been implemented at HDB estates and landed properties since 2001, where residents are given either recycling bags or bins for recyclables, which are collected once every 2 weeks from their doorsteps. With the NRP, households can recycle conveniently and do not even have to walk downstairs to the nearest recycling bin or walk out of their house to the chutes to recycle. Households can also make use of the recycling bins near their flats since there are one set of recycling bins for every five blocks of flats.

For households in condominiums and private apartments, they can recycle through the recycling programme at their residence as it is mandatory from 2008 for all condominiums and private apartments to put in place recycling programmes.

With the existing recycling infrastructure, the NEA should aim to maximise its usage and tweak it to increase recycling, before deciding to implement new laws, place more bins or add more separate chutes system, which is likely to increase business costs and be passed on to the residents.

To make full use of the existing recycling infrastructure, the NEA could study simple and cost-effective ways to “nudge” households and increase recycling participation. In the book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, the authors pointed out two common misconceptions on change, which we can adapt to help increase recycling.

One, “what looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity”. We need to provide crystal-clear direction to the households on the recycling programme. Some questions to ask: Are the households aware or clear about the NRP in terms of why there is a need to have the programme; how the programme works; what items can be recycled; how the collection is done; how frequent is the collection, and where the recyclables end up? Can we appoint volunteer recycling ambassadors or guides to help the residents? Can we use more mass media and social media to explain the recycling programme and spread the message?

Two, “what looks like a people problem is often a situation problem”. We need to make it easier for the households to recycle by tweaking the existing recycling infrastructure. Some questions to ask: How to make it easier for households to remember the recycling dates; identify what items can be recycled; and find the nearest recycling bin? Can we place a reminder on each rubbish bin and chute to remind residents to recycle? Can we provide data for comparing recycling performance for each estate or block? Can we use social media and smartphone apps to remind residents on their recycling collection dates? Can we place better images of recyclables on the recycling bags or bins to show clearly what items are recyclable?

The NEA should study simple and cost-effective ways before implementing new laws, bins or systems whose increased costs could be borne by the residents.

Besides recycling, it is also important to focus more on reduce and reuse. There is a sequence to the widely known 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. “Reduce” should always be practised first to minimise or prevent the waste from being generated in the beginning. Next, “Reuse” the generated waste over again for the same or different purpose. Lastly, “Recycle” the waste so that it can be processed and used as a new material. Recycling still involves energy and resources to process the used material, and should be done last.

An edited version was published at ST Forum Online.

2nd Solid Waste Summit China 2010

The 2nd Solid Waste Summit China 2010 will be held on September 16th -17th in Shanghai, China.

2nd Solid Waste Summit China 2010 is expected to gather 200+ top decision makers and experts from the solid waste related industries including National & Regional Government Officials, Environment Service Providers, Plant & Facility Operators, Equipment Manufacturers, System Providers, Technical Solution Providers, Engineering & Construction Companies, Pre-treatment & Recycling Service Providers, Derivatives Trading Operators, Transport Service Providers, Consulting/ Legal/ Accounting Firms, Investment Banks & Venture capitals, Research Institutes and Universities etc.

The high-profile event consisting of one main conference and one workshop, will highlight the policy updates, market trend, investment & financing mechanism, technical innovations and international & regional case studies in terms of MSW Management, Hazardous Waste Treatment, Contaminated Site/Soil Remediation, Sewage Sludge & Leachate Disposal, Food Waste Management, Biomass, WTE, Incineration, LFGTE, Gasification, Anaerobic Digestion, Pre-treatment, MBT, RDF and Recycling, etc to share proven business intelligence and to provide long-term market insights.

2nd Solid Waste Summit China 2010 dedicates itself to providing a leading-edge multinational one-on-one networking, market expanding and informative platform for industry members to explore the sustainable development of urban refuse comprehensive and circular utilization strategies based upon strategic partnership.

For more detailed information, please visit the event official website: http://www.solidwastesummit.com.

