Photos from Recycling Week 2011

Recycling Week 2011 was launched today by the new Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, at the open field next to Tampines MRT Station. This annual event aims to raise awareness about the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), and is organised by the National Environment Agency (NEA) in partnership with the Public Waste Collectors (PWCs), schools, Town Councils, grassroots organisations and recycling companies.

There will also be satellite events next Saturday, 11 June from 9am to 5pm at these locations:

• Hardcourt in front of Courts at Toa Payoh Town Centre
• Chong Pang Community Club
• Bukit Batok East Point

Zero Waste Singapore was at the launch of the Recycling Week 2011 earlier. If you missed the event, check out these photos taken at the event:

What Happens to the Used Bulky Furniture and Items Collected by the Cleaners From the Housing Estates in Singapore

Do you know what happens to the used bulky furniture and items collected by the cleaners from your housing estates? Are they sent to the incineration plants and landfill or recycled? We are not sure too, so we sent an email to ask all the town councils in Singapore. Here’s their reply:

Jurong Town Council referred our enquiry to NEA and a manager from the Licensing and Operations, Waste Management Department, replied: The Town Council conservancy contractor engages a licensed general waste collector (GWC) to remove the bulky furniture. The GWC will usually segregate the waste – sending recyclable parts for recycling and the non-recyclable parts for incineration.

Hong Kah Town Council: All the bulky collected by our cleaner will send to 800 Super Waste. They will send to incineration plants.

Pasir Ris- Punggol Town Council: In general, bulky furniture and items will be collected by our conservancy workers and are taken to the dumping ground.

Tanjong Pagar Town Council: Most of the bulky items collected were not reusable. The metal parts of the bulky will be separated for recycle, burnable parts will be ended in incinerator and other go for landfill.

Tampines Town Council: The bulky refuse items are disposed of by the public waste collectors, most items are sent to incineration plants.

Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang Town Council: Our conservancy contractor will dismantle the large pieces and dispose them in a specially arranged bulk-bin container. The contents go to NEA’s incinerator plants.

East Coast Town Council: The bulky refuse would be sent to Sembcorp which would then decide to incinerate, use the refuse as landfill or recycle them.

West Coast Town Council: The discarded bulky household items collected by the conservancy workers will be send to the incineration plant.

Aljunied Town Council: To answer to your enquiry, NEA has provided the following answers – if waste can be recycled, they will be removed at source for recycling; the balance that can be incinerated will be moved to the incinerator plants; only those that cannot be recycled or incinerated will end up at the landfill.

Sembawang Town Council: We would like to inform you that the Town Council works closely with the National Environmental Agency in recycling domestic refuse as it forms the main bulk of our recyclables. A proper network of recycling bins was setup and it is easily accessible to our heartlanders. (The reply did not answer our question so we sent another email to say that we are referring to bulky items like furniture. We have not received a reply.)

The rest of the town councils did not bother to reply.

So are the used bulky furniture and items collected by the cleaners from your housing estates sent for recycling? The answer is: it depends. From the town councils’ replies, it is up to the general waste collector who is engaged to dispose the bulky furniture and items, to decide whether to recycle the items and what to recycle.

Some of the used furniture that we see are still in good condition or just need some repair and refurbishment. If you have used furniture in good condition to throw away next time, consider giving them away at Freecycle, or to Salvation Army and Pass It On.

We also think that there could be a potential for a dedicated furniture reuse and recycling centre in Singapore. Used furniture could be collected and refurbished or the furniture parts could be reused and made into new furniture, and sold to the public or the needy at cheaper prices.

What Can You Find Inside the Refuse Bin Centre of a Wet Market and Hawker Centre

Do you know what waste goes into the refuse bin centres of our wet markets and hawker centres? We took a quick look at a refuse bin centre located at the Marine Parade Market and Food Centre. Here’s what you can find – food waste, styrofoam boxes, plastic disposables and carton boxes. See pictures below. Read more

Tzu Chi’s Recycling Efforts and Closing the Recycling Loop

The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation has been promoting recycling in Singapore since 2006. During the Tzu Chi Recycling Day, which falls on every second Sunday of the month, Tzu Chi volunteers will set up recycling points at 14 locations across the island. The volunteers encourage residents to bring their recyclable items from their houses and to help in the sorting of the items. They also spread environmental awareness among the public.

