We shared with the community at Ecosystem about Collaborative Consumption, which refers to the idea of sharing that is empowered by technology and social networks. Sharing also covers renting, swapping, lending, trading, exchanging, bartering, and gifting.

Here’s our presentation slides on Die Die Must Share – Collaborative Consumption in Singapore:

Ecosystem has invited 3 speakers to share on Collaborative Consumption, which refers to the idea of sharing that is empowered by technology and social networks. Sharing also covers renting, swapping, lending, trading, exchanging, bartering, and gifting.

1) Collaborative Consumption in Singapore

by Eugene Tay, Co-founder of Ecosystem and Director of Green Future Solutions

Eugene will speak on the emerging trend of Collaborative Consumption, and share examples of companies involved in Collaborative Consumption in Singapore.

Visit http://www.greenfuture.sg/

2) Rent Tycoons

by Swito Yuber, CEO of Rent Tycoons

Rent Tycoons is the leading online peer-to-peer rental marketplace in Singapore with over 11 product categories. The idea is to harness value out of idling capacity and empowering individuals to participate in this green effort. Collaborative consumption takes the center stage in this business and the corporate mission is to enable individuals to make money, save money and be green effortlessly!

Visit http://www.renttycoons.com/

3) iCarsClub

by Jamie Wang, Co-founder and Director of iCarsClub

iCarsClub is an online marketplace that allows car owners to monetize their “free” car time through its car sharing scheme. Drivers who want to rent out their car when it’s free can do so, and those in need of a car nearby can find one. The platform creates a win-win situation by both lowering the costs of owning a car for owners, and rentees can also have the luxury of driving a car when the occasion arises without shouldering the burden of owning one.

Visit http://icarsclub.com/

If you’re attending this sharing session, register your attendance at the Ecosystem Facebook event page.

Do you want to know more about the environmental scene in Singapore? Find out now from our 4th edition of the Singapore Green Landscape.

This year, the Singapore Green Landscape 2013 provides a review of 96 key environmental news in Singapore last year, and gives an overview of 166 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), green groups, business associations and groups, green websites, government agencies, and institutes and centres in Singapore, which are related to the environment.

We hope that this publication is useful for everyone who wishes to know more about the state of the environment in Singapore, find and connect with the environmental organisations in Singapore, or explore personal and business opportunities. This publication is free for download. Feel free to share this.

Fill in your contacts below to download the publication (click send and wait for the file to load).

Singapore’s first eco-friendly coworking space helps the green community foster greater interaction and collaboration

Singapore, 19 March 2013 – Ecosystem is a new collaborative and coworking space for the environment, and is a joint initiative by Green Future Solutions and SHFT. Ecosystem emulates nature’s ecological system and nurtures the development of symbiotic relationships among individuals, businesses and organisations in the environmental sector. It is an eco-friendly space that allows the green community to foster greater interaction and collaboration.

Mr Eugene Tay, Co-Founder of Ecosystem and Director of Green Future Solutions, shares: “We are excited to start this new space for the green community to foster greater collaboration and partnership. The coworking office space is also useful for those who are just starting their business and need an affordable place to work from. More importantly, a coworking environment for startups would help them tap on the wider network of the community and increase business opportunities.”

Ecosystem has attracted several Partners who would collaborate with and help the community, including Green Drinks Singapore; LOHAS Asia; Green Prints; Kampung Temasek; ToGather.Asia; Ideas.inc; Handmade Movement Singapore; JUJUBE, Eco Hub Asia, and EDU Outdoor Activities.

Services

With the rise of coworking office space in Singapore, Ecosystem is unique in being the first eco-friendly coworking space in Singapore targeting entrepreneurs, startups and organisations in the environmental sector or those who subscribe to green principles.

The services provided by Ecosystem include coworking office space, a craft workshop, and a crowdfunding platform.

Ecosystem offers its coworking members affordable shared office space, including permanent desks and hotdesks, and access to wifi, utilities, and a common pantry and meeting room. The current members of Ecosystem include: Bamboobee, TheDigitalCube, and Faculty Group.

