ISSUE TWO
E X PLORING HUMANIT Y’S ENVIRONMENT Good Governance and Holistic Policy Cities Need Sustainability Evolving Needs, Opportunities in Global Waste Management Growing Asia-Pacific Hazardous Waste Threat New ETRP Research Funding Sparks Innovative Solutions for Waste Issues upcycled space listening to the ground meet the communicators Design thinking insider introducing the VCU
Sustainable Development
Urban Environmental Management in the Rio+20 Era
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NOTE FROM THE EDITORIAL TEAM
Note from the Editorial Team
With the human population on the rise and urban areas absorbing increasing numbers of people, environmental issues of sustainable development quickly come to a head. Human activity affects land, air and water, and there are profound impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity and civilisation alike. With the milestone of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in view, this second issue of ENVISION Magazine examines the essentials enabling human populations to prosper in a healthy environment. Through the perspectives of UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and Dr Graeme Pearman, consultant and former Chief of Atmospheric Research at CSIRO Australia, we look at the foundations of governance and holistic policy planning that lead to more robust outcomes. Also in this sustainable development context, we continue to explore the subject of waste management in the lead-up to the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore. Waste management is a major aspect of sustainable development globally: From unconventional waste-toresource approaches and new technologies, to global business opportunities, research has uncovered many
ways to deal with waste’s economic, environmental, and even social impacts. But techno fixes and infrastructure improvements alone are only part of the solution to environmental issues like waste. As many communities have discovered, sophisticated hardware responses are insufficient without human interventions. Internationally, much progress still needs to be made on the human software front when it comes to aspects like social behaviour and shifting people’s values and perceptions. We bring you insider perspectives from various environmental practitioners, including case studies of youth engagement, design thinking methodology, and communication approaches — practical insights for policy planners and CSR leaders. Make no mistake that humanity’s delicate environmental situation will not be solved overnight. With emergent innovative approaches and increased awareness and action, we are optimistic that there are pathways leading to a viable future. We hope you will join us as part of the solution, inspired by the cutting-edge examples showcased here. As always, enjoy reading. Your feedback and contributions are welcomed.
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CONTENTS
Contents Global Briefing
05 08 10
The Road to Rio+20 What we can expect from the UN Sustainable Development Summit The Role of Governance Foundations of sustainable development The Need for Holistic Integrated Policy Planning for Sustainable Development Improving environmental planning processes for more robust civic outcomes
Environmental Master Planning 12
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Cities Need Sustainability Behind the scenes at Tianjin Eco-City
The Future of Waste Management
16 17 17
20 24
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Evolving Needs, Opportunities in Global Waste Management Latest international research, industry trends, and forthcoming summit Growing Asia-Pacific Hazardous Waste Threat Needs Greater Awareness, New Training Materials New tools and materials for developing countries to battle the danger New ETRP Research Funding Sparks Innovative Solutions for Waste Issues Recovering precious metals, new catalyst for converting syngas to liquid fuels from biomass, enhanced stabilisation for landfills Case Study: Singapore’s Integrated Waste Management Approach and Community Outreach Efforts for Recycling How communities and schools drive recycling and waste-to-resource initiatives
CONTENTS
26 28
Upcycled Space: Design Powers a Beautiful Life Industry’s Leftovers How a Thai designer is innovating with waste, pioneering new architecture, and revitalising the community Moving Up to Solve Waste Issues: Introducing the VCU Potential for vertical technology to solve the food waste dilemma in growing Asian cities
ENGAGEMENT
30 34
Listening to the Ground Building youth environmental engagement through immersion and gamification
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Meet the Communicators Green gurus share insights into media, engagement, and the future of environmental issues
Innovation
39 41
Inside the Blue Economy Promising technology to solve environmental woes and provide opportunities Design Thinking Insider: Close Up with IDEO’s Paul Bennett Perspectives on applying design thinking to environmental public service
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Opportunities
44
Career advancement opportunities
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CONTRIBUTORS
CONTRIBUTORS Publisher
National Environment Agency (NEA) 40 Scotts Road Environment Building #19-00 Singapore 228231
CEO
Andrew Tan
Editorial Committee Chair
Ong Eng Kian
Editorial Committee Members
S Satish Appoo Dulcie Chan Cheong Hock Lai Chua Yew Peng
Editorial Lead
Chris Tobias
Editorial Assistant
Elizabeth Ong Baoxuan
Special thanks to:
Dalson Chung Fong Peng Keong Dr Ng Lee Ching Ong Seng Eng
Tai Ji Choong Tan Wee Hock Toh Wee Khiang
Dr Fritz Balkau Paul Bennett Olivia Choong Dr David Haynes Alice Huang
Singh Intrachooto Chris Jensen Shirley Lee Jean-Paul Leglise Dr Graeme Pearman
Bhavani Prakash Tan Keng Jin Eugene Tay Tay Lai Hock Prof C. Visvanathan
NEA Contributors
Chan Chin Kai Chen Yinghuan Chiam Keng Oon Chin Wei Kian Soh Suat Hoon Kong Chia Wei
Lam Boon Kia Kwok Wai Choong Charles Lee Leong Kwai Yin Linus Li Maggie Yuan
Gerald Ng Gloria Seow Sim Li Ling Thia Kai Feng Wong Yeh Ping
MEWR Contributors
Lim Wei Da
Kevin Khng
Maryanne Pan
ABOUT ENVISION MAGAZINE ENVISION is produced by the Singapore Environment Institute (SEI) for the National Environment Agency (NEA). The bi-annual publication showcases innovation and thought leadership in urban environmental management, both at the regional Asia-Pacific and global levels. ENVISION Magazine is printed on environmentally friendly paper stock. For feedback, comments, and contributions please email chris_tobias@nea.gov.sg
GLOBAL BRIEFING
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Sustainable Development
Urban Environmental Management in the Rio+20 Era The 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit is a timely occasion for stocktaking and soul searching on what has been accomplished in sustainable development in two decades, and how humanity can better prosper within ecological boundaries. As the World Watch Institute neatly posits in overtures for its State of the World 2012 publication, “Twenty years and several summits later, human civilisation has never been closer to ecological collapse, a third of humanity lives in poverty, and another 2 billion people are projected to join the human race over the next 30 years. How will we move toward sustainable prosperity equitably shared among all even as our cities strain to provide decent jobs, housing, transportation, and social services, and as our ecological systems decline?” It is a challenging question for humanity to answer.
