Task 1A: Further Research

Personal Thoughts

Many say that we are supposed to leave a world for the future generation that is better than before. The previous generations worked really hard to provide and create a lifestyle that will be comfortable for all of us, but it has come with an environmental cost that we should solve so that the future generations will be able to enjoy this life that was built by generations of innovation and hard work. Don’t let the minor inconveniences you face now result in a lifetime of more inconveniences?

Negative effects of plastic/not recycling

1. Plastic is ubiquitous (it’s found everywhere!): As litter in our cities, piling up in our oceans, in landfills, on Mount Everest, clogging up our drains, and more!

2. Plastics are not biodegradable: Plastics are made with extremely carbon-carbon bonds with each other, which is not present in nature. Decomposers/Microorganisms are not able to break them down like organic matter (e.g. food waste, dead animals) as they are not organic! 

3. Plastics kill wildlife: Plastic debris can be entangled with animals, Animals can mistaken plastic as food and starve to death because the plastic they ate makes them feel full but they are actually not! There will be a higher chance of animals ingesting plastic if plastics continue to accumulate.

4. Plastics are present in our food and water: Most of the plastics that were produced in the 1950s were not recycled, thus it is broken down into smaller particles now and make their way into our water sources like lakes, rivers, and oceans, eventually contaminating our food and water. 

5. Bioamplification: refers to an increase in the concentration of a substance as you move up the food chain. These persistent pollutants are transferred up the food chain faster than they are broken down or excreted. As humans are (sort of) the last organism in the food chain (decomposers are next), we will consume more plastic than other organisms, and it can expose us to more harmful chemicals that can lead to reproductive harm and obesity, organ problems and developmental delays in children.

6. Produce more plastic: If not recycled properly, more raw materials have to be sourced, i.e. plastic is made from fossil fuels, so if we produce more plastic instead of recycling it means we have to extract more fossil fuels which are already limited! The raw materials could have been made for other uses, e.g. for transport or to power up our houses.

Sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2018/04/23/five-ways-that-plastics-harm-the-environment-and-one-way-they-may-help/#4c9b4e1c67a0

https://mercurypolicy.scripts.mit.edu/blog/?p=499

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/youre-literally-eating-microplastics-how-you-can-cut-down-exposure-to-them/2019/10/04/22ebdfb6-e17a-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html

Waste statistics in Singapore

Waste Type Total Disposed (tonnes) Total Recycled (tonnes) Total Generated (tonnes) Recycling Rate
Construction debris 6,600 1,617,900  1,624,500  99%
Ferrous metal 9,300 1,260,200 1,269,500  99%
Non-ferrous metal 1,700 169,600   171,300 99% 
Used slag 2,300 178,900  181,200  99%
Scrap tyres 3,200 29,300 32,500  90%
Horticultural 151,100 370,100   521,200 71%
Wood 131,800  187,900  319,700 59%
Paper/Cardboard 467,400  586,400  1,053,800 56%
Glass 51,500 12,200 63,700  19%
Food 636,900 126,200  763,100 17%
Ash and sludge 215,200 24,600  239,800  10%
Textile/Leather 205,800 14,000  219,800 6% 
Plastic 908,600 40,700  949,300  4%
Others (stones, ceramic, rubber, etc.) 274,300 11,400 285,700  4%
Total 3,065,700  4,629,400 7,695,100  60%

Source: https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/waste-management/waste-statistics-and-overall-recycling

The HIGHEST waste type disposed of in Singapore in 2018 was Plastic at 908,600 tonnes with the LOWEST recycle rate of only 4% at 40,700 tonnes. This is a problem because it adds to the waste that is incinerated and dumped at Pulau Semakau which is already filling up rapidly. It was projected to run out of space by 2035, but because of the increasing waste disposed of in Singapore, the first Zero Waste plan plans to reduce waste by 30% to extend its lifespan. 

