To be honest, we don’t have all the answers. So we started this new initiative called ‘Can Recycle?‘. We compiled a list of 70 common waste items and checked with the National Environment Agency (NEA) on whether the items are acceptable for recycling through the NRP or recycling bins.

In Can Recycle?, you will find images of items categorised under Paper, Plastics, Metal, Glass, and Others. Point your cursor at the image and you can see the description of the item with comments from NEA.

Check out the list of items in Can Recycle?

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.

Waste Generated refers to the total amount of waste generated in Singapore, which is the addition of Waste Disposed and Waste Recycled. Waste Disposed refers to the total amount of waste disposed at the four waste-to-energy or incineration plants, and at the offshore Semakau Landfill. Waste Recycled refers to the total amount of waste that is recycled locally or exported overseas for recycling.

In 2009, about 6.1 million tonnes of waste was generated in Singapore, and each person generated around 1,230 kg of waste. The recycling rate in Singapore for 2009 is 57% and has been increasing steadily over the years. Based on this rate of increase, there should be no problem in reaching the targeted 60% recycling rate by 2012 set in the Singapore Green Plan 2012, and the targeted 70% recycling rate by 2030 set in the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint.

43% of Singapore’s waste is still disposed, with 41% going to the waste-to-energy plants for incineration and energy recovery, and 2% of non-incinerable waste such as construction and demolition waste, used slag and treated sludge, going to the Semakau Landfill for landfilling.

% Composition of Waste Generated

The top 5 waste types make up 74% of the total waste generated in Singapore, which are either disposed of at the waste-to-energy plants and landfill, or recycled locally and exported:

1. Paper/Cardboard (20%)
2. Construction Debris (19%)
3. Ferrous Metal (14%)
4. Plastics (11%)
5. Food Waste (10%)

% Composition of Waste Disposed

The top 3 waste types make up 68% of the total waste disposed in Singapore:

1. Plastics (24%)
2. Paper/Cardboard (24%)
3. Food Waste (20%)

% Composition of Waste Recycled

The top 3 waste types make up 72% of the total waste recycled in Singapore:

1. Construction Debris (33%)
2. Ferrous Metal (23%)
3. Paper/Cardboard (16%)

Recycling Rate of Waste

For the 3 common types of waste disposed, their recycling rate is still low:

• Plastics (9%)
• Food Waste (13%)
• Paper/Cardboard (48%)

More efforts are needed to reduce the amount of paper, plastics and food waste disposed and to increase their recycling rates. Half of the paper and cardboard waste generated still ends up being burned.

Waste Statistics from 2000 to 2009

From 2000 to 2009, the waste disposed has dropped by 6% and the waste recycled has increased by a massive 88%. However, the total waste generated has increased 31% from 4.6 million tonnes in 2000 to 6.1 million tonnes in 2009.

The waste data show that the efforts of the government in promoting waste minimisation and recycling has paid off. However, to work towards zero waste, there is a need for the total waste generated to reach a peak and decrease every year.

This means that we can’t depend only on high rates of recycling but we also need greater reduction in the waste disposed, in other words, more reduce and reuse of waste. Recycling is still the least effective of the 3 Rs and should be practised last after reduce and reuse.

mywaterbottle Goals

mywaterbottle aims to achieve the following goals:

1. Create awareness on the environmental impacts of single-use bottled water and encourage people to use refillable water bottles.

2. Show that tap water is safe to drink and tastes just as good as bottled water.

3. Make it easy to choose and buy affordable refillable water bottles that are safe for both environment and health.

4. Build a map of mywaterbottle refillers (water coolers, cafes, restaurants, food and beverage outlets, etc) for easy and free refilling of water bottles.

5. Showcase events that encourage participants to bring their own refillable water bottles.

mywaterbottle Activities

mywaterbottle conducts the following activities:

1. Organise The Tap Water Challenge

mywaterbottle organises The Tap Water Challenge, which takes the form of a blind taste test for the public. The aim is to show that tap water is safe to drink and tastes just as good as bottled water.

The public is asked to taste two types of water – one is from a brand of bottled water and the other is tap water. They will select which one they prefer or feel that there is no difference between the two. The result is revealed after the taste test.

During The Tap Water Challenge, mywaterbottle also:

• Educate the public on the environmental impacts of single-use bottled water
• Encourage them to use refillable water bottles instead of buying or taking bottled water
• Ask them to show their support by signing the mywaterbottle pledge.

2. Sell Refillable Water Bottles

mywaterbottle provides an easy platform for Singaporeans to choose and buy refillable water bottles that are durable, affordable and BPA-free. 100% of the profits will go to fund water projects in developing countries that provide clean and safe drinking water.

3. Identify mywaterbottle Refillers

mywaterbottle identifies water coolers and invites cafes, restaurants, and food and beverage outlets to join as mywaterbottle refillers and provide free water to anyone with a refillable water bottle. The locations are published on a map of mywaterbottle refillers in Singapore.

