Jamus Lim Encourages National Effort for Sustainable Living

While the Workers Party member of parliament Associate Professor Jamus Lim applauded the effort by the National Environment Agency in their approach towards single stream recycling, he hopes that the authorities could also look into a more nationwide educational stance so that it becomes part of our daily habit.

In September, Jamus filed a parliamentary question to ask Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and Environment, ‘whether there have been studies of the effectiveness of Singapore’s current single-stream recycling approach, relative to a multi-stream consumer-sorted one.’

“The recycling approach and green bin / blue bin system have been standardised in Singapore since 2011, following a review of the National Recycling Programme,” said Fu in a written reply.

“All Public Waste Collectors were required to provide single-stream recycling bins at residential estates. This made it more convenient for residents to recycle as there was no need for households to sort their recyclables by material type.”

Revisiting this issue and posting on Facebook earlier this week, Lim gives examples of other countries which utilize beyond the single stream recycling approach.

“Most of us who have traveled or lived abroad for any extended period will probably have noticed that recycling is often sorted into different categories of items. For some, this can be a pain (others may find zen the exercise),” shared the Sengkang GRC MP.

“In many European countries, there is sorting into at least 3 categories, like glass, metal, and paper. China, true to form, is rolling out sorting, by fiat. It’s more decentralized at the municipal level in Japan; in one town where there are a whopping 45 different categories!”

https://www.facebook.com/jamusjlim/posts/pfbid0FmLhd1S2h3DbokG7idFLjRdUQW811qcQsXHVVd5mxB1GWzMDrfksWjBMen6U2BASl

Although there are definitely steps taken to improve the situation, Lim feels that Singapore still has a long way to go before we get to a stage where it becomes part of our DNA to contribute to a greener and sustainable environment.

“As it turns out, the National Environment Agency is exploring a number of sorting schemes here. At the moment, most of these still occur on the back end; town council conservancy contractors are most likely to be the folks that separate out and recycle e-waste,” added Lim.

“My hope is that we all get to the stage where sorting and recycling becomes second nature, as it is in many other advanced economies. Even better, we build our sense that recycling is actually the third resort, after reducing and reusing.”

/TISG

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