“When I look ahead at Rio and beyond, it seems to me that our scarcest resource is time.” Lester Brown President, Earth Policy Institute since 1992, extreme poverty continues to persist in many parts of the world as wealth distribution remains skewed. These economic disparities remain a stark reality of the current global situation.
The successor to the original Rio Earth Summit of 1992, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (also commonly known as “Rio+20”) in June 2012 is meant to revitalise the discussion and to re-dedicate countries and their leaders to the cause. The main objectives of the conference include securing renewed political commitment, assessing progress to date and identifying gaps, and addressing emergent challenges in sustainable development. The two main themes covered are the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and the institutional framework for sustainable development.
While the work on a green economy to date has emphasised internalising environmental externalities in prices to send the right signals to producers and consumers, public policy for a green economy has to also extend well beyond “getting prices right”. Governments thus have a critical role in financing green research and development, promoting infrastructure investments by the private sector, and the development of dynamic green growth sectors. Broadly speaking, there is support for the move to strengthen international environmental governance. However, the devil remains in the details of which reforms would be most suited to embark on.
In many respects, the summit will not see any major changes to the existing sustainable development agenda, but will work to progress long-term goals at the intersection of economic development, social advancement, and environmental well-being. It will also have to grapple with emergent environmental challenges, such as climate change which is already gaining traction with sharp consequences.
International agreements aimed at solving any kind of shared challenge are complex. Rio+20 will undoubtedly represent another milestone in humanity’s process of striking a sustainable balance between civilisation and the natural systems that support it. Given the extremity of the issues and timing at such a critical juncture, one can only hope progress is swift to come from all sides. As Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute aptly puts it, “What we’re actually looking at is a race between tipping points: between natural, environmental tipping points on the one hand and political tipping points on the other. When I look ahead at Rio and beyond, it seems to me that our scarcest resource is time.”
This is no easy task. Despite the progress made, the global economy based on the current pattern of consumption and production continues to exert a heavy stress on many ecosystems. On top of that, even though the world’s gross GDP has increased by about 60 per cent
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GLOBAL BRIEFING UN Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) in Stockholm
A BRIEF HISTORY OF UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCES AND OUTCOMES
Produced three sets of decisions: the Stockholm Declaration, the Stockholm Action Plan — made up of 109 recommendations on international measures against environmental degradation, and a group of five resolutions – 1) calling for a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons, 2) the creation of an international databank on environmental data, 3) actions linked to development and the environment, 4) the creation of an environment fund, and 5) establishing the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide central node for global environmental cooperation and treaty making.
1972 1983 The World Commission on Environment and Development (a.k.a. Bruntland Commission) UN General Assembly (UNGA) established an independent commission to formulate a long-term agenda for action.
The 8 Millennium Development Goals Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
1987 Issuance of Our Common Future by Bruntland Commission Stressed the need for development strategies in all countries recognising ecosystem limits and the link between economic development and environmental issues, also identified elimination of poverty as important requirement for environmentally sustainable development.
Reduction of ozone depleting substances (ODS) Between 1886 and 2008, global ODS consumption was reduced by 98%
Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Ensure environmental sustainability Improve maternal health
Improved access to safe drinking water
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Reduce child mortality Develop a global partnership for development
By 2015, an estimated 86% of people in developing regions will have access to improved sources of drinking water, up from 71% in 1990
Basic Sanitation target hard to reach In 2008, an estimated 2.6 billion people were without proper sanitation, and it is projected to grow by 2.7 billion people by 2015.
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UN Conference on Environment and Development (a.k.a. UNCED Rio Earth Summit) Held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and involving over 100 Heads of State and Government, representatives from 178 countries, and some 17,000 participants, the event issued the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21 (a 40-chapter programme of action), and the Statement of Forest Principles. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity were also opened for signature during the Earth Summit.
1992
2002
2012
World Summit on Sustainable Development
2012 UNCSD Rio+20
Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, the summit’s goal was a ten-year review of UNCED at the summit level to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable development. The WSSD gathered over 21,000 participants from 191 countries. Delegates negotiated and adopted the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation ( JPOI) and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development — an action plan for UNCED commitments.
Successor to the original Rio Earth Summit of 1992, the event in June 2012 aims to secure renewed political commitment, assess progress to date, and address emergent challenges in sustainable development.
Growing number of species threatened with extinction The 2010 target has been missed, and nearly 17,000+ species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction. This biodiversity loss can mean loss of livelihoods for people dependant on these species.
Improving lives of slum dwellers
More urban poor
The last decade has seen reduction in people living in slums, from 39% to 33%. More than 200 million slum dwellers gained access to improved water, sanitation, housing, and have enhanced prospects to escape poverty, disease, and illiteracy.
Improvements are failing to keep pace with growing population of urban poor, with numbers estimated now at 828 million people compared to 657 million in 1990.