Singaporeans use 820 million plastic bags from supermarkets each year, which is an average of 146 plastic bags per person (126x land area of Gardens by the Bay), 472 PP disposables (3x landmass of Sentosa), and 467 million PET bottles (94 Olympic sized swimming pools/6x the length of Singapore).

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/plastic-bags-supermarkets-singapore-tax-sec-10576660?cid=h3_referral_inarticlelinks_24082018_cna

Why are we not recycling more?

60% of Singaporean households recycle regularly, but many are not doing it right. According to the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and National Environment Agency (NEA), wrongly recycled items like old toys, clothes, soiled food packaging contribute to the high contamination rate of the recyclables collected from the blue recycling bins. 40% of the load collected in blue recycling bins are tainted, which wastes the efforts of those who wanted to recycle properly, as items that are tainted are considered trash and cannot be recycled.

According to the same survey, for households who did not recycle regularly, the most common reasons were related to convenience. Some said there are too few items to recycle, being too busy or tired, or not having enough space at home to accumulate recyclables.

As for plastic recycling, about 70% of the people in Singapore do not fully understand what kinds of plastic can be recycled, resulting in the majority of plastic products being disposed of as general waste.

We are highly dependent on plastic: we use it to keep our food clean, we use it as a carrier, we use it to build things. Plastic, although is harmful to our environment, is something that we have been using for most of the century and has been beneficial and brought convenience to our lives. However, more has to be done and thought about whether this lifestyle dependent on plastic can be sustainable in the long run.

Singapore recycling plants (what do they collect, how do they do it – single stream)

Singapore utilizes the single-stream recycling system where paper, plastic, glass and metal recyclables are deposited into the same blue recycling bin and collected by the public waste collectors (PWCs). The mixed recyclables are then sent to Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) for sorting, then sent to recycling facilities for further processing.

Plastics are sorted into their types, melted, and made into pellets which then can be used as material for new products. 

List of plastics that can be recycled (or not!)

Source: https://www.nea.gov.sg/docs/default-source/our-services/waste-management/list-of-items-that-are-recyclable-and-not.pdf

Website  

Recycling symbols

Source: https://orgayana.com/home/how-do-i-recycle-in-singapore/

Current measures in Singapore to encourage Recycling 

1. Role-playing: Ah ma was given the chance to live the zero-waste challenge for a week as encouraged by the granddaughter.

2. New non-landed private homes are required to install dual chutes for refuse and recyclables. All new Build-To-Order (BTO) Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats already have installed recycling chutes adjacent to centralised refuse chutes at every level since January 2014. As such, public education for recycling needs to be stronger! If Singaporeans are able to cultivate the habit of bagging their trash before dumping it into the rubbish chute, I’m sure recycling can be one of them too!

3. Singapore encourages a circular economy, which is an alternative to the traditional linear economy (take, make, waste). It seeks to reduce waste, recovers resources at the end of a product’s life, and channels them back into production, thus significantly reducing pressure on the environment. An example of how the circular economy can be used for plastic: recycled plastic –> melted homogeneous plastic –> turned into plastic pellets –> plastic pellets used as materials for new products

4. There have been many visual-based campaigns to encourage people to recycle and to recycle the right way. Some examples are the recycling bin label, recycling right videos (in different languages too!), let’s recycle together poster campaign, Towards Zero Waste website and a recycling mobile application by Sempcorp that schedules for door collection of recyclables in exchange for cash. 

https://graphics.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/Interactives/2019/11/singapore-plastic-problem-pet-bottles/index.html?shell

Current measures in Singapore to encourage people to do stuff/build up a habit:

Healthy 365 mobile application

Healthy 365 is a health and diet tracking mobile application by the Health Promotion Board. It has challenges to encourage users to live a healthier lifestyle. E.g. the National Steps Challenge encourages users to take 10,000 steps a day to earn the points and redeem it for $5 or $10 vouchers. I think it’s a great way to encourage Singaporeans to build a habit as we all love money… However, as a user of the app, I observed something which most users may do too. I used this app for the steps challenge because I wanted to earn the vouchers, but after I completed the challenge and there was no more monetary incentive for me, I just stopped using the app to keep track of my health/diet. Although some may continue to keep up with their habits, I think it may only be a short term solution. (Candy Crush, Pokemon Go?)

