Ever wondered what happens to your waste once you place them in the bin? Probably not! Singapore’s waste management system runs mostly without a hitch – perhaps too perfectly – and most of us don’t think about what happens after we place our non-recyclable waste into the bin.
Throughout the academic year, Earthlink NTU organizes our Waste Trail Journey that sheds light into the intricate backend process of waste management. If you’ve missed all of them, fret not! Here, we pen down and show you what we have learnt from the trips. 🙂
The Journey
Waste typically ends up in either general waste bins or recycling bins. Those that are in general waste bins are brought directly to the Incineration Plant (IP), while those that are in recycling bins are brought to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for sorting and recycling!
It’s obvious that placing your trash in the recycling bins makes more sense, but we can’t just have all our trash sent to the MRF: food waste and chemicals will cause the whole bin of recyclables to be contaminated and unsuitable for recycling! 🙁
Thus, never ever place waste contaminated with food or chemicals into recycling bins! 🙂
Let’s delve a little deeper into each stage!
Stage 1: Materials Recovery Facility
The most magical part of the Waste Trail Journey happens at the MRF!
From recycling bins, the recyclables are transported to the MRF where they are sorted according to its material, where they will be further processed and eventually used as raw material for another product!
Click here to read more about Earthlink NTU’s trip to the Veolia Material Recovery Facility in 2017!
Stage 2: Incineration Plant
If you live near an Incineration Plant, you’d be familiar with the gigantic red/white chimney that Santa Claus will have a hard time going through! :p Come join us for our trip to Senoko Incineration Plant! Who knows, we might find Santa stuck inside! 😀
Click here for an article written by our Recycling portfolio in 2016!
Stage 3: Landfill
An island filled with seagrass meadows, coral rubble, coral leaves, hairy crabs, nerite snails, fiddler crabs and sea stars. What is this island called? Yes, it’s Pulau Semakau!
Pulau Semakau is the world’s first-of-its-kind offshore landfill! How do the flora and fauna coexist with the 180 million kg of non-recyclable waste we dispose every year? Come with us to find out more! 😉
Click here for an article written by our Recycling portfolio during their trip in 2017! [under RevAmpS]
Of course, nothing beat the experience of being there in-person so do look out for our annual waste trail journey! Like us on our Facebook page (and set it to ‘see first’) to get informed about any upcoming trips! 😉
Head down to our next part as we tell you how you can contribute more to recycling! [under RevAmpS]