Less loss of forest area Deforestation is still a problem especially in biologically diverse regions, but rates have slowed in general. Replanting has added more than 7 million hectares annually. Loss was reduced to 5.2 million hectares in 2000-2010, down from 8.3 million hectares in 1990-2000. Source: UNDP
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Foundations of sustainable development
the role of governance
GLOBAL BRIEFING
A sustainable development response to the complex and interlinked challenges countries face today demands policymaking which views economic growth, poverty reduction, social development, equity, and sustainability not as competing goals to be traded off each other, but as interconnected objectives which are most effectively pursued together.
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The second element “effective governance”, Ms Clark indicated, is a prerequisite for putting in place integrated policymaking capacity which is needed to drive sustainable development. “A sustainable development response to the complex and interlinked challenges countries face today demands policymaking which views economic growth, poverty reduction, social development, equity, and sustainability not as competing goals to be traded off each other, but as interconnected objectives which are most effectively pursued together,” she said. Ms Clark went on to illustrate that “Reducing environmental degradation, for example, can create jobs and help alleviate poverty. The converse also applies: a degraded environment can undermine the long-term economic and social health of a country... Policy makers and their advisors need to be able to weigh the evidence and identify the ‘triple-win’ solutions which can bring economic, environmental, and social benefits.” The third aspect “fair governance” holds the key to building stable and secure societies to drive inclusive growth within the finite boundaries of our planet for the long-term. “Fair, reliable, and accountable governing institutions build trust between people and government. Such institutions need to be free from corruption.”
While many highlight the importance of technological interventions to help tackle sustainable development and environmental issues, it is important not to lose sight of the human frameworks that enable progress. Speaking recently at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies’s annual Singapore Lecture, Ms Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), shared her perspectives on sustainable development and the importance of governance. “Economic and human development progress cannot be sustained if the ecosystems on which they depend are irreparably damaged, and if gross inequity leaves our societies unstable and lacking cohesion,” she said. Echoing Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s views on the subject, she said “I agree that not only is it possible to grow and to include, protect, and conserve at the same time, but also truly equitable and sustainable development requires that we do so.” Using Singapore as a case study and citing the joint UNDP-Singapore publication Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development, Ms Clark highlighted “the importance of active, effective, honest, and fair governance at all levels” to help meet sustainable development challenges. Active governance, she defined, is one that anticipates and responds to citizens’ needs with deliberate, targeted, and pro-active planning and delivery of development initiatives. Ms Clark indicated as part of this honest revenue collection, wise allocation of public funds, and the management of public goods, land, and resources for the benefit of all as key aspects.
She detailed the work of UNDP in supporting over one hundred countries to strengthen their institutions and processes to build trust, improve responsiveness, and advance development. As cultures are unique and diverse, Ms Clark noted that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. For instance on the issue of corruption, Ms Clark commended the work of Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) for stamping out disingenuous officials, as well as India’s “ipaidabribe. com” anti-corruption initiative that is now likely rolling out to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Through the website, citizens can anonymously report bribery requests to the public for follow-up by anti-corruption authorities. Concluding, she said, “Our world has the capacity to design pathways grounded in equitable and sustainable development, which meets the needs of current generations without compromising those of the future. “Rio+20 also needs to showcase sustainable development achievements... and how ‘triple-win’ policies can work. But for them to work, governance is important,” she said. “Political leadership matters and so does a quality civil service. Nations can commit to a vision of equitable and sustainable development by promoting a clean and effective government which engages citizens in dialogue about the way ahead and in implementation. By building the capacities required to drive the vision forward the nation would enhance the well-being not only of its own citizens, but of our planet as a whole.”
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The need for holistic, integrated policy planning for sustainable development Dr Pearman, a climate scientist for 41 years, consultant, and former Chief of Atmospheric Research at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has worked with many government agencies and helped outline signposts for sustainable development. He reinforces the need for a holistic, interconnected approach to sustainable development planning. In some ways, smaller countries have an advantage. “A smaller country is likely better off than we are in Australia and elsewhere,” Dr Pearman said. “The bureaucracy is smaller, and people are more inclined to work together and seek win-win situations across different sections of government. This becomes very difficult, if not impossible, in larger countries as people become committed to performing well in their own sector and they see that
Within complex human institutions like governments, it often becomes necessary to divide large tasks such as policy planning into more discrete areas. By doing so, there are improvements to handling the administration and operation of overarching tasks such as education, policy, or enforcement. While this division can be useful to help develop very specialised responses to unique challenges, such a structure can become challenged when facing one incredibly complex issue. For example, multifaceted issues like climate change or sustainable development need to be addressed comprehensively in order to be effective. As humanity’s future will be fraught with such challenges, a new approach is needed to better address the complexity, to break down this silo thinking, and work towards better outcomes. According to Dr Graeme Pearman, the crux is to innovate the planning processes and help policymakers gain a more holistic view of issues. as a responsibility. It’s a genuine response that they have, but from the community’s point of view, it might not be the best response. The best response is to seek a range of options that, as much as possible, simultaneously serve a variety of objectives.” Finding ways to bridge this difficulty isn’t easy, according to Dr Pearman. “We’ve thought about it in the Australian situation and I don’t know an easy answer. Moving ministerial portfolios around helps as it exposes ministers to a variety of issues in different ministries. Cabinets need to weigh the inputs from different departments, but even there it often does not work. The risk is that they can be as biased as any members of society, so the selection of cabinet ministers politically is a very important issue.” Using energy as an example, he said, “If you want a good energy policy option, you’d sit down and devise a strategy that gives you wins across
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all aspects of energy. Politically in many countries, this is difficult as politicians generally only want to see what is discretely in relation to their own distinct portfolios.”