Ecosystem is also building a workshop called Craft Guild for the craft and DIY community to meet and prototype craft ideas with access to shared equipment and tools. In addition, Ecosystem is partnering with ToGather.Asia to offer a crowdfunding platform for its members to source for funds from the public in support of their project or business.

Events

In order to grow the green community, Ecosystem will be organising regular talks and workshops for its members and interested parties to learn more about environmental issues and solutions, and connect with each other to explore business or partnership opportunities.

The first event hosted on 23 March at Ecosystem is a Craft Party Sewing workshop organised by the Handmade Movement Singapore.

As part of Earth Day on 22 April, Ecosystem is also hosting a talk on Collaborative Consumption, with 2 startups sharing on peer-to-peer renting of items and carsharing.

Green Features

Ecosystem aims to nurture an environmentally conscious community and commit to take the lead in being a sustainable coworking space in Singapore. It has published The Little Green Book, a guide for staff and members, which describes its environmental policy, and serves to educate and encourage everyone to adopt environmental practices.

In its environmental policy, Ecosystem will reduce its environmental impact by using energy and water resources efficiently, and minimising and recycling waste. It would purchase environmentally friendly products wherever possible, and encourage the adoption of environmental practices.

During the setup of the space, Ecosystem has included several green features such as:

• Reusing secondhand furniture such as chairs, shelves and tables
• Making DIY shelves and tables from wood planks and used wood pallets and doors
• Purchasing office tables made of wood that are not sourced from illegally harvested forests
• Keeping the air-conditioning temperature at 23-25ºC
• Switching to T5 energy efficient lights
• Switching off appliances and equipment at the socket when not in use
• Using an energy efficient refrigerator with a 4-tick Energy Label
• Using eco-friendly printing paper
• Using eco-friendly detergent with the Green Label
• Having recycling bins for paper, plastics, glass and metal

For more details on Ecosystem, visit http://www.ecosystem.sg/ or check out the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ecosystemsg/.

About Green Future Solutions

Green Future Solutions is a sustainability consulting company that helps businesses and organisations address environmental challenges and identify green opportunities. For more information, visit http://www.greenfuture.sg/.

About SHFT

SHFT is a social innovation company that designs and develops eco-programmes which aim to improve our society and environment by involving community, design and technology.

For more information, please contact:

Eugene Tay

Co-Founder, Ecosystem

eugene@greenfuture.sg

Soh Ju Hu

Co-Founder, Ecosystem

soh.ju.hu@gmail.com

Ecosystem is a new collaborative and coworking space for the environment, and is a joint initiative between Green Future Solutions and Shft.

Ecosystem emulates the development of symbiotic relationships between organisations working in the environmental sector. It is a platform that allows organisations to have close and long-term interactions, generating larger network of people with common interests, more business opportunities and complementary expertise for each other.

The Ecosystem co-working office space near Bugis would be ready in March and we are looking for environmental startups, companies and organisations to join our community. We are offering an early bird rate for those who wish to sign up for a permanent table space and enjoy our services.

If you are looking for an office space for your green startup, check out http://www.ecosystem.sg/ and connect with us at http://www.facebook.com/ecosystemsg or http://www.twitter.com/ecosystemsg.

The Our SG Conversation for the Green Community (OSC) was held last Saturday 19 January at Singapore Polytechnic. This OSC was initiated by Faizah Jamal, Nominated Member of Parliament (Environment and Heritage) People and Civic Sector, and Eugene Tay, Director, Green Future Solutions, in collaboration with the Singapore Polytechnic Environment Club and “Our Singapore” Programme Office, Public Service Division.

55 participants, including 45 representatives from green groups and 10 from the public, turned up on a rainy Saturday morning to voice their thoughts and vision for Singapore. The diverse views of the green community, which included environmental NGOs and groups; individual environment, animal and wildlife activists; and environmental businesses, associations and research academics, added an important voice to the overall national conversation.

The small group discussions started with looking at our past and present, with the following key questions:

• Think of a personal experience or story when you were most and least inspired for a green future in Singapore.
• What is the biggest concern that you face in your work in the green community and with other Singaporeans?

