Environmental friendly or over done?

[Vratenza]

Did they say the Pneumatic Waste Conveyance system still need to bag the household wet waste ?

 

Still need NTUC plastic bags?

 

 

btw, this is from the HDB brochure.

 

[Ysc3]

Did they say the Pneumatic Waste Conveyance system still need to bag the household wet waste ?

 

Still need NTUC plastic bags?

 

I can't imagine just throwing anything away in the house without a plastic bag ... unless it has a container by itself.

 

as long as the plastic bag is put to full use, it will not be bad ... just don't throw an empty one into the sea.

[Ysc3]

Burger King also stop giving out straws and lids to dine-in customers already. But customers can still ask for it if they want it.

[Jamesc]

Cost cutting to increase profits and claiming 

 

"its to save the earth."

 

[EWander]

I jus realize this after I saw the carefully separate trash for recycle - -i.e plastic/metal/paper etc get dump into the same garbage truck as the rest of the rubbish. And guess what, after I check, for condos, unless an extra fees is paid on addition to the normal garbage clearing fees, the waste remover company will not bother to recycle whatever even if its already been done properly in the condo. Shouldn't this is a national effort and our G can drive this? Well I know some will say private property owners should pay to do recycling but I still believe a certain compulsory recycling effort should be enforce nationally. In the end who bear the cost? Well in the end is always the people who will bear the cost, whether is $ or the results in saving or destroying our environment. We call ourselves a green city? Really way behind a lot of countries like Japan, Taiwan , Korean or even HK when it comes to recycling.

[Ysc3]

I jus realize this after I saw the carefully separate trash for recycle - -i.e plastic/metal/paper etc get dump into the same garbage truck as the rest of the rubbish. And guess what, after I check, for condos, unless an extra fees is paid on addition to the normal garbage clearing fees, the waste remover company will not bother to recycle whatever even if its already been done properly in the condo. Shouldn't this is a national effort and our G can drive this? Well I know some will say private property owners should pay to do recycling but I still believe a certain compulsory recycling effort should be enforce nationally. In the end who bear the cost? Well in the end is always the people who will bear the cost, whether is $ or the results in saving or destroying our environment. We call ourselves a green city? Really way behind a lot of countries like Japan, Taiwan , Korean or even HK when it comes to recycling.

表面功夫 ... Very common.

[Kopites]

Burger King also stop giving out straws and lids to dine-in customers already. But customers can still ask for it if they want it.

dine in only?

 

than you will see many order takeaway for the drink instead.

[Ysc3]

I won't know.... When I am outside I usually buy my bottled drinks from the convenience stores instead. Cheaper. No straw also never mind.

[Kklee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caw-969W-D4

 

I wonder where does the sorted recyclables in SG goes.....

[Vratenza]

Idea.... now can have justification to bring a 1.5L PET bottle of Coke and sit down at the Fast Food Restaurants to just order their burger and fries...... they don't provide straws anyway...why should they care what we drink and what we drink from?

 

I won't know.... When I am outside I usually buy my bottled drinks from the convenience stores instead. Cheaper. No straw also never mind.

 

[Victor68]

I think most of it are exported so not really wasted per se

 

Additionally, have to consider the pollution factor

 

Lastly, you have the option to renew COE. It is the COE that last 10 years... not you have to scrape at 10th year

If we really care, we wouldn't want F1. The fire work for national day and during rehearsals are simply nothing friendly. Next national day, ministers come in a bus. It will be timely and setting a good example.

[DACH]

Idea.... now can have justification to bring a 1.5L PET bottle of Coke and sit down at the Fast Food Restaurants to just order their burger and fries...... they don't provide straws anyway...why should they care what we drink and what we drink from?

 

So they should just sell fries and burgers set at cheaper prices, since we can buy our own drinks elsewhere? 

[Ysc3]

So they should just sell fries and burgers set at cheaper prices, since we can buy our own drinks elsewhere? 

on the contrary, they might up their prices for food items when more ppl stop buying drinks.