Recycle n Save is a Joint Initiative by F&N and NEA that uses reverse vending machines to encourage citizens to build up a habit of recycling. At the start of the program, people were rewarded 20 cents for every 4 containers (PET bottles/aluminum cans) they put into the reverse vending machines. It was working really well with long lines of people queuing up to recycle their containers. However, many questioned whether people were abusing the incentives and whether it was effective in encouraging people to build a recycling habit or not. The rewards were later adjusted to 20 cents for every 20 containers which discouraged people to recycle as they think it’s not worth queuing for 2 hours that little incentive.

Source: https://mothership.sg/2020/01/recycling-vending-machines-incentives-change/

Other solutions to build up habits

Forest App

Forest is an app that helps users to stay away from their smartphones and stay focused on their work.

Measures in other countries to encourage Recycling

Residents have to sort their waste into seven multicoloured categories at home – green for food, pink for textiles, grey for metal, yellow for paper, blue for newspaper, orange for plastic and black for mixed. Also, for the past four years, people have been able to drop off their unwanted goods for recycling at Bergström’s secondhand mall.

References: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/18/eskilstuna-how-a-swedish-town-became-the-world-capital-of-recycling

Task 1A: Exploratory Research

What are some of the current issues confronting our world today? Amongst them, what is of interest and a cause of concern to you? (250 words)

The inconvenient consequences of a culture of convenience

Humans have always centered convenience as the motivation of most of their ideas since the industrial revolution, for example, the typewriter which has improved the efficiency and convenience of writing, the invention of “convenience foods” such as canned food or instant cake mix. The role of “convenience” in shaping the culture and economy of the last century, is both crucial and under-explored. With convenience in mind, I found out there are 3 issues that came from it.

1. Environmental issues:

I believe we are all guilty of choosing something convenient without thinking of the consequences that come after it. Single-use plastics, although it is beneficial for us momentarily, are here to stay on earth for a longer time than its useful lifespan. Some of the consequences are that the microplastics, which are from our contact lenses, may end up in our drinking water as they are too tiny to be filtered out. Another is that it endangers biodiversity. For example, turtles could mistaken plastic bags as jellyfish which are their main source of food which can cause intestinal blockage. This calls for concern as it may affect our health and affect our biodiversity (and more!) which results from our choice to be convenient at the moment.

Source: https://asunow.asu.edu/20181003-solutions-asu-researchers-plastics-pollution-recycling

2. Social issues:

“Most of the powerful and important technologies created over the past few decades deliver convenience in the service of personalization and individuality. Think of the VCR, the playlist, the Facebook page, the Instagram account. This kind of convenience is no longer about saving physical labor…It is about minimizing the mental resources, the mental exertion, required to choose among the options that express ourselves.”

According to the article by Tim Wu, he mentioned that although convenience has brought upon many life improvements for us, it has also taken away our individuality and character.

Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/opinion/sunday/tyranny-convenience.html https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2018/03/03/tim-wu-on-the-tyranny-of-convenience/

3. Health issues:

Due to our hectic schedules, we often turn to frozen food or canned food for a quick meal to satisfy our hunger. However, we often forget that convenient meals do not contain as many nutrients as freshly cooked meals. Processed food is loaded with preservatives (MSG for example), unnatural coloring, and other added flavoring. If consumed regularly over time, such foods can quickly begin to harm a person’s health, which can contribute to serious health issues, for example – obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancers, and strokes (Cardiff, 2013).