Some participants share their positive experience on volunteering as nature guides; how the appreciation of nature led to being concerned about other green issues; and the green consciousness seen in other countries.

Other participants share their least inspired stories of Singaporeans having a “don’t know, don’t care” attitude which drives overconsumption and wasteful behaviour; the current generation of youth not having much interaction with the environment and nature; and the limitations in engagement among the environmental movement, government and citizens.

Next, the small groups moved on to discuss our vision for Singapore in 2022, and explored the following key questions:

• What do we envision for Singapore?
• What is the role of civil society, private enterprise, government, and the ordinary citizen?
• How can the green community be more creative, engaging and inspiring in the way we communicate with Singaporeans on our environmental concerns and visions?

Each group presented their views and we ended with a big group discussions on what has been said and what we can do next.

Some of the diverse views from the groups include:

• The need for environmental impact assessments (EIA)
• A country that respects the earth and looks at Gross National Happiness
• The government moving away from enforcement and regulation, towards helping people who help themselves
• The need for people in the various environmental sectors (public, NGOs, institutions and government) to collaborate
• Corporations having a larger role to play in conservation and the environment
• Consumerist lifestyle of Singaporeans need to be addressed
• Government should adopt a holistic approach when it comes to policy implementation
• Incorporate environmental issues and awareness into the education system
• More attention on climate change, and managing waste, energy, and food properly
• Moving from 5Cs to a 5Gs society: gracious, green, giving, grounded, grateful
• More environmental narratives and stories from the media
• Mainstreaming the green agenda

The photos and a short video of the OSC will be posted at http://www.facebook.com/OSCgreen. Also check out the media coverage at:

• Suria, http://on.fb.me/SlcsbU
• Straits Times, http://bit.ly/WuqTZh or http://on.fb.me/SlbWL7
• Lianhe Zaobao, http://on.fb.me/VSqwKJ

We will compile the notes from the OSC and send it to the Our Singapore Programme Office. In addition, the notes would be included in a report and sent to the participants, government agencies and Ministers, and be made available for public download.

We would like to thank all those who helped us in organising this OSC:

• Singapore Polytechnic Environment Club, especially Elaine, Li Min and Nazurah, and Student Development Officer, Valerie
• Facilitators: Vaneeta, Yeung Lee, Dave, Bhavani, Lastrina, Melissa, Zafirah, November
• Scribes: Farhan, Chin Hsien, Yang Xuan, Ding Li, Ezra, Veronica, Isabela, Pricilia
• Photographer:Hari
• Videographer: Alicia
• Our young volunteers from SOTA
• Our Singapore Programme Office: Daniel, Stephanie and Nicholas

Our SG Conversation for the Green Community is organised by Faizah Jamal, Nominated Member of Parliament (Environment and Heritage) People and Civic Sector, and Eugene Tay, Director, Green Future Solutions, in collaboration with the “Our Singapore” Programme Office, Public Service Division.

The ongoing Our SG Conversation (OSC) provides an opportunity for Singaporeans to come together and discuss our vision and priorities as a country. We believe that the green community would also be able to contribute and make a difference to this national conversation. The diverse views of the green community, which includes environmental NGOs and groups; individual environment, animal and wildlife activists; and environmental businesses, associations and research academics, would add an important voice to the overall conversation.

To that end, we are organising the “Our SG Conversation for the Green Community” session with the following objectives:

• Allow the green community to come together and voice our thoughts and vision for Singapore
• Input the views and discussions of the green community into the OSC process
• Foster greater interaction and discussion among the green community on national issues beyond the OSC process

As we are adopting the existing OSC format and facilitation questions, our discussion is on general issues and our vision for Singapore, and not just on green issues. Although as members of the green community, our focus will naturally be on green issues, we should aim to communicate and weave our concerns in line with the OSC process so that our concerns can be seen as relevant to all Singaporeans and the country as a whole, and not just the views of a small group of people.