To understand more about the recycling activities by the Tzu Chi volunteers, we visited one of the recycling points located at the void deck of Blk 71 Bedok South Road last month. Mr Chong, the volunteer in-charge of the recycling point, shared with us about the recycling point.

To set up a recycling point, Tzu Chi usually get approval from and work with the Residents’ Committee (RC) in the area. They will distribute leaflets to the residents to invite them to join the Recycling Day organised on every second Sunday of the month from 8.30am to 11.30am, and to bring down their recyclable items. In the past, the volunteers went house to house to collect the recyclables but changed to a centralised collection point due to shortage of manpower.

When the residents bring their recyclables to the recycling point, they are encouraged to sort the items into different categories such as clothing; newspapers; carton boxes/colour paper; black and white paper; electrical appliances; plastics; metal, and glass. By sorting the items themselves, the residents will appreciate more about the need to recycle and also to keep their recyclables clean. Read more

Explore Simple and Cost-Effective Ways to Maximise the Use of Our Existing Recycling Infrastructure

Grace Chua from the Straits Times wrote an article yesterday on Recycling: Time to get our act together. She suggested some laws and improvements to increase the recycling efforts of households and businesses.

Before considering her suggestions for households, I would suggest that the National Environment Agency (NEA) explore simple and cost-effective ways to maximise the use of our existing recycling infrastructure, which often is underutilised or misused.

The National Recycling Programme (NRP) has been implemented at HDB estates and landed properties since 2001, where residents are given either recycling bags or bins for recyclables, which are collected once every 2 weeks from their doorsteps. With the NRP, households can recycle conveniently and do not even have to walk downstairs to the nearest recycling bin or walk out of their house to the chutes to recycle. Households can also make use of the recycling bins near their flats since there are one set of recycling bins for every five blocks of flats.

For households in condominiums and private apartments, they can recycle through the recycling programme at their residence as it is mandatory from 2008 for all condominiums and private apartments to put in place recycling programmes.

With the existing recycling infrastructure, the NEA should aim to maximise its usage and tweak it to increase recycling, before deciding to implement new laws, place more bins or add more separate chutes system, which is likely to increase business costs and be passed on to the residents.

To make full use of the existing recycling infrastructure, the NEA could study simple and cost-effective ways to “nudge” households and increase recycling participation. In the book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, the authors pointed out two common misconceptions on change, which we can adapt to help increase recycling.

One, “what looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity”. We need to provide crystal-clear direction to the households on the recycling programme. Some questions to ask: Are the households aware or clear about the NRP in terms of why there is a need to have the programme; how the programme works; what items can be recycled; how the collection is done; how frequent is the collection, and where the recyclables end up? Can we appoint volunteer recycling ambassadors or guides to help the residents? Can we use more mass media and social media to explain the recycling programme and spread the message?

Two, “what looks like a people problem is often a situation problem”. We need to make it easier for the households to recycle by tweaking the existing recycling infrastructure. Some questions to ask: How to make it easier for households to remember the recycling dates; identify what items can be recycled; and find the nearest recycling bin? Can we place a reminder on each rubbish bin and chute to remind residents to recycle? Can we provide data for comparing recycling performance for each estate or block? Can we use social media and smartphone apps to remind residents on their recycling collection dates? Can we place better images of recyclables on the recycling bags or bins to show clearly what items are recyclable?

The NEA should study simple and cost-effective ways before implementing new laws, bins or systems whose increased costs could be borne by the residents.

Besides recycling, it is also important to focus more on reduce and reuse. There is a sequence to the widely known 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. “Reduce” should always be practised first to minimise or prevent the waste from being generated in the beginning. Next, “Reuse” the generated waste over again for the same or different purpose. Lastly, “Recycle” the waste so that it can be processed and used as a new material. Recycling still involves energy and resources to process the used material, and should be done last.

An edited version was published at ST Forum Online.

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