2. Leadership— Being an early starter in addressing sustainability issues has its advantages. There will be both risks and opportunities, and the risks will have to be managed.
In such an instance, “Taking a holistic view in this regard could mean accounting for multiple factors including oil imports, rising costs and demands, decreased supplies, economic issues, vehicles and technology, biofuels, threat of international conflicts, pollutants and human health, energy efficiency, and of course emissions,” Dr Pearman said.
3. Flexibility— Uncertainty is a normal state to be managed; both uncertainty and risk can be managed through ongoing learning, diversity of solutions, and flexibility.
Depending on how institutions are organised in a country, such an exercise might cut across many different ministries, agencies, and regulatory boards and as a result would involve their respective practitioners. Using the holistic approach, a complex issue like energy would be deconstructed to investigate and understand the different correlations between the factors affecting it. As the details come into focus, whatever policy is put in place would be more informed, robust, and cross-cutting in its application. Dr Pearman provides six characteristics to examine sustainable development challenges: 1. Strategic thinking— There should not be the notion that the way things have been will be the way for the future. Both threats and opportunities should be identified going forward.
4. Markets— Use markets to advantage, but accept that there are other externalities that can influence sustainability; market approaches should be balanced with non-market tools such as policy. 5. Reflection—Consider how a society’s expectations, culture, history, education, market economy, advertising etc. could impact on its behaviour and institutions; many such factors are subconscious and changeable. By bringing motivations to the surface, their validity can be examined and challenged if need be. 6. Holism—Rarely are solutions without the potential for co-benefits or dis-benefits. A wariness of sectoralism (e.g. specific sectors such as corporate or government) should be observed as it can work against whole-of-community outcomes. These tools give policy practitioners the means to break down silo thinking and allow robust examination of how sustainable development objectives can be achieved with better outcomes.
Deconstructing the climate change issue: the diagram below illustrates the multifaceted aspects of a single complex issue so that each area can be better understood, investigated, and addressed by policymakers. The Climate Change Issue Aspirations
Energy Supply/Demand
Population
Energy Demand
Efficiency
Affluence
GDP
Choice of Technology
Perception, Conscious or Unconscious of: • Well-being • Success
• • • •
Vested Interest Natural Resources Ignorance Market Failure
Climate System Climate Change
Emissions
Human Health
• • • •
Climate Impacts Rainfall Sea level Biodiversity Agriculture
Risk Assessment Beliefs Ignorance Sectoral Interest
Cultural, Education, Advertising, Promotions
Dr Pearman spoke at the Singapore Environment Institute’s Professional Sharing Series (PSS), a knowledge-sharing platform promoting environmental knowledge exchange between NEA and industry.
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E n v i r o n m e n tal M a s t e r P l a n n i n g
First public housing estate in Eco-City start-up area
Cities Need Sustainability
The Tianjin Eco-city Many countries are looking to cities to take a leadership role in tackling looming global problems like climate change. Cities, as vibrant, innovative, and collaborative epicentres of exchanges, are fertile ground for creating viable solutions. Jointly released by the highly-esteemed thought leaders, Sustainability and GreenBiz, the report Citystates: How Cities are Vital to the Future of Sustainability explores that potential, and its application to social and environmental problem-solving. The report posits that any traction on sustainability-related issues like climate change is dependent in many ways on progress and innovation at the city level. Inversely, the survival of cities and their populations is also largely pinned on taking an accelerated course of action on sustainability today. A city’s decisiveness, adaptability, collaborative and competitive
spirit, visceral nature, personality, and experimental test-bedding capabilities can all contribute positively to its sustainability outcomes. The confluence of business and public sector players in a city can also be vital in solving a myriad of challenges ranging from air quality to public transport to clean energy. The logic of Citystates spurs an interesting examination of ongoing urbanisation projects worldwide and how each approach sustainable development goals. Of the many potential case studies, China’s Tianjin Eco-City serves as an ideal model for understanding how industry and government can work together to achieve environmental and social objectives. What makes the project unique is the partnership between the China and Singapore governments in building it by utilising the know-how of both cultures. The project also leverages on Singapore’s well-honed model of development and green industry solution providers.
E n v i ro n m e n tal M a s t e r P l a n n i n g Chinese urbanisation sparks eco advancement China is experiencing urbanisation at a pace unparalleled in human history, and would be expected to add one megacity globally every year until 2020. Against this backdrop of development, the Chinese government is taking strides in redefining urbanisation in a resource-conserving, e nv i ro n m e nt-f r i e n d l y, e co n o m i ca l l ye f f i c i e n t , a n d s o c i a l l y- h a r m o n i o u s fashion. On the ground, this applies to a wide range of target areas, including wastewater treatment, building energyefficiency, and land use. The country has introduced “Eco-City” standards as a guide to development in a more sustainable way, and has announced new projects which are aimed at meeting these standards for their increasingly urbanised population.
The Tianjin Eco-City One such project conceived in delivering these objectives is the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City. It is located in the north segment of the Tianjin Binhai New Area roughly 45 km from Tianjin city centre, 150 km from Beijing, and 50 km from Tangshan. The Chinese Government set two criteria for the location of the project site. Firstly, it should be developed on non-arable land, and secondly, it should be located in an area facing water shortage. After investigating four possible locations for the project, the Tianjin site was selected taking into account its state of infrastructure, ease of accessibility and commercial viability. Completed in 2008, the Tianjin EcoCity master plan would progress the aforementioned criteria for the cit y because it incorporates the use of clean and renewable energy sources, the reuse and recycling of resources, and the conformation to greenhouse gas reduction targets. It also meets the objectives of affordable housing and social equity. To
International collaboration The Tianjin Eco-City is the second highlevel government-to-government project between Singapore and China, the first being the Suzhou Industrial Park. The Tianjin project was originally put forward by former Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in April 2007. Subsequently on 18 November 2007, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Premier Wen signed a Framework Agreement for Singapore and China to jointly develop the project.
