GREEN organisations like the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) have been raising awareness about the need to apply the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle).

The recycling scheme that was run jointly by petrol company BP and the Ministry for the Environment for some years has unfortunately failed because people indiscriminately threw all kinds of garbage in the bins that were designated for recyclables.

Since then, green volunteers like myself and other members of the Waste Minimisation Workteam of the Green Volunteers Network of the SEC have been vigorously promoting the 3Rs.

We hope that we’ve succeeded in at least changing the mindset of people here about the need to reduce, reuse and recycle.

We can see a strange thing happening in Singapore nowadays.

Recycling is becoming a trend. Community clubs, residents’ committees and Community Development Councils are starting recycling schemes in their area, a move which, of course. I applaud.

But recycling is not the most important way of waste minimisation: It is actually a lot less important than reducing and reusing.

Why? For one, it does not really promote the mindset of waste minimisation.

Many people use recycling as a mental band-aid, saying to themselves that they can actually increase their consumption of cans, paper and other materials, because they are recycled anyway.

Another thing is that you need to process the material you want to recycle: Break it down to little pieces, melt it and remold it.

This process takes a lot of water and energy, sometimes even more than in the original production of the materials.

So you save one natural resource (mineral ores), but you consume others.

The best way to minimise waste is not to consume at all.

And that is why green volunteers promote "refuse" as a first additional R to the original 3Rs.

Buy only what you need and refuse excess packaging (you pay for it!), excess plastic bags (bring your own), non-recyclable products, and so on.

If you really need to buy, then try to buy just enough (ask the hawker if he can reduce the amount of rice on your plate, if you know you’re not going to eat it all).

Buy material that you can reuse, like bottles and jars, and try to repair those materials that are only slightly damaged (bring your umbrella and shoes to repair shops).

Or if you really don’t want your product anymore, there are ample organisations that will take it from you.

Salvation Army and Cash Converters are just some examples.

But the most important R that I want to stress is an additional one:

Remember.

A habit is easily formed, but it is hard to get rid of.

A wasteful habit has slowly found its way into the Singaporean society.

Consumerism is promoted on every corner of the street, on every billboard and bus stop: Buy, buy, buy. The economy has to grow, but this growth comes at a cost.

The most recent incineration plant cost $1 billion and, according to the Government, we will have to build a new one in five years, if current growth (and consequently wastage) continues.

The only waste disposal site in Singapore, the offshore island Semakau, cost $600 million to build and hopefully will last till 2030.Where will you use after that? 

Remember this and don’t forget to apply the other Rs consciously and continuously. 

Don’t see it as a burden, but as a service we are providing to our future generations and our fellow inhabitants of this wonderful world.

FOR years, I’ve been dreaming up wonderful schemes to murder the karang guni man that comes around my flat every Sunday morning.

It’s not that I am against his collecting old newspapers — I am definitely for the idea.

What bugs me is his irritating voice and the terrible blaring of his horn waking me up at 11 am on a Sunday. My murderous instinct subsides by 2 pm when I am completely awake, and I’m in the right frame of mind to really appreciate his somewhat noble profession.

Because without him, I will probably just throw the old newspapers piling up in my home down the rubbish chute.

You see, there’s just so much I will do to keep my environment clean and green. My family keeps clean plastic bags left over from grocery shopping to be re-used for rubbish, and storing other household items.

We keep old newspapers so that we can pass them onto the karang guni man for a few dollars.

We do it not because we are worried about the 4.67 million tonnes of waste generated by Singaporeans last year, or because 1.88 million tonnes of it was recovered through recycling.

It’s not that we don’t care - just that figures like these don’t make much of an impact on practical people’s minds.

All we know is that we recycle because it is a practical, cost-saving thing to do (I don’t need to look for a plastic bag when I need one).

Of course, we have no qualms about disposing the plastic bags afterwards. Do we care that they will shrink into a stubborn little ball of plastic because they’re non-biodegradable? Will we pay for plastic bags that were environment-friendly?

Probably not.

The challenge for green activists out there, I suppose then, is to help make recycling "easy" and "more practical".

I would like to think that most Singaporeans are conscious of environmental issues. I will do my part to support waste-recycling projects.

If I happen to hold an empty can in my hand, and if I also happen to walk past a recycling bin, 1 will stretch my arm and throw the can into the bin. Otherwise, any bin will do. Problem is that recycling bins are just so hard to find these days.

Also, if retailers were smart enough to incorporate "environment-friendly" strategies into their marketing plans, I would tap them up as well.

I am an ardent supporter of Body Shop’s policy to refund customers with cash when we bring empty bottles back for re-fills. In fact, I’m all for re-fills of any sort - from washing powder to cereals. For one, they are cheaper, and also lighter to carry home.

At the end of the day, all we need are just more enterprising individuals like the karang guni man to help us solve our environmental problems.

Source : Project Eyeball, Mar 30, 2001

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