We are inviting 64 representatives from the green community to join us for this session on 19 Jan. So far, we have confirmed representatives from these groups:

1. Earth Hour Global
2. Action for Singapore Dogs
3. Singapore Institute of International Affairs
4. Sustainable Living Lab
5. Nature Trekker
6. Green IT Chapter, Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation
7. EART-H
8. Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities
9. Department of Geography, NUS
10. Waterways Watch Society
11. Residues & Resource Reclamation Centre
12. Kranji Countryside Association
13. Singapore Polytechnic Environment Club
14. Energy Research Institute @ NTU
15. Edible “Garden City” Project
16. Energy Studies Institute
17. Blue Water Volunteers
18. Ground-Up Initiative
19. SPCA
20. Avelife
21. Environmental Challenge Organisation (Singapore)
22. Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore
23. Environmental Rangers Club (Ngee Ann Polytechnic)
24. Conservation Interest Group (Republic Polytechnic)
25. Environmental Management Association of Singapore
26. Nature Society
27. Singapore Green Building Council
28. The Living! Project
29. Vegetarian Society (Singapore)
30. ITE College East Environment Club
31. Cat Welfare Society
32. Bachelor of Environmental Studies Student Committee (NUS)
33. GEO Council (Nanyang Polytechnic)
34. NIE Green Club
35. Wildlife Conservation Society
36. Green Kampong
37. International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
38. Raffles Museum Toddycats!
39. The Hantu Bloggers
40. WWF Singapore
41. SMU verts
42. 350 Singapore
43. Naked Hermit Crabs
44. Kampung Temasek
45. TeamSeagrass
46. Energy Carta (NUS)
47. Hemispheres Foundation
48. Green Drinks
49. Keep Singapore Beautiful Movement
50. Singapore Environment Council
51. Wildsingapore
52. EARTHlink NTU
53. NUSSU SAVE

Our SG Conversation is an opportunity for all Singaporeans, including the green community, to contribute our thoughts and discuss our vision of a better Singapore.

Join us for updates on the Our SG Conversation for the Green Community Facebook page, and share your views too!

Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) is the national conversation for Singaporeans to come together and discuss our vision and priorities as a country.

Several OSC sessions have already taken place and the dialogue sessions have been encouraging and positive, with many Singaporeans actively contributing their thoughts and sharing their vision for a better Singapore.

So far, we have not noticed much environmental issues and sustainability visions being discussed during the OSC sessions. We attended an OSC session and there really is not much discussions on our green vision and priorities.

The OSC would move on to the second phase next year, where common topics discussed during the previous OSC sessions would be consolidated and specific themes would be discussed. We feel that as the green voice is lacking in the current conversation, it is unlikely that the next phase would include discussions on the environment.

We believe that the green community would also be able to contribute and make a difference to this national conversation. The diverse views of the green community, which includes environmental NGOs and groups; individual environment, animal and wildlife activists; and environmental businesses, associations and research academics, would add an important voice to the overall conversation.

There are 2 things the green community can do to keep the green voice alive in the OSC:

1) You can participate in the OSC sessions and share your green views. Sign up for upcoming OSC sessions here.

2) We are planning to organise an OSC session for the green community, with the following objectives:

• Allow the green community to come together and voice our thoughts and vision for Singapore
• Input the views and discussions of the green community into the OSC process
• Foster greater interaction and discussion among the green community on national issues

More details coming soon. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in helping out, do send us an email. Thanks!

Our Singapore Conversation is an opportunity for all Singaporeans, including the green community, to contribute our thoughts and discuss our vision of a better Singapore. Let us contribute actively and positively to this national conversation.

Singapore, 5 Nov 2012 – Save Food Cut Waste is the first campaign in Singapore targeting the reduction of food waste. It is a ground-up movement educating individuals, businesses and organisations in Singapore about the environmental and social impacts of food waste, and encouraging everyone to take action in reducing food waste.

Impacts of Food Waste

According to the Global Food Losses and Food Waste report published in 2011 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about 1.3 billion tonnes or one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year is lost or wasted throughout the supply chain, from production to consumption.

Food that is wasted has several environmental, financial and social impacts. Food waste leads to a waste of resources used in food production and distribution, including land, water, energy, fertilisers, pesticides, labour and capital. Food waste disposal in landfills also produces methane, which is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and contributes to climate change. More importantly, the food wasted could be used to feed the poor and the nearly one billion malnourished people in the world.

