The Singapore Government is piloting “save-as-you-reduce” schemes to see if they help cut household waste and get residents to recycle more, the Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu said at the launch of Eco Products International Fair. From next year, large hotels and shopping centres in Singapore have to report how much waste they generate and what their targets are to reduce and recycle it. Read More

“If we find that households are reducing their waste, we can consider passing back some of the savings so there’s a direct relationship between their behaviour and their pocket.”

‘Less trash, pay less’ scheme to be tested

Project involving over 1,400 homes aims to cut waste, boost recycling

By Grace Chua in The Straits Times (15 March 2013):

THROW away less trash, and get to pay less.

The Government is piloting “save-as-you-reduce” schemes in Punggol, Bartley and Yuhua, to see if they help cut household waste and get residents to recycle more, said Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu yesterday.

“If we find that households are reducing their waste, we can consider passing back some of the savings so there’s a direct relationship between their behaviour and their pocket.”

The domestic waste generated in Singapore has been rising faster than population growth.

And the overall waste this country produces has grown from 5.97 million tonnes a year since 2008 to 6.9 million tonnes in 2011 – which roughly equals the weight of 275,000 fully loaded garbage trucks.

In the same year, 59 per cent of Singapore’s total waste was recycled, but the National Environment Agency hopes this figure will hit 65 per cent by 2020.

There are already schemes to encourage recycling. From last year, new public waste collection contracts must include the supply of one recycling bin for each HDB block. And from next year, large hotels and shopping centres have to report how much waste they generate and what their targets are to reduce and recycle it.

Although few details were available on how the new scheme will be implemented, the Government is hoping the 11-month “save-as-you-reduce” trial, which starts next month for more than 1,400 households, will also make a mark.

HDB residents in the targeted estates pay between $4.82 and $6.08 a month for trash services, while the cost for landed properties ranges between $17 and $20.

Mr Andrew Tan, 29, a civil servant who lives in a house off Braddell Road, said the scheme would make him think twice about throwing things out rather than recycling them.

Punggol HDB resident Daphne Maia Loo, a 29-year-old social media manager, wondered if people would stop reducing their waste if the financial incentive was later removed.

She said: “How are we going to inculcate a habit of reduce, reuse and recycle if we only go for short-term solutions and instant-gratification programmes?”

Ms Fu, who was speaking at the Eco-Products International Fair at Marina Bay Sands’ convention centre yesterday, also said that from next year, television sets being sold must bear labels showing how energy-efficient they are. Air-conditioners, refrigerators and clothes dryers already carry such labels.

From next year too, clothes dryers and general lighting must meet minimum energy-efficiency targets.

Source: www.wildsingaporenews.blogspot.sg

Waste not, want not pays dividends

In the second of a four-part series on environmental engineering companies, Yasmine Yahya speaks to Wah & Hua, one of the largest waste management companies in Singapore, with over 30 years of experience.

Published on Mar 13, 2013

GOING into the waste collection and disposal business is not an obvious job for a 21-year-old woman, but Ms Melissa Tan decided to take the plunge.

Although easy in one respect, in that the company was run by her father, it was still a difficult journey at first. But 13 years on, Ms Tan, now 35, has helped to grow Wah & Hua from a small operation to one of Singapore’s biggest waste management and recycling companies.

When her father Steven Tan founded the company 30 years ago, it handled everything from waste collection to sales.

“In the past, he was like a karung guni man. He would collect paper or plastics and then sell them,” said Ms Tan. “Now we have our own fleet of trucks (to) collect waste from our customers and recycle it.”

Wah & Hua used to collect and dispose of waste, but today it also processes and recycles metal, paper, plastic and wood at its Kranji factory. The recycled material is sold back to the customer or to trading companies and manufacturers, which can use it to make new products. Discarded plastic, for example, can be turned into clothes, plastic bags or mineral water bottles, Ms Tan said.

Her father, now semi-retired, goes to the office every once in a while to oversee operations, leaving the day-to-day running of the business to Ms Tan and her brother Desmond.

It has been a painstaking climb, Ms Tan said.

“I was only 21… I was quite blur,” she joked.

“But I talked to my father’s friends, who were all established businessmen, and I realised that to help out in the family business, I had to put in extra effort.”

She worked hard to understand the waste management business, and gradually came to see the growth potential.

“Eventually I realised that waste management is really an essential service – as long as there are humans living on earth, there will be a need for waste services.”

And that was when Wah & Hua really began scaling up.

It successfully applied for factory space from JTC Corp in 2001, allowing it to enter the waste recycling business.

Over the years, it has grown from a team of 20, when Ms Tan joined, to 100 today, with plans to grow even bigger.

Ms Tan declined to reveal its revenue or profits, but said both indicators have increased fivefold since 2001.

It is conducting feasibility studies on setting up in Malaysia and China, and could have its first overseas factory as early as next year, Ms Tan said.

It is also studying ways to process waste into new products such as fuel.

“It’s not a glamorous or sexy industry, so we’ll have to put in a lot of effort to improve the image of waste management and attract the talent we need,” she added.

In the meantime, Wah & Hua is investing in automation so it can reduce its reliance on foreign workers, and be more productive.

One move has been to install a materials recovery facility – a conveyor system that can mechanically separate waste and prepare it for recycling. The $3 million or so for the machine is a huge investment, but it will help to improve capacity.

“We are planning to run more shifts. Now we have only one shift, but we hope to run two or even three shifts with the machine,” Ms Tan said.

The company also hopes to attract retirees or housewives to work part-time as inspectors to ensure the waste is sorted properly.

“They won’t have to touch the waste. There’s a bit of hand picking, but since we handle commercial only waste, it’s not very dirty – there’s no food waste,” she said.

Source: www.asiaone.com