Not green enough

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by Hong Sung Hoon & Benjamin Wee

TWENTY years. That is how long Singapore’s landfill at Pulau Semakau will last. If the situation gets worse, the time we have may be even shorter.

So if you’re one of those who dump things down the refuse chute without blinking an eyelid – even if you may hold your breath – think again.

While Singapore’s recycling participation rate by households has inched up to 56 per cent last year, closer to the 2012 target of 60 per cent, this is still far from enough.

Potong Pasir “below average” in green quotient

Having set out to find out how green Potong Pasir residents are, we found that it was not easy to even get residents to talk about recycling. When approached, they were either reluctant or evasive with their comments.

The figures, however, are telling. An average of 2.42kg of recyclables per unit was collected in Potong Pasir in 2007, and 2.68kg per unit was collected in 2008.

The increase is reassuring. But considering the fact that an average person in Singapore is throwing away 0.84kg of waste every day in 2008, 2.68kg per unit in a year is a paltry amount.

When asked if he thought the recycling movement in Singapore has been successful, Mr Steven Sim from 800 Super Waste Management, the licensed public waste collector for Potong Pasir, said that while recycling is slowly gaining popularity, it has not really succeeded.

And though the amount of recyclables collected in Potong Pasir is below the average in Singapore, it does not vary much from other estates, said Mr Sim.

Gettting the green message across

The problem of getting that message across, it seems, is an island-wide one.

Just like other housing estates across the island, recycling bins are placed five blocks apart. There are altogether 14 recyling bins in Potong Pasir.

Most residents interviewed are aware of the location of the recycling bins near their home.

From the residents’ point of view, however, the regular collection of the Karung Guni man from their door step is a far more effective reminder for them to recycle.

Most say that having to lug items to the nearest bin is too much of a chore.

It doesn’t hurt, either, that they get some money from the Karang Guni man. It does not matter whether one recycles via the bins or the Karang Guni man.

What is important, is that more people get the message on the part they can play to safeguard the earth we live in.

A candid entry by a 17-year-old blogger in Potong Pasir is telling. It took her quite some time to figure out “what that huge, metal yellow thing sitting downstairs on the grass is”. After noting that it always seemed to be filled with garbage, she ventured to educate her mum.

Here’s what she wrote:

So, I told my mom just now, that we should throw our papers into this plastic bag, and our cans into another plastic bag, then get Dad or someone to dump those into the recycling bank, and you know what she said?

“Aiyo, so mah fan. Just throw in rubbish chute la!”

I explained, “Ma, need to recycle mah. So that the Earth doesn’t die or something.”

Mom: “Aiyo who cares? Nobody throw there one la. So mah fan, need to separate the things. Kk, I go out buy Toto/4D/useless stuff. Bye.”

We need to send the message across that recycling is not something we do only when it’s convenient for us.

The depletion of the Earth’s resources doesn’t come to a standstill when we’re feeling too lazy to bring that bag of used paper to the recycling bin two blocks away. The duty to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as we can is an urgent one.

I am sure the polar bears would agree.