Singapore’s involvement The development of the project is co-led between Tianjin’s Eco-City Administrative Co m m i t te e (EC AC) a n d Si n g a p o re ’s Ministry of National Development (EcoCity Project Office or ECPO). Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA), and other government agencies such as the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the Housing and Development Board (HDB), the national water agency or the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) lend their support to the ECPO throughout, from the initial planning and site selection stages to the Action Planning and implementation stages of the project. Tianjin Eco-City is a firm commitment by both countries to environmental protection, resource and energy conservation, and sustainable development. Upon completion in 2020, it will be home to about 350,000 residents, and will serve as a model for sustainable development for other cities in China.
Foundations for humanity in their environment The vision of Tianjin Eco-City is to be “A thriving city which is socially harmonious, environmentally-friendly and resourceef f i c i e nt , a m o d e l fo r su s t a i n a b l e development.”
ease the development pressure on arable land, the project is specifically situated on wasteland as opposed to a greenfield space. The site at Tianjin originally consisted of a saltpan, a deserted beach, sea, and a 270-hectare wastewater pond. The success of the project has therefore demonstrated the resolve and resourcefulness of the team in developing a modern city from the most challenging conditions. Development of the start-up area (4 sq km) and the entire EcoCity (30 sq km) is targeted for completion by 2013 and 2020 respectively.
Aerial view of Tianjin Eco-City
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This vision is underpinned by the concepts of “Three Harmonies” (三和) and “Three Abilities” (三能). Three Harmonies refer to: 1. Social harmony: Harmonious living amongst people 2. Economic vibrancy: People living in harmony with economic activities 3. Environmental sustainability: People living in harmony with the environment Three Abilities refer to the Eco-City being: 1. Practicable: The technologies adopted in the Eco-City must be affordable and commercially viable 2. Replicable: The principles and models of the Eco-City must be applicable to other cities in China or other countries 3. Scalable: The principles and models must be adaptable for projects or developments of a different scale
Key environmental features Tianjin Eco-City, with its large amount of green feature spaces throughout, will be ecologically friendly as it preserves existing wetlands and biodiversity. Located in an area of low rainfall, a significant part of its water supply will also have to come from non-traditional sources such as desalinated water and recycled water. An integrated waste management system will be implemented in the Eco-City to emphasise reduction, reuse, and recycling of waste. In order to reduce its carbon footprint, a light-rail transit system supplemented by a secondary network of trams and buses will be the main mode of transportation.
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E n v i r o n m e n tal M a s t e r P l a n n i n g
Social harmony is another key aspect of the project. Hence subsidised public housing, modelled after Singapore’s HDB, will help to meet the housing needs of the lower and lower-to-middle income Chinese residents, while enabling people of different income and social strata to live and interact with one another. There will also be barrier-free access to cater to the needs of the elderly and mobility-impaired. Public social and recreational facilities will be located within easy access of homes to meet residents’ needs and provide interaction opportunities. To preserve the area’s local heritage, the profile of the 1,000-yearold Ji Canal will be conserved. Two existing villages within the area will also be preserved through adaptive reuse or partial rebuilding.
Leveraging public sector expertise: NEA’s role in the Eco-City The primary objectives of the Singapore Government’s involvement in the project are firstly, to achieve the overall targets set in the 26 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the Eco-City project, and secondly, to identify and facilitate business opportunities in the Eco-City for Singapore-based companies. NEA’s involvement stemmed from the early days of site selection and KPI formulation. Since the formation of NEA’s Industry Development and Promotion Office (IDPO) in 2009 for the development and promotion of Singapore-based environmental industry capabilities, IDPO has been coordinating all overseas projects including the Tianjin Eco-City. IDPO also helps Singapore-based environmental companies gain in-roads into the Chinese markets through an involvement with the project. NEA’s involvement in the Eco-City project includes: • establishing as well as co-chairing the Environment Subcommittee to discuss and implement collaborative projects to meet the environment-related KPIs • provision of technical advice during the establishment of the environment-related KPIs • provision of advice on the solid waste management infrastructure required for an integrated solid waste management system
• provision of technical support and advice to ECPO/MND during monthly interagency meetings The key Tianjin Eco–City organisations that NEA works with are the Environment Bureau of the Eco–City Administrative Committee (ECAC), the Construction Bureau of the ECAC (on green construction to prevent dust and noise pollution) and the Environmental Protection Company (EPC) 1. In formulating the KPIs for the project, the expert panel comprising officers and academics from both the Singapore and Chinese teams referenced national standards in Singapore and China, as well as international best practices. NEA liaises directly with its Chinese counterparts from the ECAC to help meet six of the 26 KPIs and jointly with the ECPO on the 7th KPI for carbon emissions.
Progress in meeting environmental KPIs To date, NEA’s efforts are bearing significant success as two out of the seven KPIs have been met. NEA and ECAC had put in place plans and guidelines to attain the remaining five KPIs which can be assessed when economic activities pick up, along with the influx of residents from 2013 onwards. Currently, all solid waste generated in the Eco–City is collected and transported to external treatment facilities by the Environmental Protection Company (EPC). Policies have been put in place to discourage industries that produce hazardous waste. Should hazardous waste be produced, it would be collected, transported and treated according to national standards and regulations. While the project is currently within the acceptable range of noise generation, construction activities could become a concern to the first batch of residents in 2012. NEA had advised ECAC to put in place adequate measures to minimise the amount of noise generated by incorporating noise control elements into the Green Construction Guidelines, and by working with BCA to incorporate noise and dust reduction measures in the Green Construction Training Programme.