4. Showcase Events that Support Refillable Water Bottles

mywaterbottle showcases events that encourage participants to bring their own refillable water bottles, and reduce the use of bottled water.

Images

mywaterbottle logo:

Contact

Eugene Tay, Founder of mywaterbottle

Email: hello@mywaterbottle.org

Website: http://www.mywaterbottle.org

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mywaterbottle

Twitter: http://twitter.com/mywaterbottle

About Green Future Solutions

Green Future Solutions is a Singapore-based business that promotes environmental awareness and action for a green future, through its network of green websites, events, presentations, publications and consultancy. For more information, visit http://www.greenfuture.sg.

Improving Recycling Efforts

Singapore’s overall recycling rate increased from 40% in 2000 to 57% in 2009 and we are on track to meet the target of 60% by 2012. We are studying how we can enhance the effectiveness of existing recycling efforts. For instance, there is scope to reduce the amount of domestic waste disposed and we are working with the public waste collectors to review the National Recycling Programme. This includes studying the provision of more recycling bins in HDB estates and the collection and recycling of other waste streams such as garden waste from landed homes and food waste from markets.

Bring Your Own Bag Day

We limit the environmental impact of disused plastic bags by incinerating them in our waste-to-energy incineration plants, rather than landfilling them. Many households also re-use plastic bags to bag their refuse. The focus of efforts like the Bring Your Own Bag Day campaign, which was launched by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) in April 2007, is therefore to discourage the excessive use of plastic bags via public education, and to foster a more conservation-oriented mindset. I understand that close to 300 retail outlets now participate in this effort. This is encouraging. I assure that NEA will continue with efforts to educate the public on the importance of recycling and waste minimisation as well as the proper use of recycling facilities.

3R Fund

To support new waste minimisation and recycling projects, NEA launched an $8mil 3R Fund last year. To date, we received 43 applications, of which 9 were approved with grants amounting to $137,000, and 18 are still being evaluated. One of the applications approved is the National University of Singapore’s Recycling Master Plan to improve the recycling infrastructure and enhance the 3R culture in the University. The project is expected to reduce or recycle 540 tons of waste over 3 years.

Singapore Packaging Agreement

To reduce waste at source, NEA has collaborated with the food and beverage industry on the voluntary Singapore Packaging Agreement since July 2007. The Agreement demonstrates that environmentally friendly practices make sound business sense – the participating companies saved $4.4mil from a reduction of 2,500 tons of packaging waste over the last two years.

For instance, F&N Coca-Cola Singapore shortened the neck closure and reduced the weight of their plastic bottles, saving about 200 tonnes of materials a year. Tetra Pak Jurong introduced a process to recover and reuse waste plastic packaging materials, saving about 380 tons of packaging a year. Following the extension of the Agreement to cover all types of product packaging since October 2009, we can expect to see avoided waste and reduced packaging in other sectors as well.

Development of Recycling Industry

Since 1995, land has been set aside for the recycling industry at the Sarimbun Recycling Park or SRP. The SRP is now fully leased out to 13 companies recycling waste items such as wood and horticultural waste, and construction and demolition waste. NEA is exploring other areas where recycling industries can be sited. Companies can also apply to JTC for industrial land to set up recycling facilities.

NEA has various funding schemes to incentivise and develop the waste management and recycling industry. These schemes include the 3R Fund which I touched on earlier, the Innovation for Environmental Sustainability Fund, as well as the Environment Technology Research Programme. SPRING Singapore also has assistance schemes targeted at SMEs, including loan schemes and capability upgrading programmes.

Source: MEWR

In Oct 2009, a friend informed Zero Waste Singapore about the disposal of wishing spheres for the Marina Bay Singapore Countdown. We have seen the spheres before but never asked what happened to them after the year-end countdown party.

The Wishing Sphere Project is a significant component of the Marina Bay SINGAPORE Countdown. Members of the community are all invited to join in the project by penning their wish for the New Year on a wishing sphere. Each wishing sphere represents a hope, a belief that the New Year will bring new possibilities and the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

We will mark your wish by floating the wishing spheres onto the waters of Marina Bay, our bay of hope and light. To meet the growing demand for wishing spheres as more people come onboard this meaningful annual tradition, we have doubled the number of wishing spheres to 20,000 spheres this year! – Marina Bay Singapore Countdown

We were told that after the countdown, the wishing spheres made of plastic PVC are disposed of and sent to the incineration plant. The wishing spheres have been disposed of every year – 5,500 in 2007, 10,000 in 2008 and 20,000 in 2009 (soon). This is a waste of resources and results in more carbon and dioxins emissions.

The suggestion given by our friend was to organise a petition to get the organisers to do something about this waste. However, we feel that a different approach was needed given the short time that we had. So we decided to meet up with the organisers, Esplanade, to discuss and work towards a win-win solution for Esplanade and the environment.

We had a fruitful discussion with the Esplanade staff, where we emphasised the importance of the 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (in order of sequence). Given the short timeframe, the immediate focus was to reuse and recycle the spheres for this year’s event. And to start now to explore how to reduce the waste and pollution for next year’s event.

