With climate change and melting polar ice comes rising sea levels. Globally, sea levels are projected to rise between 0.25m and 0.76m towards the end of the century. When 30% of Singapore lies less than 5m above the main sea level the rising sea level will change our landscape, especially in the coastal areas, and biodiversity of this island drastically. This will directly impact our current and children’s lives.
“With all waste or pollution, someone somewhere pays for it.”
It will take you and me, acting collectively to make a difference to the environment around us. Businesses and business leaders today must also get involved.
This series (SILENT Green Revolutions) brings awareness to the movements in Singapore towards greater sustainability and ‘green revolutions’ that are making a difference to the world.
From green meal packaging to the rise of fair-trade practices, the world is changing in ways that matter to all of us.
In all economies, the spread of new technology and innovations start at the top; Big industrial giants and investors fund research and start-ups to come up with cleaner and greener solutions to existing problems and solutions. These new technology trickles down smaller firms and brick and mortar stores, finally becoming part and parcel of our everyday life.
Context
Product recycling is a type of waste management which involves the process of converting the leftover or waste materials into reusable items.
There are three main items that can be recycled: plastic, glass and paper. Some of the common plastic materials which can be used for recycling include plastic bags, plastic wrappers, rubber bags and bottles. As for glass, wine glass bottles and beer bottles are the common items that can be used for recycling. Lastly, magazines, newspapers and books fall under the category of paper.
Benefits
- Product recycling helps to bring down the level of intake of raw materials, resulting in a reduction in the emission of harmful greenhouse gases as well as water pollution.
- As using recycled product during the process of manufacturing consumes fewer energy when compared to production of brand new items from the raw materials, product recycling helps conserve energy and minimizes wastage of resources.
What is the process involved in recycling?
The waste materials are gathered from the trash bin, kerbside collection and drop-off centres. The collected materials are then transferred to the designated recycling centres by organizing, cleaning and converting them into reusable products before the process of manufacturing.
The processed waste materials are transformed into usable products. Today majority of products are manufactured by taking advantage of the recycled goods. Some of the most frequent waste materials used for recycling include soft drink cans, containers, newspapers, magazines, plastic glass, paper towels and even laundry detergents which are made out of plastic.
The end product is finally supplied to the market and its prices might vary accordingly to the supply and demand of the particular country. To all the eco-conscious consumers, you can easily identify these recycled products as they have words clearly embedded on them.
Did you know? You have the option to register as one of the members of waste reduction campaigns.
Product recycling helps in minimizing the emission of greenhouse gases:
Today, most of the sources of pollution are released from factory waste materials.The fact is that waste materials such as cans and plastics bottles are being reused rather than being discarded away, product cycling would help bring down pollution level to a great extent.
This helps protect our already disrupted Eco-system and hence safeguard Mother Nature.
Product recycling helps slow down global warming
During disposal of waste, large quantities of waste materials are being combusted, releasing harmful greenhouse gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide and even sulfur into our atmosphere. Large emission of such greenhouse gases over a period of time would have an adverse impact on the environment, leading up to a phenomenon that we are all familiar with: Global Warming. By recycling our plastic, paper and glass waste, we help to bring down wastage of resources, reducing the amount of waste that needs to be combusted and hence help to slow down global warming.
What’s next?
Regardless of who you are, what you are working as and where you reside on earth, you play an important role in the betterment of Mother Earth’s health. It does not have to be difficult. You can easily contribute by being a responsible consumer who commits to only buying products recreated from recycled materials.
Let 2018 be the year you make changes for the environment, inspire change in your friends and have fun during the process!
GasHub Utility, as a multi-utility company, aims to be at the forefront of bringing Singapore into a sustainable capital of the world.
GasHub is a multi-utility company — we power industrial, commercial and residential customers with natural gas to meet their electricity, heating and cooling needs. We are the first virtual pipeline distributor for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in Singapore since March this year.
We believe in the sustainable use of energy and raising energy efficiency so that we consume fewer resources. Amongst all fuel sources, natural gas is the least polluting natural resources as it burns clean. Because it comes in a liquefied form, it occupies 300 times lesser space than other fuel storage tanks.
Currently, natural gas powers 95% of Singapore’s electricity.
However, the power grid has an energy efficiency of only 40%. Half of the energy produced by natural gas will be released as waste heat at power stations, and more energy is lost during transmission to the consumer. This is not a sustainable model for power generation. Moreover, the highly polluting Compressed Petroleum Gas (CPG) or Town Gas still powers most households in Singapore.
What we believe in
We believe all businesses should switch to natural gas. We should use LNG as a bridge towards a more sustainable future. Instead of the centralised power generation, big energy consumers should use decentralised grids that will help them reduce 30% of the energy wastage and cost. This conversion is a huge leap in the right direction.