Readers Response Draft 1
The article “Parliament: Singapore looks to create Newoil by transforming waste plastic into alternative fuel” by Liu (2020), illustrates Singapore’s current and future recycling plans.
Currently, the ‘Deposit Refund Scheme’ is one way to encourage citizens to recycle. Citizens that recycle get incentivized with money in return.
Liu also mentions Newsand, which is another effort to curb and reduce landfill waste, accomplished by incinerating waste to produce useful construction materials. The promising project prompted NEA to build a commercial-scale facility to maximize its efficiency. It also mentions that by 2024 the 'Resource Sustainability Act' will require large food and beverage establishments to separate their food waste for treatment. To help curb the amounts of food waste generated. It states that the government pushes large companies to reduce their plastic waste, they are required to record their packaging data and submit it to the NEA for vetting. As a result, the Semakau Island will receive less waste.
To tackle the rising e-waste in Singapore, the country will have 3 e-waste recycling facilities fully operational by 2022, able to process more than 50,000 tonnes of e-waste annually.
This article introduces Newoil,. where plastic waste is chemically recycled to pyrolysis oil which is a greener alternative than the usage of fossil fuels.
This article illustrates the measures Singapore is taking aligning with Singapore's green plan 2030. With the implementation of this efforts, recycling has proved to worked and has been showcasing promising results to meet the demands of the Green Plan 2030 goal.
According to the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources Singapore (MEWR)(2020), NEWater has enabled Singapore to endlessly recycle water, reusing it again and again to produce potable water. Newoil and Newsand are just like Newater where they are able to recycle plastic waste and incineratedwaste in an effort for useful outputs such as fossil fuels and construction use. This shows that Singapore can be a much more self-reliant and truly independent country.
In an article “Singapore government’s Green Plan offers new jobs and economic growth” (2021) it states to initiate Singapore to be used as a location for both global and local companies to develop new sustainability solutions. With further success, comes the demand for workers in Singapore. One can only infer that with more sustainable solutions, comes more recycling infrastructure and plants to carry out new recyclable methods when developed in the future.
Despite Singapore’s desire to be independent, it is constrained by land scarcity and the ability to keep up with the output wastage of citizens. “We do not have the natural resources, land area, and climate conditions for the large-scale deployment of renewable energy sources” said Mr. Chan, Minister of Trade and industry. Singapore could not be compared to larger countries that have natural resources such as to build wind turbine farms or hydro-powered river and must come up with their own creative, feasible solutions.
Singapore faces the challenges of needing to use land to cater infrastructure to the sustainability sector such as Recycling facilities, Plants and R&D centres. It is a challenge as they have to cater for other important sectors such as to provide land space for defence industries, homes, and critical infrastructure.
However, with the constant advancement of technology and the resources that Singapore is willing to provide for R&D, Singapore will be able counter its limitation of space. In the article “Singapore's first large-scale solar floating farm opens at Tengeh Reservoir” by Chong (2021), it showcases how Singapore uses unorthodox solutions with the help of modern technology and to already materialized it in Tengeh Reservoir on 14 July 2021. This shows that Singapore, has the capacity for better technology and resources for more in-depth research to continue adapting to climate change and to constantly provide a more sustainable approach towards future sustainable issues.
Singapore’s long-term commitment to innovation, strategic business partnerships and well-educated workforce will ensure that the country will be able to achieve its goals and prosper. With its success, Singapore could be a living laboratory for countries around the world facing similar challenges.
References:
Chong, C (2021, July 14) Singapore's first large-scale solar floating farm opens at Tengeh Reservoir.
Kurohi, R. (2021, Febuary 10). Singapore government’s Green Plan offers new jobs and economic growth. The Straits Times.
Liu, V. (2020, March 4) Parliament: S’pore looks to create Newoil by Transforming waste plastic into alternative fuel. The Straits Times.
Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (2021, Feb 10). Singapore Green Plan. Youtube.
Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (2021)
National Environment Agency (2019)
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