1 The Environmental Protection Company (EPC) is a private company that was set up to assist the ECAC in the implementation and management of environment – related services for the Eco – City such as waste collection and street cleansing.
Tianjin Eco-City project environmental KPIs include the following: KPI
Description
Ambient Air Quality
Air quality in the Eco-City should meet at least China’s National Ambient Air Quality Grade II Standard for at least 310 days
SO2 and NOx content in the ambient air
These should not exceed the limits stipulated for China’s National Ambient Air Quality Grade 1 standard for at least 155 days
Noise Pollution Levels
Noise levels should meet China’s stipulated standards for environmental noise in different functional zones
Per Capita Daily Domestic Waste Generation
Domestic waste generated by each person should not exceed 0.8 kg by 2013
Overall Recycling Rate
At least 60% of total waste should be recycled by 2013
Waste Treatment
All hazardous and domestic waste in the Eco-City should be rendered non-toxic through treatment
Carbon emissions per GDP
Not to exceed 150 tonnes of carbon dioxide per US$1 million
E n v i ro n m e n tal M a s t e r P l a n n i n g
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National Animation Industrial Park in the Eco-City, which started welcoming tenants in June 2011
To help the project meet the remaining five KPIs, NEA has shared its know-how with Chinese counterparts to help them better monitor the environmental performance when the Eco-City is populated. To this end, NEA has shared its preliminary Integrated Environment System (IES), as well as the 3P (people, public, private) partnership model in reducing domestic waste generation and increasing overall recycling rate.
Achievements in linking business opportunities The Environmental Bureau has requested NEA’s help in introducing Singapore-based waste management companies to Tianjin EcoCity. The following companies have undertaken projects in the development: • STSE Engineering Services Pte Ltd (STSE): A key milestone was reached as a result of the NEA-ECAC Task Force implementing the Pneumatic Waste Management System (PWCS) within the Eco-City, when a Singapore company, STSE, a wholly-owned environmental engineering subsidiary of ST Marine, signed an MOU in August 2009, for the provision of PWCS private connections for the EcoBusiness Park and several residential developments in the StartUp Area. STSE was awarded the contract on 29 September 2010 by the Eco-City’s master developer, the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co. Ltd. (SSTEC), to develop the PWCS private connections for their Eco-Business Park under a DBOOT (Design, Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) model. • Alpha Biofuels: The company presented their district-level used oil recycling and food waste recycling systems to the Environment Bureau in January and March 2011. Alpha Biofuels signed an MOU (that also involved ten other companies) with the SSTEC in July 2011 to implement its latest organic waste gasification and biodiesel-from-used-cooking-oil system at the Low Carbon Living Lab (LCLL). • Eco–Wiz Group: Their food waste management proposal was presented to Vice-Chairman Zhang Yanfa in October 2011 during
which VC Zhang suggested that for Phase 1 of the test bedding of Eco-Wiz’s system, the development could consider purchasing and installing one of Eco-Wiz’s systems at their Eco-Business Park (EPB). If the test bedding is successful, Eco-Wiz’s system could be considered for widespread adoption. • LHT Holdings: Facilitated by NEA, IE Singapore and SPRING Singapore, LHT Holdings signed an MOU in April 2011 to invest up to RMB 20 million to establish a wood waste recycling plant in the Eco-Industrial Park to manufacture and assemble eco wood products. LHT Holdings’ products would help developers in the Eco-City to achieve the Green Building Evaluation System (GBES) green building standards through the use of recycled materials in their buildings.
Conclusion Tianjin Eco-City’s development has been progressive and welldocumented. Currently, high-rise buildings are underway with wind turbines starting to line its major thoroughfare. The first batch of residents has also begun to settle in. As the project takes shape, it would become a testament to how sustainability can be achieved in tandem with urbanisation, and how sustainable urban growth can be aided by support from the government and private sector. As a case project, Tianjin Eco-City demonstrates a number of distinctive aspects in this regard. The collaboration between China and Singapore has provided ample learning opportunities for both countries. Singapore has been able to greatly contribute by leveraging its time-tested solutions and technologies to new ends. A new paradigm has also been set for public sector agencies like NEA, which can now venture beyond its national borders to assist internationally. Lastly, it also proves there is market interest in a wide range of business solutions available to tackle urban environmental concerns like waste management and recycling. Thus, the project encourages businesses to play an active role in achieving positive environmental outcomes in a challenging new development.
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The future of waste management
Evolving Needs, Opportunities in Global Waste Management With more of the world’s population converging on cities, especially in Asia, the impact of waste on cities’ liveability is of significant importance and interest. In this context, it is no longer feasible to view energy, water and waste separately. Increasingly, modern cities are looking toward integrated and sustainable approaches in addressing these issues. For example, traditional open landfills are now deemed untenable even in land-rich cities because they could pose contamination threats to their groundwater supplies.
Studies have indicated that of the total amount of municipal waste generated globally, only 11 per cent of it is treated in Waste-toEnergy (WTE) plants with about 70 per cent of the total being landfilled. With growing resource scarcity, more and more cities are beginning to regard waste as a resource. Waste-to-resource recovery, recycling, and WTE facilities are increasingly seen as viable options to meet modern resource and energy needs, and for solving the WM issue.
To focus on finding solutions to such challenges, the inaugural CleanEnviro Summit Singapore will be held from 1-4 July at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre. The event, to be held in conjunction with Singapore International Water Week and the World Cities Summit, will collectively address the waste-energy-water nexus in building sustainable and liveable cities. These events will explore opportunities and approaches in tackling sustainability issues, and spotlight global prospects for industry involvement.
