Pulau Semakau Landfill

Singapore's non-incinerable wastes were formerly dumped at two landfills located at Lim Chu Kang and Lorong Halus at Tampines on mainland Singapore. With the amount of refuse increasing by 6% every year, it was foreseen that both landfills would reach full capacity in 1997. As no other suitable sites for landfill could be found on the main island, a decision was made to create a landfill site by enclosing the waters between the eastern part of Pulau Semakau and the western part of Pulau Sakeng. It would be a sort of reclamation.

The landfill area covers 350ha (about 440 football fields) and has a landfill capacity of 63 million m³. It is expected to have a lifespan of 30 years. The new landfill, which cost $630 million, started operations in April 1999.

Even through currently we are no facing problems with the lack of landfill, but what will happen after 30 years?

Hence it is important for us to recycle and reduce our waste.

References: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1008_2010-03-22.html

http://sg.ksdb.com/1072418.page

LBL

General knowledge on plastics

Plastic is very good as it was durable and degraded very slowly. The problem that comes with making of plastic is that will deplete the precious fossil fuels and burning it could release toxic fumes.

Lots of plastic waste ends up in the sea. The larger pieces can be dangerous for many species of marine animals and seabirds, which run the risk of swallowing them as they mistaken them for food. The end-product of the decomposition of plastics is a multitude of tiny bits of waste, the so-called "micro-debris", are as fine as grain and which was predicted to have a very long life span. These particles accumulate in super large quantities in calm oceanic zones, where the marine currents go round and round in circles. They are still researching on the impact of this effect on the environment.

On land, plastics contribute to visual pollution, the result of thoughtless consumer behaviour or the bad management of a rubbish tip. Accumulative plastics waste can also block up drains which results in stagnant waters. This is the perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes and pest. Mosquitoes and pest may carry diseases and it may spread to people which are not a good effect.

Recycling plastics proved difficult. Plastic recycling is that it is difficult to automate the sorting of plastic waste, and therefore labor-intensive. Containers are usually made from a single type and color of plastic, a consumer toy like a cellular phone may be made of many small parts consisting of over a dozen different types and colors of plastics.

Biodegradable plastic is not, however, a solution to this state of affairs. It is up to each of us to do what is necessary to avoid the irresponsible dumping of plastic products anywhere and everywhere!

TPS

Irony facts of Singapore.

Is Singapore litter free? Or is it not?

Are we lacking rubbish bins that result in this kind of situation? Or is this due to the habits of the public?

LBL

Causes

These are pictures showing how various places in Singapore was litter after events and festivals.

Often during festivals and events, people tends to litter around the place as they thought since others can do it, they can also.

Furthermore, they will not be caught and it helps them save time looking for rubbish bins. It was these kinds of Singaporean ways of thinking and habits that we need to change. Imagine how much labour work is required to clean up all these rubbish that was left after the festivals and events. We all would like to enjoy the fun but at the same time we shall think whether we are cause trouble for others.

Singapore is well known for it cleanliness, but is Singaporean really doing their part to keep the environment clean? Or is it the cleaners that are keeping the environment clean?

If everyone could just do their part, we can maintain the clean and green environment in Singapore. We should not be depending on the cleaners. Just a little of ours effort can help to change a lot.

LBL.

eco friendly NTUC

Hey all! (:

Do you know of any companies who are involved in conserving or recycling plastics?
Here's one example: NTUC FairPrice.
I'm sure all of you have heard of this company. Now let me introduce to you some of the green schemes they have used to save our earth.

"Bring your own bag"
You should know about this by now. FairPrice encourages us to bring our own bag every wednesday of the start of the month. If you've forgotten to bring your own bag on that day, then they will have a surcharge of $0.10 for every bag. The money collected will be donated to charity.

"Crush it, not chuck it"
Have you been to the NTUC of city square mall, ang mo kio hub and marine parade?
If you have, you might have noticed that there's some sort of recycling vending machine which you can deposit your empty bottle or can and you will have a receipt whereby there's a point system.
like for every bottle which you recycled, you acheive one point and you can accumulate them and get a voucher in return.
If you have not seen it, here's are some pictures to illustrate it to you:

View Image

see that last vending machine with the word recycling?
there's a hole which you can insert your empty bottle as mentioned earlier, and it will reprocess the plastic or something.
cool eh?

View Image

sorry that it is blurred, just wanted to show another picture of it so you get a better idea of what i'm talking about. it's the last picture which depicts what i was trying to say as well.

Reverse Vending Machines

this was the receipt with the points system that i was saying previously. see that "1 Pts"?

If you have the time, i strongly recommend you to check out the NTUC FairPrice at ctiy square mall.
It is a new mall which was established not long ago, and it is their first eco-friendly supermarket. It has a really nice environment, and it offers over 400 biodegradable and environmentally friendly products. Other than that, they've got special check out lanes for customers who brought their own shopping bags.

For more green initiatives that NTUC have participated, you might like to check this out: http://www.fairprice.com.sg/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PressReleaseDisplayView?langId=-1&storeId=90001&catalogId=10053&actionFlag=T&Corporate=Y&pressReleaseId=22501

sources: http://www.fairprice.com.sg/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PressReleaseDisplayView?langId=-1&storeId=90001&catalogId=10053&actionFlag=T&Corporate=Y&pressReleaseId=22501
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1023942/1/.html

CJL (:

PICTURES

TSS.