Or contact the event organizing committee:

Ms. Tina Tian

Tel: +86 21 5181 5373

Email: tina@igvision.com

Stop Burying Our Head in the Sand

An international NGO, Global Witness,  recently released its report – Shifting Sand: how Singapore’s demand for Cambodian sand threatens ecosystems and undermines good governance. The report highlighted that Singapore’s demand for sand fuels the sand industry in Cambodia, which lacks transparency and accountability, and ignores national environmental and social safeguards. The report also accused Singapore of not doing enough to mitigate against the negative impacts of its sand demand, which undermines our position as an environmental leader in the region.

Singapore’s Ministry of National Development issued a statement, which was reported in the local media, and said that the report:

suggests that the Singapore Government seeks to import sand without due regard to the laws or environmental impact of the source country, in this case, Cambodia.

This is not true. We are committed to the protection of the global environment, and we do not condone the illegal export or smuggling of sand, or any extraction of sand that is in breach of the source countries’ laws and rules on environmental protection. We have not received any official notice on the ban of sand exports from Cambodia.

- Straits Times

This is among one of the many accusations about Singapore’s sand imports and its impacts on our neighbours. We think that the government needs to confront this problem properly and take proactive, concrete and transparent steps to ensure that our supply of sand from other countries is responsible.

Here’s a letter we sent to the Straits Times and Today:

The report by Global Witness has been widely covered in the foreign media and has put Singapore in a bad light. This is one of the many accusations on Singapore’s sand imports and its impacts, and it will not be the last accusation if we carry on burying our head in the sand and refusing to confront the problem properly.

A country that prides itself on its clean and green reputation has to constantly ensure that the supply of raw materials from other countries for nation-building purposes has minimal impacts on the environment and the people of the source country. Any misbehaviour by suppliers will affect the country’s reputation.

Let us solve this problem in a concrete and transparent manner. It is not enough for the government to confront the negative accusations by insisting that it did nothing wrong and that the accusations are not true. Instead, MND and JTC should be proactive and arrange a meeting with Global Witness to address the report’s accusations, concerns and recommendations. The agencies should treat this as an opportunity to refute inaccuracies in the report and seek advice in finding a suitable solution to this persistent thorn of sand import accusations.

MND and JTC have to rethink their policies on sand imports and address the following issues:

Are sand suppliers breaking the source country’s legal regulations? Are they engaging in illegal and corrupt activities? How is this checked and monitored? Who does the monitoring and how frequent is it done?

What are the guidelines for sustainable sourcing of sand from other countries? Is it based on international standards? How is it enforced?

The damage to our reputation is already done but we can prevent future accusations if we take proactive, concrete and transparent steps to ensure that our supply of sand from other countries is responsible. Let us stop burying our head in the sand.

The edited letter was published in Today.

Sims Recycling Solutions

Sims Recycling Solutions provides businesses and organisations with cost-effective, environmentally compliant e-waste disposal services. Your end of life office and IT equipment, consumer durables and other electronic equipment can be refurbished for reuse or dismantled for materials recycling. Sims is one of the global 100 most sustainable corporations.

Address: 12 Changi North Way, Unit 01-04, Singapore 498791

Telephone: 6214 0627

Fax: 6214 0421

Email: raymond.loh@simsmm.com

Website: http://apac.simsrecycling.com/contacts-and-locations/singapore for Singapore; http://apac.simsrecycling.com for Asia Pacific

Agrinergy Pte Ltd

Agrinergy is a leading provider of carbon credit services with a focus on the CDM. Agrinergy provides companies in the developing world with an end-to-end solution – from identifying and registering climate change projects through to marketing the resulting carbon credits and obtaining related project finance. We also assist companies in the developed world to meet their emissions targets. Agrinergy has 25 registered projects and over 65 projects are under development.

Adress: #08-04 Keppel Towers , 10 Hoe Chiang Road, Singapore 521156

Telephone: +65 6592 0400

Fax: + 65 6592 0401

Email: singapore@agrinergy.com

Website: www.agrinergy.com