[SGMCF328]

I think the move is in line with EU. Good for our mother earth in long run.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/27/the-last-straw-european-parliament-votes-to-ban-single-use-plastics

 

European parliament votes to ban single-use plastics

 

The European parliament has voted to ban single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic waste that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans.

The vote by MEPs paves the way for a ban on single-use plastics to come into force by 2021 in all EU member states. The UK would have to follow the rules if it took part in and extended the Brexit transition period because of delays in finding a new arrangement with the EU.

The UK environment secretary, Michael Gove, who has previously sparred with the European commission over who is doing the most to cut down plastic pollution, also wants to curb single-use plastics.

As well as targeting the most common plastic beach litter, the directive will ban single-use polystyrene cups and those made from oxo-degradable plastics that disintegrate into tiny fragments.

EU member states will have to introduce measures to reduce the use of plastic food containers and plastic lids for hot drinks. By 2025, plastic bottles should be made of 25% recycled content, and by 2029 90% of them should be recycled.

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by SGMCF328

[Carbon82]

60% of Singaporean households recycle regularly, but many not doing it right: Surveys

 

 

SINGAPORE: Can plastic toys, clothes and glass pots be recycled? If you say yes, you're not alone, but these items do not belong in a recycling bin, according to authorities.

 

Around 60 per cent of Singaporean households recycle regularly, but many still find it difficult to identify contaminants and non-recyclables, surveys conducted by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) have found.

 

The two surveys, which were conducted between June 2018 and February 2019, covered different aspects of household recycling, said the agencies in a joint media release on Monday (Apr 29).

 

According to the findings, the top items recycled were paper materials like newspapers, magazines, junk mail, brochures and writing paper.

 

Clothes, shoes and bags were also among the top items recycled. However, these items should be donated – if in good condition – instead of being recycled, said the agencies. 

 

“These wrongly recycled items contribute to the high contamination rate of the recyclables collected from the blue recycling bins,” said MEWR and NEA.

 

Another category of items which were also regularly recycled were plastic drink bottles, aluminum cans and glass beer/wine bottles.

 

“While these items can be recycled, they should be emptied and rinsed clean wherever possible,” reminded the agencies.

 

The most common channel used for recycling was the blue recycling bins, with 56 per cent of regular recyclers using the bins at least once a week, the findings showed.

 

Convenience was one of the most commonly cited reasons for those who recycled regularly, according to MEWR's survey.

 

NEA's survey also found that this group of households found recycling to be "second nature" and part of their daily routine. 

 

67% THOUGHT SOILED FOOD PACKAGING CAN BE RECYCLED

 

Even though the findings showed that respondents were generally capable of identifying recyclable items, they had difficulty identifying contaminants and non-recyclables, said MEWR and NEA.

 

According to MEWR’s survey, 67 per cent of respondents thought that soiled paper food packaging can be recycled, while another 62 per cent thought that glass cookware or porcelain/ceramics can be recycled.

 

Other items that were wrongly identified as recyclables were plastic toys, tissue paper and Styrofoam.

 

Around 60 per cent of respondents also mistakenly thought that recyclables had to be sorted by type before being deposited into recycling bins, said the agencies. 

 

"There is no need to pre-sort items that are deposited into the blue recycling bins, because the contents of the blue recycling bins will be transported to the MRF (Material Recovery Facilities) where the sorting takes place." 

 

TOO BUSY, INCONVENIENT TO RECYCLE

 

As for households who did not recycle regularly, the most common reasons were related to convenience. 

 

Some of the reasons included having too few items to recycle, being too busy or tired, as well as not having enough space to accumulate recyclables in their homes.

 

“Barriers cited by households who did not recycle regularly suggest that recycling was perceived as inconvenient and secondary in their daily routine,” said the agencies. 

 

“Hence, helping Singaporeans to see that recycling is easy and helping with habit formation are important in improving Singapore’s household recycling rate.”

 

In 2017, it was announced that dual chutes for refuse and recyclables will be installed at all new non-landed residential developments. 