Food Waste in Singapore

In Singapore, food waste is created every day from our food cycle – production, distribution, retail to consumption, and the wastage is unfortunately due to several reasons, such as food spoilage due to improper storage or handling, edible food thrown away because it does not look nice or has ‘expired’, food discards or leftovers during cooking or consumption.

Food waste is generated from our food manufacturers, food distributors, food retailers, wet markets, supermarkets, hawker centres, restaurants, food courts, caterers, and our homes. In fact, Singapore threw away about 0.68 million tonnes of food waste in 2011 and only 10% was recycled. This means on average, each person in Singapore generated about 130kg of food waste a year.

The recycling rate for food waste has dropped from 16% in 2010 to 10% in 2011. So far, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has not initiated any campaigns on reducing or recycling food waste. As such, the food waste recycling rate would remain low over the next few years, and NEA is likely to miss its target of 30% recycling rate for food waste by 2012, set in the Singapore Green Plan 2012.

Tackling Food Waste

To tackle the problem of food waste in Singapore, the first phase of the Save Food Cut Waste campaign aims to educate individuals and households by raising awareness that the problem exists and providing practical tips for everyone to start reducing food waste along our food cycle:

• Grow and Buy – Food production, distribution and purchasing
• Cook and Eat – Food preparation and consumption
• Give and Recycle – Food disposal, redistribution and recycling

Mr Eugene Tay, Co-organiser of Save Food Cut Waste, shares: “Everyone in Singapore loves food! We spend much of our time enjoying delicious food and finding the best makan places in this food paradise. But there’s more to food than just eating. If we love our food, then perhaps we should not waste the food that we get to enjoy every day. We hope that everyone can start to be more conscious about food wastage and take action to reduce food waste in our daily lives and at home.”

The campaign website shares the following 8 tips for individuals and households:

Learn About Food Sources – Learn about where your food comes from and understand how farmers toil to produce your food. This would help you better appreciate the food you eat and thus waste less food.

Grow Your Own Food – Grow your own food in Singapore to better appreciate your food and waste less. This would also help to reduce the food wastage during transportation and storage, the resources spent, and carbon emissions generated from importing food.

Plan What To Buy – Before you go shopping for food, plan what to buy using a shopping list. This would help you avoid buying more food than you need.

Store And Handle Food Properly – Store and handle your food properly at home to help you keep food longer without spoilage, and thus reduce food wastage.

Cook And Order Just Enough – Choose the right food portions and cook just enough food. Also order just enough food, thus avoiding food waste and saving money.

Cook Your Leftover Food – Keep and cook your leftover food instead of throwing them away, thus helping to reduce food wastage at home.

Start Food Composting – Try composting your fruit and vegetable scraps at home or in the community garden, and produce compost for gardening.

Make Garbage Enzyme – Make garbage enzyme from your fruit and vegetable scraps, and use it for cleaning purposes.

The second phase of the Save Food Cut Waste campaign next year aims to explore how businesses and organisations can play their part in reducing food waste.

Visit the Save Food Cut Waste website at http://www.savefoodcutwaste.com/ or the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/savefoodcutwaste/.

Save Food Cut Waste is a ground-up movement to educate people, organisations and businesses in Singapore about the environmental and social impacts of food waste, and to encourage them to take action in reducing food waste.

We are starting the campaign in Nov. Meanwhile, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. Or receive latest updates, tips and recipes by subscribing to our newsletter!

We are looking for volunteers to help out on the campaign website and events from Oct to Dec. Here’s the good people we are looking for:

1) Content Writers: Interview stakeholders on food waste and write tips on reducing food waste

2) Photographers and Videographers: Record interviews with stakeholders, and show problems or solutions on food waste through images and videos

3) Graphic Designers: Design and layout for web and print

4) Ambassadors: Helping out at events and talks to spread the message on food waste

If you are interested to volunteer, please fill up this form. Thanks and look forward to working together in reducing food waste in Singapore!