With climate change and urbanisation, much attention is focused on our consumerist lifestyle, and how all the waste we generate is destroying the planet and our children’s future.
For a small city state like Singapore, a conversation on waste is particularly pertinent, given the shortage of land for landfills. It is also timely, with the projection that our only landfill at Semakau will be full by 2035, a mere 16 years from now.
Cities have become increasingly desensitised to the amount of waste that they generate. This is not helped by the explosive growth of e-commerce and food delivery services in recent years, which generate an enormous amount of packaging waste.
Based on data in 2011, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that if food wastage were a country, it would be the third-largest carbon-emitting country in the world.
THE PROBLEM WITH ‘INVISIBLE’ WASTE
In Singapore, our trash “disappears” once we throw it into this magical hole in the wall known as the rubbish chute. Within a few days, most of it ends up as incinerated ash on Semakau Landfill, where the picturesque lush greenery and thriving wildlife further belie the urgency of the waste problem.
Discussions on the security and resilience of cities tend to focus on their food, water and energy needs. While these inputs are imperative to keeping any city going, outputs such as waste are also critical for land-scarce Singapore. Our waste infrastructure operates round the clock. It is constantly on the move, akin to a conveyor belt, carrying waste from households to Semakau Landfill. Without a landfill, the conveyor stops.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPROACH TO WASTE
To address our waste challenges, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources designated this year as the Year Towards Zero Waste and launched the inaugural Zero Waste Masterplan in August 2019. The milestone Resource Sustainability Bill was then passed in Parliament to provide legislative framework for the measures in the masterplan.
The masterplan outlines Singapore’s key strategies for becoming a zero-waste nation. As a society, we need to break away from the linear economy of “take, make, use and throw”, and shift towards a circular economy, where resources are kept in use for as long as possible.
The masterplan focuses on three priority waste streams – e-waste, food waste and packaging waste, which includes plastics. There is a growing global momentum to reframe the waste challenge into an opportunity to create economic growth, while ensuring environmental sustainability.
What is required to drive a circular economy? We can think in terms of three areas: ensuring sustainability in production, waste management and consumption. Efforts to drive such actions will require effort from the private, public and people sectors.
SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION – MOVE UPSTREAM
First, for sustainable production, we need to start upstream.
We need to relook the whole chain of resource flow to create circularity. For example, companies can design products that last longer, using materials that are easily recyclable.
Businesses can also offer services instead of physical products, and create a bigger sharing economy. Besides shared bicycles, other examples include sharing services for personal cars, umbrellas or even takeaway containers.
The future Tuas Nexus, the next National Environment Agency’s (NEA) waste management facility, will be co-located with national water agency PUB’s water reclamation plant. Co-digestion of food waste from the former with used water sludge from the latter will significantly increase the yield of biogas production, resulting in greater energy recovery.
SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT – RECOVERING VALUE FROM WASTE
Regulating the management of waste is a government responsibility, and recovering value from waste is a key strategy for becoming a zero-waste nation. This concerns the waste remaining after the 3Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle – which would ordinarily end up at incineration plants. This is where technology and innovation can make a difference, and turning trash into treasure can become a competitive advantage for Singapore.
An example is the treatment of incineration bottom ash to recover it for use as construction material known as Newsand, which is now in its field trial phase.
Newsand can potentially also be used for future reclamation projects. These efforts are supported by the $45 million Closing The Waste Loop grant launched last year (2018) to promote research and development in waste-to-value technologies.
Other forms of waste that is suitable for recycling includes plastic, chemical and food.
SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION – WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
As consumers, our preferences and habits drive products and services – how they are sourced, produced and packaged.
As members of the public, our readiness to do the 3Rs will also have an impact on the success of policies and regulations.
In fact, the potential for individuals to make a difference is often underestimated. Half the total food waste generated is from households, and a third of domestic waste disposed of is packaging. It shows the huge potential to reduce waste from households.
All that is required from us are small lifestyle changes, such as using reusable bags for grocery shopping, taking our own bottles or cups to meetings, asking for less rice or noodles if we are not likely to finish it, or just using a lunchbox or tiffin carrier for takeaways.
As for our physical possessions, besides recycling right, the first two Rs – reduce and reuse – along with other derivatives like repair, refurbish and repurpose, are equally, if not more, important for promoting circularity in physical goods.
They can be citizens participating in citizens’ workgroups, such as the recent one on #RecycleRight or the upcoming one on reducing disposables. Societal groups and non-governmental organisations can also tap the Towards Zero Waste Grant to turn their zero-waste ideas into reality.
THE FUTURE
Even as this year draws to a close, our zero-waste journey continues, and is likely to gather pace in the years to come. Compared with just a year ago, the ground has shifted significantly, and sustainability is on the march.
Everyone can play a key role in promoting the circular economy by being more mindful of their consumption habits, and consuming responsibly. There is only one earth, and our children’s future depends on it. Every effort counts and it all adds up – we can start small, but we should start now.
Read more here.
Source: The Straits Times, 6 December 2019