Turning food waste into water [News]

By Yasmine Yahya, The Straits Times, 28 Dec 2011.

Green technology was the last thing on the mind of semi-retired marketing professional Renee Mison, but the arrival of a Korean-made machine that turned food waste into sludge water changed all that.

Mrs Mison, 48, was impressed, and also saw that it had a lot of potential.

It led her to buy the intellectual property rights to the food waste decomposer and the company’s Singapore units, and eventually set up Eco-Wiz last year.

Eco-Wiz has since spent more than $500,000 on research and development (R&D) to improve the functions of the decomposer, which is also named The Eco-Wiz.

The company has almost 40 staff, including engineers, researchers, production staff, marketing professionals and salespeople.

The progress is evident in the decomposer, which can now turn the sludge water into dry compost or cleaner water. Read more

Not your usual plastic bag [News]

By Tam Yu Ling, The Business Times, 27 Dec 2011.

A world without plastic bags would be quite unimaginable for many consumers long used to having these items to hold their purchases. This is why despite being in the green business, Alan Yeap, chief executive officer of green technology solutions company New Quantum Holdings, decided to incorporate rather than eliminate plastics from his company’s product line.

Still, mindful of the fact that plastic bags are not at all kind to the environment, New Quantum decided to manufacture eco-friendly bags which both look and feel like ordinary plastic bags but can degrade within two years, unlike conventional plastic bags which take more than 1,000 years to disintegrate. Read more

Researchers use recycled glass to filter raw water [News]

By Wayne Chan, Channel NewsAsia, 21 Dec 2011.

A team of researchers from Ngee Ann Polytechnic has found a cheaper and more environmentally-friendly way to filter raw water – using recycled glass.

The project, called GLASSwater, has helped the polytechnic’s Environmental & Water Technology Centre of Innovation (EWTCOI) secure S$10.3 million for more such industry projects over the next three years.

Central to the process is a porous ceramic membrane made of recycled glass.

Dr Gurdev Singh, who is leading the research team, expects the technology to drive down production costs considerably.

He said the current production cost of ceramic membranes is about S$100 to S$200 per square metre, as they are made from natural raw materials.

With the GLASSwater membrane, it will be two to three times cheaper, costing only S$50 to S$100 to produce. Read more

Turning waste into wealth [News]

By Lynn Kan, The Business Times, 13 Dec 2011.

Fertiliser that smells like cupcakes? Hard to imagine and you’d suspect that it probably doesn’t work. But not only does a sweet- smelling form of fertiliser exist, I was assured by its producer, Biomax Technologies, that it is pretty potent fodder for plants – packed with three times more potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen than conventional fertiliser. It can even double as fish food.

‘It’s sweet because it’s made from cake. And there’re a lot of vitamins in it – suitable for fish! Fish like it,’ says Puah Chum Mok, the lecturer-turned-technologist of homegrown Biomax, as he handed over the jar of the pork-floss looking ochre powder.

As I cracked open the other jars loaded with darker powder – labelled ‘Chicken dung’ and ‘Palm Fruit Bunches’ – I pointed out they didn’t exactly smell like paradise, although they are far from the reek of rotten eggs in normal fertiliser. Read more

Singapore Printer Brands Launch First-Ever Joint Recycling Initiative – Project Homecoming [Press Releases]

Singapore, 1 December 2011 – Five major printer brands based in Singapore: Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson and Lexmark, with the support of the National Environment Agency (NEA) and National Library Board (NLB); have announced the launch of Singapore’s first-ever joint funded and managed printer brand ink and toner cartridge recycling initiative: Project Homecoming.

As the first international expansion of a successful joint printer brand recycling project (called “Ink Cartridge Satogaeri”) started in Japan three years ago, the project aims to encourage community awareness and environmental responsibility among Singaporeans through convenient cartridge recycling initiatives and education. Read more

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