Environmental advocates return!

Results of the recycling drive in NUS

I was very happy to see this result! 34448 kilograms of e-waste is definitely no mean feat! Remember my post on the 18th of August? I talked about initiatives taken by students in NUS to make people more aware of the waste they produce and show them feasible ways to recycle. At first I did doubt the effectiveness of these posters due to the lack of information available, but once I see these numbers, I'm no longer doubtful! 

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Newspaper article from the Straits Times (September 20, 2014) about a factory start-up,
to turn plastic into landscaping products

In my preceding post, I spoke about people having the opportunity or taking the initiative to start something that can help the environment. I stumbled upon this old newspaper article while lining my guinea pig's cage. It's about an ordinary woman, Lorna Rutto, who used her personal savings and prize money to start a factory to turn plastic trash into landscaping products. New life for the plastics! Her factory, EcoPost, is now pretty successful, in my opinion, since it's recycling 20 tonnes of plastic trash every month.
Her passion and grit are definitely laudable, and perhaps, if examples like her are given more attention, people will begin to realize that large-scale projects like hers can become reality. Such encouragement to do more!

It only takes a spark (or an idea)

Previously, I spoke about opportunities for environmental initiatives. Today, I will elaborate a little bit more!
One story from Idea Jam stood out to me: this.

A volunteer from WWS picking up litter from Marina Reservoir
Photo credits to asiaone 

This story is about Waterways Watch Society (WWS), where its volunteers pick up flotsam from the waterways in Singapore every weekend. WWS wants to educate the public so that they are aware of pollution of the waterways and also to identify the sources of pollution and suggest ways to end it.

I feel that this initiative is a really good idea, but it should be given more media attention so that Singaporeans will be more aware of this. I am quite glad to learn that there are already 370 volunteers! I believe that when a person is involved in picking up litter and trash like this, he or she will be more conscious of the importance of not littering, because he or she will see the impacts first hand.
There are many other opportunities for Singaporeans to volunteer. For example, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has a Values in Action (VIA) program take part in different projects to learn about how they contribute to the community. Many of such projects are based on helping the environment, such as helping to pluck the weed Clidemia hirta, aka hairy clidemia, which is an invasive plant species that compete with native plant species. (That's what I did when I was in secondary school!)

If there is a good combination of voluntarism, and more initiatives to save the environment by recycling, I believe that Singaporeans will be able to develop as a nation to increase recycling efforts and reduce our waste production!

Recycling starts with you!

Newspaper article from the Straits Times (October 1, 2014) about green initiatives

Recently, I've been talking about some ways to recycle and some cool packaging and marketing strategies. Since I've come across an interesting article in the Straits Times about an initiative taken by a young person in Singapore to promote recycling, I will talk about what we can do as members of one community!
It's very cheering to see young Singaporeans step up to do something about our environment, and I share the sentiments of Mr Ronnie Tay, chief executive officer of the National Environment Agency (NEA). He said that seeing more nominations for the NEA EcoFriend Awards shows that there is an increasing number of Singaporeans who are taking ownership of our environment. For me, seeing the younger generation taking such initiatives shows that we understand the need to be responsible stewards of our environment.

Newspaper article from the Straits Times (October 1, 2014) about Idea Jam

I also saw this article in the Straits Times about Idea Jam: it is an initiative by the Straits Times, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and the National Youth Council. It gives youth, with big ideas to solve problems in our community, an opportunity to make them become reality! Youth like Jarel Tang (from the previous article) who are passionate about the environment are able to do even more now. I will write more about them in the near future! 

Up, up, and away!

A couple of years back, I’ve tried my hand at upcycling, and here are some of the results!

Wallet made out of an envelope

Wallet made out of poker cards

Wallet made out of plastic bags

Why I chose to make my own wallets was because most wallets are made out of leather, and there are many detrimental impacts on the environment when tanning leather. There are high concentrations of organic compounds, salts, and heavy metals present in the waste product of tanning leather. (D.W. Nazer et al. 2006) According to K. Joseph, a lot of resources such as fossil fuels for electricity and transport, and water, are used in leather as well. He also mentioned that 14% of the waste produced is non-biodegradable, and 6% are hazardous.

Even if the wallets were not made out of leather, and instead from PVC or cloth, production of these materials will still have their own large carbon footprint. Some may criticize, saying that using envelopes, cards and plastic bags to make wallets are also not sustainable. However, my argument is that I delay their trip to the incinerators and landfills, making the most out of their material lifespan, such that the resources spent in producing them in the first place will be maximized. At the same time, it takes away my need to buy a wallet!

Literature cited:

Dima W. Nazer, Rashed M. Al-Sa'ed, Maarten A. Siebel, Reducing the environmental impact of the unhairing–liming process in the leather tanning industry, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 14, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 65-74, ISSN 0959-6526, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2005.04.002.

Kurian Joseph, N. Nithya, Material flows in the life cycle of leather, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 17, Issue 7, May 2009, Pages 676-682, ISSN 0959-6526, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.11.018.