Source: https://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/convenience-foods-not-so-convenient-for-your-health/

4. To preserve old buildings or develop new ones? (Social)

As Singapore has limited land, the old buildings of the past have to make way for the development of other architecture that may be more economical in order for it to progress. Many landmarks of the past like the Old National Theatre or the Old National Library are demolished to make way for city developments like the construction of expressways or tunnels. Recently, the “Papa Merlion” in Sentosa was also announced to be demolished for redevelopment works to introduce more attractions.

Will we forget these places of cultural significance as we progress towards the future? Where will we find a visual representation of our culture if physical buildings like these are being demolished to develop something that has more economical value? Will we become too focused on developing the land that we forget our roots?

Source: https://mustsharenews.com/places-gone-forever/

Of the many issues, I will be focusing on environmental issues that are caused by our need for convenience.

Why is the issue important? Who does it affect and how? (200 words)

The issue is important as it affects all of us! It affects our health (microplastics are found in our drinking water), it affects the land we live in (degradation of land), it affects the biodiversity that is needed to keep our ecosystem in balance (endangerment of wildlife on land or in water – oceans/lakes/rivers), and this is the only planet we can inhabit in! (We have no planet B!) Without taking care of our home, we won’t have a future, or even worse for some people, when we won’t have a future for us to earn more money. We have no reset button and the change we need to make is now as the UN urges that we only have 11 years to avoid potentially irreversible climate disruption. 

Although many countries have made concrete plans to reduce plastic usage like China that plans to cut plastic use by 2025 and Thailand banning plastic bags this year (2020), more has yet to be done for Singapore. In 2018, only a small portion of plastic (4%) was being recycled due to the plastic having high levels of contamination, making it unsuitable for recycling. In 2018, 467 million PET bottles were used, (which is equivalent to 15 bottles per second!) and 820 million plastic bags were used from supermarkets (an average of about 145 bags per person!). Although Singapore has come up with initiatives to reduce plastic usage, they also recognise that Singaporeans have the culture of reusing the plastic bags as trash bags and a carrier for wet items. I would like to explore what more can be done to help reduce plastic usage in Singapore. 

Sources: https://www.un.org/press/en/2019/ga12131.doc.htm https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-reveals-plan-to-cut-plastic-use-by-2025 https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/thailand-kicks-off-2020-with-plastic-bag-ban https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/just-4-of-spores-plastic-waste-recycled-last-year https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-single-use-plastics-resource-sustainability-bill-11872642 

Who do you need to communicate to, and why? (150 words)

I will want to communicate with adults (aged 21 and above) to be more environmentally conscious of the decisions they make when they decide to prioritise a momentary convenience over their future. The reason why I decided to focus on adults is that they are the ones who can make a real change in shaping our future RIGHT NOW. (There is no time to lose!) As the UN said, we only have 11 years to avoid irreversible climate disruption. If the adults can make a change in their habits or lifestyle, the younger generation which is taught by them will naturally follow. Although it’s hard to expect one to change their lifestyles overnight, I believe that baby steps are better than no steps at all. Although ambitious, I also hope to bring across this reminder to leaders of organisations who can make a real (BIG!) difference in reducing the usage of single-use plastics and to consider other alternatives. 

How has visual communication contributed to address the cause?

1. Doughnut Economics Diagram

The doughnut economics was created by Kate Raworth. It visualises what it takes to be in the 21st-century economy where we focus less on GDP growth but also on the Earth’s systems and its societies. It is a simple diagram that communicates the idea of assessing environmental sustainability and social performance across. If we use this to compare Singapore’s environmental sustainability and social performance to another country’s, we can easily see if Singapore is doing enough, or not. 

Sources: https://goodlife.leeds.ac.uk/countries/#Singapore https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/12/doughnut-growth-economics-book-economic-model

2. Infographics about Recycling

3. NEA recycling guidebook for households

Link to guide: https://www.nea.gov.sg/docs/default-source/our-services/a-guide-to-3r-practices-for-households.pdf

4. Recycling apps in Singapore

5. Solutions overseas