We provided the following suggestions and contacts:

Reduce

1) Look for more environmentally friendly material

• Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre, NTU
• SIMTech, Sustainability and Technology Assessment
• Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Environment and Water Technology Centre of Innovation
• Companies providing biodegradable plastic products

2) Cap or reduce number of spheres

Reuse

3) Reuse for art by schools and organisations

• Didier Ng
• Hansart

4) Give to local or foreign orphanages, children homes, NGOs

5) Reuse to make new products such as bags

• Kare Social Enterprise, ITE College East
• Watsan Action, Indonesia

Recycle

6) Send it to a recycling company to process into raw material

We searched for recycling contractors that collect plastic PVC waste and contacted them. We finally found a recycling contractor who was interested in collecting the spheres, and gave the contacts to Esplanade.

In Nov 2009, Esplanade decided to send the 20,000 wishing spheres for recycling after the countdown. The recycling contractor will export the plastic spheres for recycling. Recycling the plastic spheres might not be the best solution but it’s still better than sending them to the incineration plant. Kudos to the Esplanade staff for taking the first step to reduce waste and do their part for the environment.

It’s actually not that difficult to reduce your waste, sometimes it only takes the right advice and contacts. If you’re organising an event where large amounts of waste are being generated, remember the 3Rs in waste management and reduce, reuse or recycle your waste. And of course, Zero Waste Singapore is available if you need help.

Have a great 2010 and let us work towards a Zero Waste Singapore!

Images credit: Marina Bay Countdown 2009/10 – chooyutshing via Flickr; Wishing Spheres – chooyutshing via Flickr

Nokia has the largest voluntary mobile phone recycling scheme worldwide, with takeback and collection facilities in over 5,000 Nokia Care Centres across 85 countries.

In Singapore, Nokia currently has collection points in all Nokia Care Centres at Wheelock Place, Century Square, Parkway Parade, Causeway Point and Suntec City. Take back facilities are also available in NUS, NTU, SMU, Nanyang Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, St Margaret Secondary, St Hilda Primary and Secondary, and Saint Andrew JC.

In July 2008, Nokia launched the deployment of the Nokia Recycling Kiosks (NRK), which are automated recycling kiosks, in Malaysia and Singapore. Nokia is also running the ‘Recycle A Phone & Adopt A Tree’ program in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. With every phone sent for recycling, customers will receive a tree in their name planted under the NEWTrees initiative. This is a collaboration between Nokia, WWF Indonesia and Equinox Publishing, and Nokia has committed funds towards the planting of 100,000 trees in Indonesia.

In Singapore, Nokia is working with TES-AMM to recycle raw materials from the mobile phones collected. The raw materials recovery rate at TES-AMM is as high as 99%. Many different materials and precious metals can be recycled from mobile phones and made into new products, including:

• Plastic: Plastic is largely used on the covers and external parts of a mobile device. They are turned into plastic pallets to be used in warehousing.
• Stainless Steel: This is used on external detailing phone covers and some internal components. It can be recycled and used again in all sorts of products from mobile devices, to kitchen kettles, ovens and in bicycle frames.
• Copper: Copper is used in a mobile phone’s circuitry and printed wiring boards. It can be recycled into copper pipes or to make musical instruments.
• Gold: Small amounts of gold are used in a mobile phone to coat connectors and electrical surfaces. It can be recycled and used again in other mobile and electronic devices, dental fillings or to make jewellery.
• Platinum: This is used in the electrical components of a mobile phones. It can be reclaimed and used in catalytic convertors for passenger cars, for equipment, dental filling or in jewellery.
• Cobalt and lithium salt: These rare earth metals are recovered from recycled batteries and are re-made into lithium ion batteries.

Here are some photos taken during the site visit at TES-AMM’s recycling facility:

Mobile phone recycling

Manual dismantling of old mobile phones

Sorting of components

Crushing of circuit boards and sieving

Ferrous metal separation

Crushed circuit boards

Crushed circuit boards undergo hammer mill and electrostatic separation to get:

Fibrous powder (for making plastic pallets)

Metal powder (contains 60-70% copper)

Fibrous powder and other waste plastics used to make plastic pallets by heat extrusion

Chemical processes to extract gold from components

Gold melting

Li-ion battery recycling

It is amazing how some banks waste resources in their marketing campaigns. One example is when banks send pre-approved credit cards to their customers, even though their customers never ask for those cards.

The photo above shows all the material inside a single envelope by DBS, including the letter, pre-approved credit card, brochures, card agreement, and discount vouchers. Customers who are not interested in the credit cards offered by the banks simply throw them away, hopefully into recycling bags or bins.

Imagine the envelopes, letters, brochures and credit cards that go to waste, just because the banks simply chose to throw them at their customers without asking them if they want the credit cards in the first place. These banks are not only wasting resources and money but also ending up irritating their customers.

Are you one of those banks? It’s time to rethink and do things differently (hint: read Seth Godin’s books for help).

This post was first published at Green Business Times.