Planning a Campaign to Reduce, Redistribute and Recycle Food Waste in Singapore

In 2010, Singapore threw away 0.64 million tonnes of food waste and only 16% was recycled. This means that on average, each person in Singapore generated about 126kg of food waste a year. This is common throughout the world and according to a 2011 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about 1.3 billion tonnes or one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year gets lost or wasted.

Food waste has several environmental and social impacts, and represents a waste of resources used in food production, distribution and disposal, such as land, water, energy, fertilisers, labour and capital, and produces unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions leading to climate change. The food wasted could be used to feed the poor and the nearly one billion malnourished people in the world.

To tackle this problem of food waste, we are thinking of organising a campaign to reduce food waste in Singapore. The campaign would aim to help consumers, households, food outlets, retailers, caterers, food distributors, and food manufacturers in Singapore understand the environmental and social impacts of our food cycle, and take actions to reduce, redistribute and recycle food waste in Singapore.

We are still in the process of conceptualising the campaign and trying to get sponsors, and will share more about the campaign later. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas and suggestions, do share them with us. Thanks!

Die Die Must Share – The Idea of Collaborative Consumption

Eugene Tay, the Editor of Green Business Times and Founder of Green Future Solutions, is a person whom you would describe as a green maven – someone who reads and knows a lot about environmental trends and ideas, and who likes to share them with others.

Having come across many green ideas over the past few years, there is one recent idea Eugene would claim that he ‘die die must share’ – the idea of Collaborative Consumption.

Collaborative Consumption refers to the idea of sharing that is empowered by technology and social networks, and how it changes consumption and the way businesses operate.

Sharing also covers renting, swapping, lending, trading, exchanging, bartering, and gifting. The advantages of sharing are that fewer resources are used to make and ship products, and less waste are generated and disposed.

The term Collaborative Consumption was first described in 2010 in the book What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers.

Other resources with similar ideas on sharing include the book The Mesh: Why the Future of Business is Sharing by Lisa Gansky and the Shareable website. Read more

3R Packaging Awards recognise companies for their efforts to reduce packaging waste

The Singapore Packaging Agreement signatories received the 3R Packaging Awards this morning at the Third Meeting of the Regional 3R Forum in Asia, held at Sheraton Towers Singapore for their efforts to reduce packaging waste.

The Singapore Packaging Agreement (SPA) is a voluntary programme by the industry, the National Environment Agency (NEA), and NGOs to reduce the amount of waste from product packaging through improvements in product packaging design and packaging processes. The annual 3R Packaging Awards have been presented by NEA since 2008 to recognise the signatories of SPA for their efforts.

For this year’s 3R Packaging Awards, 6 companies received the Distinction Award and 15 companies received the Merit Awards from Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. Read more

123Recycle Mobile App Helps People in Singapore Recycle Waste Packaging Correctly

Developed by Nestlé Singapore and the Nanyang Polytechnic School of Information Technology, 123Recycle is a free mobile application to help people in Singapore recycle waste packaging correctly. The app is supported by the National Environment Agency and the Singapore Environment Council, and can be used with both Nestlé and non-Nestlé products.

Users of the app can scan a product’s barcode to see clear instructions on how to dispose or recycle the different parts of the product’s packaging. For Nestlé products, the app gives exact instructions on how to recycle each part of the packaging. For non-Nestlé products, it offers generic recycling instructions for the packaging.

This 123Recycle app would be useful for the public to find out how to recycle waste packaging on the go. There are also discussions on a second version that will include an interactive map of recycling points. Check out the free 123Recycle app today and let us know your thoughts.

You can download the app for iPhone or Android devices.

Source: Nestlé. Images: iPhone screenshots

Waste Generated From Marathons

Singaporeans are increasingly taking up running, and marathons are being held almost every month. The common type of waste generated from marathons include: plastic bottles, paper cups, energy bar or gel packaging, and carton boxes. What happens to the waste generated from marathons? Are those waste that are recyclable being collected and sent for recycling? Read more

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