Recycling is a bit like going to the gym; it’s physically possible, but we’re too lazy to actually go through with it most of the time.
But there’s one thing that can make people do absolutely anything: money. And if it takes money to convince people to save the Earth, then that’s what we’ll have to do.
Soon, You Can Get Money Back For Recycling Plastic Bottles
The Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) has announced a host of new initiatives to encourage Singaporeans to do their part for the environment.
These initiatives were announced in Parliament on Wednesday (4 March). Here’s what you can expect:
Refunds for plastic recyclables
You may remember a recycling scheme introduced last year where people could get money for depositing used plastic bottles and aluminium cans for money.
It worked, and then, like my brain after 2pm, it stopped working.
You see, after the rewards were drastically reduced, Singaporeans strangely stopped depositing their bottles into the machines. It was almost like they only cared about the money and not the environment.
Well, that must be what NEA realised too.
That’s why, with this new initiative starting in 2022, consumers who return their empty drink containers to designated return points will get refunds from the beverage producers.
According to the NEA, this scheme has been implemented in countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Germany, which has led to an 80 per cent recycling rate of beverage containers.
But we have to do more than just recycle plastic waste, of course.
Potential creation of NEWOil
MEWR and NEA are also looking to a pilot chemical recycling plant that could potentially turn plastic waste into pyrolysis oil, which can be used as feedstock for Singapore’s petrochemical sector.
Think of NEWoil as NEWater for oil. Just with less poop.
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S$150 vouchers for energy-efficient refrigerators
MEWR also announced that by the end of this year, all households living in one- to three-room flats will receive a S$150 voucher to help them with the cost of purchasing energy-efficient refrigerators.
Refrigerators account for about 17 per cent of the total electricity consumption in Singapore households, but less than 7 per cent of households here are using energy-efficient refrigerators.
In addition, they will also expand the “Switch and Save – Use LED” programme, a scheme introduced in 2018 to all one- and two-room public housing residents.
The programme gives each of these households a S$25 voucher to buy LED lights.
Mandatory sanitation standards for high-risk premises
Moreover, higher-risk premises with high footfall and “immuno-vulnerable occupants” such as childcare and eldercare facilities, schools and hawker centres will have to abide by mandatory environmental sanitation standards, from 2021.
In other words, they’ll have to clean up their act (and their premises).
A S$50 million fund for sustainability initiatives
Finally, A S$50 million SG Eco Fund will be launched to support sustainability projects that encourage people to be more environmentally-friendly.
The fund will be disbursed over five years.
This fund could support projects like a community farm that offtakes food waste from the nearby community for composting or a collaboration with industry partners to test new sustainable technologies in an HDB town.
We have to do our part for the environment guys. Some of these initiatives will start in a year or two but if we want to save our planet we should start right now!
Reader: But the bottle refund will only start in 2022 right?
Well, yes but-
Reader: Then I will wait till then
Why am I not surprised?
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