Waste is not Waste Provides Online Waste Exchange for Businesses and Organisations in Singapore and Malaysia

Waste generation in Asia has been increasing rapidly due to urbanisation and industrialisation, and poor waste management in several countries has caused negative impacts on the environment and the health of the people. According to The Global Development Research Center, the waste in Asia is disposed of by 51% open dumping, 31% landfilling, 9% recycling, 5% incineration and 2% open burning. It is clear that more work has to be done to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in Asia.

We believe that waste is not waste, but a potential resource for someone to use again. To tackle the waste problem, we wish to contribute by focusing on ending industrial and commercial waste from businesses and organisations in Asia, starting from Singapore and Malaysia.

There is much scope for businesses and organisations in Asia to reduce and recycle their waste. Waste is usually the last thing on their mind and is something to be thrown away without much thought. With increasing awareness on environmental issues, businesses and organisations are facing pressure from their customers and along the supply chain. They are starting to look at the waste they generate and trying to recycle as much as possible.

By reducing their waste, businesses and organisations also hope to cut costs and be more efficient. However there are some barriers such as lack of time and information to find out the types of waste that can be recycled, and to search for suitable collectors and recycling companies.

Our new initiative, Waste is not Waste, hopes to remove the barriers by providing an online waste exchange that is easy and convenient for businesses and organisations to use, and which helps them reduce, reuse and recycle waste. We connect businesses and organisations that generate waste materials with those who want the materials, thus helping both parties save time and money while helping the environment.

Visit our new beta version of Waste is not Waste to learn more about us, the benefits and how it works. Remember that waste is not waste, but potential resources to be used again.

Small is Beautiful for Tourism Compass 2020

The Singapore Tourism Board has just launched a new initiative called Tourism Compass 2020 for Singapore residents and visitors to share their ideas and views for Singapore’s tourism industry by 2020, and contribute to shaping the future of Singapore’s tourism scene.

If you have an idea for the tourism industry, whether it’s promoting our wild places, encouraging ecotourism or making the tourism industry greener, register at the Tourism Compass 2020 website and contribute your ideas before 31 Jan 2010.

Here’s our idea contribution:

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

Allow visitors to experience everything small in Singapore, understand how it permeates through everything we do, and learn how we turn it to our advantage.

Every shopping experience in big shopping malls around the world is becoming similar with the same global brands. Why compete with other countries on big shopping malls? Focus instead on small businesses in traditional shophouses. Emphasise the unique experience browsing in a quiet small shop with sustainable, simple, individualised, or one-of-a-kind stuff you cannot find in big malls. It is not about shopping but about exploration – searching for meaning and connection through stuff. Encourage businesses in the small shops to make stuff by hand, to reuse waste materials, to be green in their operations and make green stuff, to turn products into services, or to involve customers in the production of stuff. Nurture green consumers and prosumers.

Singapore cannot compete with other countries on spectacular natural landscape. But we can compete on the rich biodiversity of our flora and fauna. Forsake the building of large artificial gardens and landscapes that are devoid of indigenous species. Focus instead on the biodiversity in our natural habitats. Explore the diverse small species of plants, animals, insects and marine life that make up an ecosystem. Emphasise the easy accessibility and fragility of these small spaces. Protect and cherish them so that visitors can exclaim and wonder how such natural treasures can be found in highly urbanised Singapore.

Singapore does not have the luxury of land, which means we cannot build more bigger tourist attractions. Forget about big luxury tourist spots. Think small quirky mashups. An island attraction that serves as a landfill and as a nature conservation and recreation spot. A Buddhist temple attraction that serves as a cultural and religious experience, and as a showcase of green features such as solar panels, wind turbines and micro hydropower.

Image source: Tourism Compass 2020

Nature Society (Singapore)

The Nature Society (Singapore) or NSS, is a totally non-government, non-profit organization, registered as a Society (ROS0235.1954/CAS), as a Charity (Reg. No 2082) and as an Institution of Public Character (IPC 000639). It is dedicated to the appreciation, conservation, study and enjoyment of the natural heritage in Singapore, Malaysia and the surrounding region. Inaugurated in 1954 as the Singapore branch of the Malayan Nature Society, it then metamorphosed into the Nature Society (Singapore) in 1991.

Run by elected and volunteer members, the Society depends financially on subscriptions and donations from its members, sales from its publications as well as donations companies, institutions and individuals.