 

All new Build-To-Order Housing and Development Board flats have installed recycling chutes adjacent to centralised refuse chutes at every level since January 2014.

 

This requirement has also been extended to buildings taller than four storeys in all new non-landed private residential developments since Apr 1 last year. 

 

For the two surveys, MEWR and NEA surveyed 2,003 and 3,445 randomly-selected households respectively through face-to-face interviews.

 

[Carbon82]

You can have your plate and eat it too, says Polish inventor

 

 

ZAMBROW: Polish inventor and entrepreneur Jerzy Wysocki catches a brown plate - still warm - as it drops out of a machine and he begins to eat the crunchy, fibrous tableware.

 

"A pork chop will always be more delicious on this wheat bran plate than on plastic," says Wysocki with a big grin at the Biotrem factory in Zambrow in northeast Poland.

 

Taking a bite, the plate does not have much of a flavour. It calls to mind dry cereal flakes or maybe what you would imagine cardboard to taste like.

 

But Wysocki says what matters is the tableware is biodegradable.

 

The sexagenarian invented the plate some 15 years ago, and today Biotrem makes around 15 million of them a year.

 

That figure could soon skyrocket thanks to a decision by the European Union to ban plastic plates and cutlery starting in 2021.

 

A son and grandson of millers, Wysocki got the idea for the tableware when he was looking to use up the leftovers of flour production, which take up a lot of space.

 

But he says he is also driven by the desire to help a good cause, "because the amount of rubbish that pollutes oceans is huge and frightening."

 

"To make the plates, we only use wheat bran, which we compress at a precise pressure point and temperature, using a machine made specifically for that purpose," he explains.

 

ECO-CONSCIOUS CLIENTS

 

Biotrem CEO Malgorzata Then acknowledges, of course, that at €0.15 (US$0.17) a pop or 20 per cent more for exports, wheat bran plates are more expensive than their plastic counterparts.

 

But "the current price of plastic doesn't factor in the environmental cost, that of recycling and marine pollution", she adds.

 

At first, the company targeted clients who were environmentally inclined as well as restaurants and hotels that wanted to offer something original.

 

"Now, with the measures taken by the EU, even clients who are uninformed about the environment are forced to take an interest in biodegradable products," Then said.

 

Biotrem distributes the plates in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. The client Down Under had asked that they check whether earthworms would like the taste - they do.

 

"These aren't huge amounts, but they're enough for us to be optimistic about the future," Wysocki says.

 

The rosy outlook is backed by the prospect of greater output leading to a drop in the price. Also, it should be possible to harness the same technology to make plates out of corn, barley, oats, cassava and even algae.

 

"With cassava, the first tests turned out really well and we already have a small group of interested clients," Wysocki adds.

 

Biotrem is hoping to expand its offer to edible boxes for takeaway meals and catering. The research is already at a fairly advanced stage: the only thing left to do is to make the boxes more resistant to liquid and heat.

 

BIODEGRADABLE CUTLERY

 

You do not have to eat the plate or its packaging to be a friend of the environment. In favourable weather conditions, with a little humidity, wheat bran products decompose after a month, or even after two weeks if there is rain.

 

The Biotrem crew are not the only ones in Poland stepping up to the front line of the war on plastic.

 

Researchers in the chemistry department of the Gdansk University of Technology have developed a way to make biodegradable cutlery out of potato starch.

 

The forks, spoons and knives are even safe for sea creatures to eat.

 

"We are the only ones so far to have tested the biodegradability of our products on living aquatic organisms and it looks like this cutlery is safe for the environment," professor Helena Janik said.

 

According to Robert Bajko, who sells the university's innovations to entrepreneurs, the cutlery does not require any complex technology or a huge investment.

 

Anyone in the plastic industry can get started "overnight", he enthuses.

 

[Kopites]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-46682976

 

reading above article reminded me of this article I read back in 2018.

 

Edited June 9, 2019 by Kopites

[Tiger1]

For the environment, best is to eat all veg and insects. But I can't do it, still like my meats.

Ya. Me too.

 

I can't live without meat.

 

I am a Bakgetarian!