In Singapore’s current context, the national waste collection and disposal systems are integrated and supported by a raft of local and international industry players. These companies offer a full spectrum of waste management solutions from collection, sorting, treatment, and disposal of waste.
Global opportunities in waste management Research has shown that the demand for effective waste management (WM) solutions is gathering strong momentum worldwide. With reference to the latest Pike Research and UNEP IETC’s data, EnviroSolutions Consulting noted that the world generated 2 billion tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in 2011. This number is set to grow larger in the coming decades. If industrial waste is included, the amount would be closer to 3.3-5.5 billion tonnes.
As a result, the market for environmental goods and services (EGS), including solid WM, holds significant potential. Estimates for the future growth of the EGS market include: •
US$800 billion by 2015 (UK Centre for Economic & Environmental Development);
•
US$1,200 – US$1,900 billion by 2020 (German Institute for Economic Research); and
•
€2,200 billion by 2020 (German Federal Environment Agency)
With the privatisation of Singapore’s waste sector, an emergence of home-grown industry champions has taken place. Multinational environmental companies have also established a presence, especially in the waste collection and e-waste recycling sectors. With a successful local track record, many environmental companies have ventured abroad and have secured projects worth a total of S$2.6 billion in the last five years. Based on an NEA-commissioned study carried out by Frost & Sullivan, Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS) and local trade agencies in 2011, Singapore’s WM industry has a turnover of S$3 billion and had generated jobs for more than 12,000 workers in 2010. With the annual waste volume generated projected to increase from 6.9 million tonnes in 2011 to 12.6 million tonnes in 2030, the study also examined possible measures to boost land and manpower productivity in preventing these resources from being compressed by competing needs (e.g. housing, transport and economic uses).
The latest international urban waste management trends The NEA-commissioned study also conducted an in-depth analysis of the WM regulatory framework, system and industry in developed cities like Berlin, Taipei and Tokyo. The findings provide insights into how these cities have achieved high productivity levels and are a good reference point for places with a dense population, high GDP and high waste generation per capita. The analysis of these cities and study findings will be presented at the inaugural WasteMET Asia–ISWA Beacon Conference, an anchor event of the CleanEnviro Summit. Delegates will have access to the study findings for waste market opportunities both from the regional survey by EnviroSolutions Consulting and the local study of waste management capacity by Frost and Sullivan. To learn more about attending the event, please visit http://cleanenvirosummit.sg/.
The future of waste management
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Growing Asia-Pacific Hazardous Waste Threat Needs Greater Awareness, New Training Materials
E-waste on Cook Islands (Courtesy of Dr David Haynes)
The increase of hazardous waste in many countries of the AsiaPacific region is of serious concern. With emergent economies and growing industrial activity, one of the unfortunate consequences faced is waste that poses a serious danger to human health and the environment, even in small quantities. Beyond the industry sector, other leading contributors now come from commercial operations, households and post-disaster debris. The codified inventory of hazardous materials covers agricultural chemicals, persistent organic pollutants (POPS), electronic waste (e-waste), medical waste, explosive and radioactive substances. Exactly how big is the problem? It is difficult to ascertain for a number of reasons. There is no uniform agreement among countries as to what could be classified as hazardous waste. To add to the complexity, there is no standard methodology for waste inventory, and gaps exist in policy, legislation, and enforcement. This means that it is difficult to track the type and quantities of waste across locations, to ensure their proper handling in avoidance of dangerous exposure. According to Dr Fritz Balkau, former Head of Sustainable Production
and Consumption with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), measuring hazardous waste globally is challenging. “In the past, several indirect indicator methods, like GDP, number of businesses, and employment in a particular country, were used,” he said. “Part of the challenge now is not only incorporating stockpiles of more typical industry waste streams or historically-prevalent materials like asbestos, but also post-consumer e-wastes, household chemicals, by-products of tourism, and imported wastes from foreign countries.” The threat to human health and environment is very real: Substances are often flammable, caustic, toxic, carcinogenic, hormone mimicking, and behaviour modifying. These can be fatal and have negative impacts on biodiversity and ecological processes. More worrisome is that some classes of waste are so new that the potential effects are not yet known. For example, some ozone-depleting substances were once deemed safe to humans, but later found to be seriously disruptive to climate and atmospheric functions. Universal definition and quantification of waste lacking The diversity of hazardous waste materials is only one part of the equation. Legally binding common definitions and accurate
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The future of waste management waste systems often rely on either direct government development and operation of infrastructure, or are based around a single monopolistic service provider,” he said. Mr Reidinger also noted that Singapore’s market framework has created a robust local industry with good regional growth prospects in the process. Challenges in developing Asia-Pacific nations In the developing nation context, with multiple definitions, inaccurate measurements, and enforcement that is sporadic at best, the door is also left open for illegal trafficking and dumping of hazardous waste. This is a growing problem across Asia-Pacific countries, often in spite of controls on trans-boundary movements of hazardous waste and disposal set out by the Basel Convention in effect since 1992.