Upcycling: Not really an uphill task

Last week, I talked about pre-cycling. I have come across another fantastic way to reduce waste! Upcycling! According to Google Definition, upcycling is to re-use or convert an item such that the product increases in value, as compared to the original object.
Here’s a good example of upcycling: origami Starbucks paper bag wallet.

Starbucks paper bag wallet
Photo credits to Stomp

The video below shows the steps on how to convert the paper bag into a functional wallet.

In the next post, I will show you guys examples of my own adventure with upcycling!

Pre-cycling isn't Prehistoric behavior

In my previous post, I've talked about recycling in Russia, and how Singaporeans can learn from them. Today, I'll remain in Eastern Europe and talk about pre-cycling in Berlin!

Article from the Straits Times on 23 Sept 2014

So, what is pre-cycling? According to Gillilan (1996), pre-cycling is to shop wisely, such that the amount of waste generated is lessened. Now in Berlin, the locals have an opportunity to shop wisely at Originally Unpackaged. Shoppers bring their own re-useable containers to package their food! This is a huge step up from bringing your own bag to carry produce home.
Perhaps this step will not be very feasible in Singapore yet, especially since we struggle to even have a BYOBD (bring your own bag day). Singaporeans seem to rather pay a nominal sum for a plastic bag of convenience than bring our own re-useable bag. Asking us to bring a few bulky containers... I can imagine how we would baulk.

Literature cited:
Gillilan, S., et al. (1996). "Teaching the Concept of Precycling: A Campaign and Evaluation." The Journal of Environmental Education 28(1): 11-18.

(Re)cycling all the way

Newspaper article from the Straits Times (September 20, 2014) about recycling in Russia

After reading this news article, I was very encouraged. In Russia, there are few to no recycling opportunities for the general population. Also, the government did not provide the same recycling points that we Singaporeans have. But because a few individuals started to think about saving the environment and becoming passionate about it, their problem with no recycling points have reached an international level, appearing even in Singapore's local news.

Since we have the convenience of having drop-off points for recyclables so near our doorsteps, with each HDB estate having a couple of bins, Singaporeans really do have it easy! I believe that if only more awareness is raised about the significance of waste reduction by recycling materials, there might be an increase in the amount of recycling done. 

Some may say that that it is a hassle to sort items, or they do not know what are recyclable. There is information available on websites (such as this and this), an even on the bins themselves. 

Example of a recycling bin. Photo credits to zerowastesg. 

Prettier Packagings

I've never really thought about what the purpose of packaging was for, other than to maintain a certain standard of hygiene. Recently, I came across a paper on marketing strategies by Bo Rundh (2005). I learnt that careful design of the packaging through the use of shape, form, color, aesthetics, etc, can be used to give the company a competitive edge, attracting more potential customers. (B. Rundh, 2005) With greater public awareness of global warming and other environmental problems, it is no surprise that the trend now is for environmentally friendly products, especially if there is a reduction in wastage or if it can be recycled. 

Some companies, such as Boxed Water, have been coming up with environmentally-friendly packaging. Boxed Water packages their water in cardboard cartons, which comes from a renewable resource, trees. And it is recyclable. Sounds like a great marketing strategy to me! I would find it rather difficult to drink water directly from a carton though. 

Photo credits to Boxed Water

However, some companies take "environmentally friendly" to a whole other level. They produce what I would call 'non-packaging'. One such example is the WikiPearl that I've mentioned in my previous post.

Photo credits to WikiPearl

Another would be Loliware, which has designed biodegradable cups that can be eaten.

Photo Credits to Loliware 

Although these products have not really taken off, I feel that environmentally friendly or edible packaging will become even more popular in the future as irreversible climate change becomes more of a reality.

Literature cited: 

Bo Rundh, (2005) "The multi-faceted dimension of packaging: Marketing logistic or marketing tool?", British Food Journal, Vol. 107 Iss: 9, pp.670-684

Pretty Packagings

Newspaper clipping from the Straits Times
about recycling of coffee capsules

I've been seeing a lot innovative and interesting marketing schemes to sell a product. One good example is coffee. This becomes a slight problem when it does generate a lot of waste as well. But I am quite glad to see that this company has a recycling programme to combat this waste generation! As seen in the newspaper article above, there are a few collection points for used capsules from homes, a collection service of used capsules for those customers who have the capsules delivered to their homes, and Nespresso also works with hotels to recycle their used capsules. I feel that this is a good initiative by Nespresso since it sets a "good lead for other consumer retailers to follow", according to Ms Lynda Hong, when interviewed by the newspaper. Furthermore, this initiative would make Singaporeans (who consume Nespresso's products)more aware of the need to recycle and how easy it is to do so because of the many recycling points available in Singapore.

Talking about packaging and recycling them, I have stumbled across this wonderful invention: the WikiPearl!

A picture of the WikiPearl
(photo credits to WikiPearl)

This WikiPearl has an edible skin "inspired by the way nature packages fruits and vegetables". And that means: no need for a packaging! I will talk more about this amazing WikiPearl and other pretty packagings in my next post.