Recycle Today For A Greener Tomorrow
The last two years saw many Singaporeans staying indoors more, working and studying from home. And with the rapid popularity of online shopping and food delivery, the amount of packaging waste disposed had inevitably increased.
It doesn’t take an environmental expert to know that an increase in waste generated wouldn’t be ideal in the long term.
Packaging waste, such as food containers, cardboard boxes and bubble wrap, make up a third of domestic waste disposed of in Singapore. Hence, its reduction can significantly impact our environment.
There are many ways we can get involved in reducing waste! Remember the 3Rs?
First of all, we can reduce our consumption by ordering and buying only what we need, and bringing our own reusables when buying food and shopping. Reusing and upcycling our old bags, boxes, containers are added ways to extend the life of packaging.
Which brings us to the third, and possibly the most misunderstood R: Recycling.
Why Should We Recycle?
For the environment of course! Recycling helps to conserve resources and ensures that precious materials can be used over and over again. When we recycle more, it also helps to reduce the amount of waste that is ultimately produced.
This is great news for Semakau Landfill, which is the one and only landfill we have in Singapore. Semakau, which is about ¾ the size of Sentosa, receives more than 2,000 tonnes of waste daily. At the current rate of waste generation, Semakau will run out of space by 2035 — that’s barely 15 years away!
We can’t keep on building more landfills (where would we put them?!) — so that’s why Singapore is working hard towards our waste reduction goals.
Under the Zero Waste Masterplan, Singapore aims to reduce the waste sent to Semakau each day by 30%, by the year 2030. The Singapore Green Plan 2030 takes this one step further — we are now aiming to frontload our efforts and achieve a 20% reduction in waste-to-landfill per capita per day by 2026.
Recycling more would be one of the ways in which we could reach these targets. Studies done in 2019 have shown that 60% of households already recycle regularly. However, the others who don’t said that they found recycling to be an inconvenience, and they also lacked the know-how. Let’s see how we can overcome these challenges.
How Do We Recycle Effectively?
Recycling really isn’t that much of a chore and is really simple to do in Singapore. Here, we don’t have to sort our recyclables, which means that we can put most metal, paper, glass and plastics into the general blue recycling bins.
Furthermore, there’s always a recycling bin close to you! Since 2014, every HDB block has been provided with a blue bin. Dual chutes for refuse and recyclables have also implemented in newer HDB flats and non-landed private residential developments. Recycling in Singapore is really as easy as it can get.
Having said that, you just have to make sure that the items placed in the recycling bin are clean and dry and free from food and liquids. For example, the plastic food containers that we get from food delivery can actually be recycled if they are cleaned properly. It’s a definite no-no to dump greasy and dirty containers filled with food into the recycling bin, as this will contaminate the rest of the clean recyclables and these might not be able to be recycled in the end.
There’s also sometimes the problem of putting the wrong item in the recycling bin. For instance, when spring cleaning season comes, it’s not unusual to see people dumping their old mattress or a pile of toys at the recycling bin. These can’t be recycled and putting the incorrect item into the recycling bin actually causes more inefficiency at the Materials Recovery Facility, where recyclables have to be sorted by hand by the workers there.
If you’re not sure what you can or cannot recycle, just check the label pasted on the blue bins or head to towardszerowaste.gov.sg.
Besides using the blue recycling bins, there are also many other ways you can recycle:
Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) can be recycled too, except not in the blue bins! There are over 500 e-waste bins island-wide at shopping centres, supermarkets, community centres etc. With so many convenient locations, recycling e-waste such as computers, batteries, laptops, and power banks should be a cinch.
Recycling e-waste allows precious materials like silver and gold to be extracted from them, while harmful substances such as cadmium and lead can be disposed of with care, and not pollute our soil and water.
Another way to lighten the load on Semakau is to partake in the sports shoes recycling initiative, which aims to collect and turn materials from used sports shoes, school shoes and football shoes (without metal) into jogging tracks, fitness corners, and playgrounds.
And before you throw out your old clothes or bags, think about donating them instead. They just might make a fashion statement in somebody else’s wardrobe.
Finally, if you’re the kind who’s motivated by incentives, you might be happy to hear about Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs). About 50 of these machines can be found across Singapore, including Woodlands Sports Centre, Funan, Jurong East Sports Centre, and Tampines Mall. These kiosks have tech that can identify, sort and collect empty plastic and aluminium drink containers. In return, you get a discount coupon for every 10 or 20 items deposited, depending on the type of machine you choose (Multi-reward or Single-Reward RVMs).
When (And How) Do We Begin?
Now! There’s no time like the present.
It’s going to be a long road, but we all can do it together. Start small.
Think twice about ordering in to reduce packaging waste. Instead, plan to cook a meal once or twice a week as a fun family activity. Remember to also make a grocery list so you only buy what you need.
If you do order in, instead of throwing away the containers, take a few minutes to clean them, so you can reuse them or recycle them.
Set aside a space in your house for recycling — reuse a plastic bag or cardboard box to collect your recyclables.
Be the change in your social circle, or family unit, and in time you won’t be alone.
A Sustainable Future
The Singapore Green Plan seeks to propel the nation towards sustainable living, and recycling is just one aspect in the grander dream.
With a circular economy in effect, waste will be reduced, more resources can be repurposed, and carbon emissions will be lowered.
Your simple act of recycling today could en route to a zero waste Singapore tomorrow; together, we can build a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable Singapore for our future generations.
