Once is not enough: Dr Mattar
Don't just discard, learn to re-use materials, he urges
ENVIRONMENT Minister Ahmad Mattar remembers well the pre-papercup days when his teh tarik came in used condensed milk cans. He was a university student in the old Bukit Timah campus, and across the road was a sarabat stall, run by a man named Wahab, that he and his classmates patronized.
During the examination period, when they could not spend time there, they would ask for take-away tea, and it would come in the used cans, , he recalled when speaking to reporters after yesterday’s launching of Clean a Green Week, which this ear focuses on nature and resource conservation.
Re-using bottles and condensed milk cans as containers for sauces and take-away drinks by previous generations of Singaporean’s showed that resource conservation was nothing new in Singapore, he said in his speech earlier.
"Our migrant forefathers were adept practitioners," he said. They were ingenious in using leaves and newspapers as packaging materials, he added.
He noted that these earlier conservation efforts were the result of economic necessity, but added: "There is no reason why we cannot re-learn some of it."
He said that lifestyles determined society’s consumption and production patterns, which in turn affected the environment.
Pointing out that modern consumer products were designed for convenience and not conservation, he added:
"Many things are discarded after one use." Singapore could not go on putting aside more land for waste disposal. Nor could it afford more and more incineration plants. He said Singaporeans should replace the "throwaway" mentality with a "waste less" ethic.
He urged Singaporeans to:
• USE less. Non-essentials should be avoided;
• RE-USE more. Many used items, such as glass jars, were re-usable. He said people should share with each other traditional recipes on re-using materials;
• RECYCLE waste. Old newspapers, plastics and aluminium cans could all be recycled, he said. "Only as a last resort should material be destroyed and disposed of."
He said that waste minimization not only reduced the volume of waste to dispose of, but also conserved energy. It took less energy to produce aluminium or paper from recycling than from raw materials, he said.
It also conserved raw materials, helped prevent further environmental degradation, and reduced pollution during the manufacturing process, he added.
Dr Mattar said his ministry’s new Waste Minimization Unit would initiate and co-ordinate activities to support the "waste less" ethic.
On the progress of the Clean and Green Week campaign, he noted that since the first CGW, a number of spontaneous activities had been organized by businesses, residents committees, schools and private individuals to support the environmental cause.
Among the private sector initiatives yesterday was an offer of a free canvas shopping bag by retail chain Metro to 500 members of the public who handed in used plastic bags.
Trade in rechargeable batteries
USED nickel-cadmium batteries can now be returned at participating shops in a recycling scheme that will save money for consumers, conserve resources and prevent careless disposal of poisonous cadmium.
Environment Minister Dr Ahmad Mattar yesterday announced that with immediate effect, people could return their spent nickel-cadmium batteries when they buy replacements.
As an incentive, retailers will give a discount on new batteries when old ones are returned, he said.
Nickel-cadmium batteries are the rechargeable energy sources used widely for portable telephones, electric shavers, lap-top computers and other electronic appliances.
Cadmium is toxic: it normally causes only irritation, but can be fatal in heavy doses. It is released into the air when substances containing it are incinerated.
Dr Mattar said that the spent batteries would be collected by a recycling contractor and the cadmium extracted for re-use.
This, he noted, would not only save resources, but would also reduce the amount of toxic chemicals entering the waste-stream and harming the environment.
He said that for easy identification, the nickel-cadmium batteries would be labelled with the international recycling logo, of three arrows in a triangle, and would carry a recycling reminder to consumers.
Recycling bins for residents
YET another organization, BHP Steel, is doing its bit to make Singaporeans more environment-conscious. It will donate 60 recycling bins to three town councils for residents to dump their metal and paper rubbish into.
Each town council — Cheng San GRC (Chong Boon division), Brickworks Town Council and Jurong East Town Council — will get 20 bins.
The donation costs $84,000 and is part of the Island-wide recycling movement for Clean and Green Week launched yesterday.
The first 10 bins were placed in Cheng San GRC yesterday with the remaining 50 to be installed over the next few months.
The steel bins will be located at the void decks of selected Housing Board blocks.
From tomorrow, BP Singapore will also put up bins at its 40 petrol stations, as well as at 10 public areas near bus terminals, carparks and food centres.
Those who dispose of their waste paper and drink cans at the BP stations will receive gifts — a can of drinking water for every 10 drink cans deposited, up to a maximum of three cans of water.
Those who deposit a stack of A4-slze waste paper at least 60 cm high will receive a pack of four mercury-free batteries.
The offers are valid only during this week and while stocks last. The bins at the 10 public areas will also accept waste plastic.
Source : The Straits Times, November 4,1991
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