Regular activities include guided local nature walks, slide talks and overseas eco-trips. These can be of either general nature interest or specialist in relation to birds, other vertebrates, butterflies, plants, and intertidal or marine zones. The Singapore Bird Race is in its 26th year, and a programme of regular island-wide censuses of birds is now in its twentieth year. Most activities are for older teenagers and adults, but the Society also has monthly Fun with Nature programmes for youngsters aged 5 – 9 years, and a related sponsored programme for primary schools. Activities are announced in its Nature News newsletter every two months, whilst it also produces a quarterly magazine, Nature Watch. Read more

3 Responses to the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint

The Sustainable Singapore blueprint report, “A Lively and Liveable Singapore: Strategies for Sustainable Growth”, was published last week by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development (IMCSD). The strategies in the report were based on the rationale of “The Singapore Way”, which is described as follows:

For Singapore, sustainable development means achieving both a more dynamic economy and a better quality living environment, for Singaporeans now and in the future.

We need the economy to grow. This creates jobs, raises our standard of living, and yields the resources that we need to safeguard our environment. But we must grow in a sustainable way, or else a high GDP per capita will be achieved at the expense of our overall quality of life, and cannot be maintained over the longer term. Protecting our environment safeguards a high standard of public health for our people, and makes our city attractive to Singaporeans and foreigners alike.

We think there are probably three different responses to the Sustainable Singapore blueprint report.

Well Done and Pragmatic

One response from the group of people who accept and agree to “The Singapore Way” is that the IMCSD has done a commendable job in coming up with the recommendations and strategies for making Singapore a lively and liveable global city in 2030. Among many other strategies in the blueprint, Singapore would:

• Reduce our energy intensity (per dollar GDP) by 35% from 2005 levels by 2030
• Improve our recycling rate from 56% in 2008 to 70% in 2030
• Reduce total domestic water consumption from 156 litres per capita per day in 2008 to 140 litres per capita per day by 2030
• Target 80% of our existing building stock (by GFA) to achieve at least Green Mark Certified rating (minimum level of energy efficiency) by 2030
• Reduce energy consumption in the common areas of new estates and mature estates by 20% and 30% respectively
• Implement a large-scale solar test-bed for public housing spanning 30 precincts islandwide
• Achieve a modal share of 70% of journeys made during morning peak hours via public transport by 2020
• Provide 0.8ha of park land per 1,000 persons by 2030
• Implement a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan to research, document and conserve biodiversity in Singapore
• Develop a City Biodiversity Index with international partners to promote biodiversity conservation efforts among cities globally

They applaud the comprehensive policies and bold targets to reduce energy and water consumption, reduce waste generation, increase green spaces and biodiversity, reduce business costs and increase R&D.

Although there is no mention of carbon reduction targets, it is understandable to them as according to “The Singapore Way”, the government will not increase business or household costs, and jeopardise our economic competitiveness. Singapore will be pragmatic.

It’s the Environment, Stupid

The second response is from a group of people who do not really agree with “The Singapore Way” because it seems that economic growth is taken as the central goal with the environment playing a supporting role. This is what they believe:

We see [today] a society and a Government whose primary objective is still the achievement of economic growth as conventionally understood and measured, with as much social justice and environmental protection as can be reconciled with that central goal. We envisage a society whose primary goal should be the wellbeing of society itself and of the planetary resources and environment that sustains us all, with economic objectives shaped to support that central goal rather than the other way around. – Blueprint for a Green Economy, Quality of Life Policy Group

They want to see policies that benefit the environment and society in the long run, even if some costs are incurred in the short-term. They hope to see a focus in the qualitative and not quantitative improvement of lives. They are not saying that we should return to caves and stop the economy, they are just trying to bring a greater focus back to the environment, which is actually sustaining the economy rather than the other way round.

No Comments

The third response is a non-response from the group of people who are not interested in a sustainable Singapore, or the group that are more concerned about other issues like Aware, swine flu and the rojak food poisoning, or the group of people who don’t care what the government has to say on anything.

What’s your response to the Sustainable Singapore blueprint that will guide us till 2030?

Image credit: Wordle.

Gallup Polls on Public Awareness of Global Warming

Gallup conducted polls in 127 countries in 2007 and 2008 to understand the level of public awareness on global warming. The results show that about 38% of the world’s population have never heard about global warming or did not have an opinion. There are 2 key findings:

Public awareness of global warming tends to be higher in highly developed countries and lower in less developed countries.

Their responses reveal that public knowledge of the concept of global warming is not the same thing as the public belief that global warming is a result of human activities.

Here’s a selection of the countries in Asia and their responses: Read more

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