Medical waste incinerator on Kiribati (Courtesy of Dr David Haynes)
inventories are both hard to come by. “There is an overall lack of international conformity, so the definitions of waste are numerous, which results in many grey areas,” said C. Visvanathan, Professor of Environmental Engineering and Management Programme at Asian Institute of Technology. According to Prof Visva, access to appropriate and adequate information is critical and lacking in developing countries especially. “A lot of the measurement is ‘guesstimation’ at best, and often even official figures can contradict each other,” he said. “For many developing countries in the region, hazardous waste management is still a relatively new concept. Collating the data to do a proper assessment of the scale and impact of hazardous waste management is often a challenge,” said Mr Andrew Tan, CEO of Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA). The role of governments and industry Tightening legislation and enforcement is an important aspect in tackling many facets of the hazardous waste management problem. According to Prof Visva, countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Malaysia are leading the field with legislation and investments in proper waste management infrastructure and systems, with China and Thailand following suit. Mr Rick Reidinger, CEO of Eco Special Waste Management Pte Ltd, believes stringent licensing and strict enforcement are necessary to provide a stable basis for the commercial waste industry to invest and provide necessary processing infrastructure. “Furthermore, fair licensing and enforcement cannot be done if corruption exists, so a clean government is the foundation for any effective hazardous waste management system,” he said. “Here in Singapore, the government takes a cradle to grave approach, tightly controlling hazardous waste from the point of generation to final disposal. And because of the clean government and good enforcement, practices in the market are generally acceptable with comparatively few environmental incidents. The Singapore approach thus enables environmentally sound hazardous waste management, within a private market framework. This is unusual compared to most other markets, where countries with effective hazardous
One recent example included a noteworthy bust in Jakarta, Indonesia earlier this year when the government seized some 113 containers of hazardous waste — the largest-ever seizure — from a variety of origins containing a mix of oils, paints, plastics, electronic waste, and scrap metals. This incident, while notable for its size, is by no means isolated. Cambodia, Laos, and many other countries have reported similar problems. Beyond illegal waste trafficking, the problems get even more complex in tiny, geographically disparate Pacific island nations. With some 14 countries and eight territories across 500 inhabited islands, spanning a geographic area one-sixth of the Earth’s surface, with a population of 9.5 million people, the logistical, geographic, and resource challenges pose new dimensions to tackling the issue in the Pacific region. According to Dr David Haynes, Director of Waste Management and Pollution Control at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP), isolated countries with a small land area and minimal funding for waste management face major challenges. “There are limited management systems and frameworks in place,” he said. “Pacific nations have a number of additional hazardous waste issues including waste oil from both industry and World War II era shipwrecks, old pesticide stock management and clean-up, asbestos rehabilitation in buildings, and increasing issues with e-waste, and medical waste.” While larger countries could easily find economies of scale for a viable waste treatment industry, capitalise on transport infrastructure with adjacent neighbours, and tighten legislation, often these tiny disparate countries have difficulty finding land area for even basic landfill facilities. Their delicate marine environment also poses challenges in addressing pollutants and shipwreck oil from the 13 million tonnes of shipping sunk during WWII. Dr Haynes believes the easier wins exist with things like e-waste and recycling. “There are ways to build business models especially around things like electronic components and metals from things such as lead batteries for the export market,” he said, citing a successful example in Tonga which had tackled the issue head on and managed to make a profit with zero reliance on donor aid. “The future will mean that we have to move beyond just aid sources to build collaborations and self-sustaining business approaches to some of these problems,” he said.
The future of waste management Need for progress on important issues At a recent workshop and seminar on hazardous waste put on by the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS), in partnership with the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC), UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), and hosted by NEA, international practitioner participants from 18 countries highlighted the need to seek progress on a number of important aspects of hazardous waste management. The meeting was especially aimed at improving availability of public information on hazardous waste by providing training, communication and information resources such as presentation slides, videos, case studies, and fact sheets on best practices in hazardous waste management. Beyond improving and standardising definitions and measurement methodologies, participant discussion reflected the need to accomplish a number of key areas, including: • Find successful means to substantially reduce waste volumes, rather than merely focus on safe recycling or disposal, noting that latter approaches often still encourage over-consumption of resources and can still result in pollution, albeit in smaller amounts • Generally improve the culture of waste management and awareness of the issues • Improve cohesiveness of government policies, subsidies, incentives, taxes, legislation, and enforcement, both at local and international levels around the region, and enhance cooperation between countries • Improve product stewardship and ownership amongst industry at all levels • Find ways to create value for waste to encourage recovery, especially from household sources for things like e-waste • Work to affect citizen awareness and behaviour change at the household level to promote better understanding of hazardous waste and its dangers • Increase skills and competence of those working in the industry, learning from past experience, and move beyond a compliance focused approach to a more proactive stance
former president and Chair of Hazardous Waste Working Group Jean-Paul Leglise, this situation calls for a stronger emphasis on training resources and dialogue with all stakeholders concerned with hazardous waste management. Beyond offering a point for practitioner experience, the Singapore workshop homed in specifically on how emergent concerns could be incorporated into the forthcoming update for the Hazardous Waste Management Training and Resource Pack (or TRP+). The TRP+ is a further development of the popular 2002 resource package that assisted educators with training programmes on hazardous waste. Professionals can also use the material for briefing notes and project summaries. “Like its predecessor, the new TRP+ provides a structured package of notes, technical summaries, visual aids and other training material concerning the hazardous waste cycle from generation to disposal,” said Dr Balkau, who was project lead of the original TRP in 2002. The present version, currently under development at www.trptraining.info, provides a more flexible and concise e-book structure, allowing easier access to and downloading of the information, and creates linkages to sources of information held in partner institutions. The TRP+ is more network-oriented, providing access to other professionals and trainers and facilitating user feedback. “While it contains useful technical information for professionals, the TRP+ is designed for establishing and simplifying understanding of prerequisites for the implementation of sound and reliable hazardous waste treatment,” said Mr Legalise. “The focus of the discussion is on training aiming to bring out key principles and approaches rather than fine tune details. It is a basic resource package that trainers adapt, augment and adjust to their circumstances. By adding further knowledge and experience as it becomes available, practising trainers can make this package remain up to date and relevant in more countries as waste management evolves further everywhere,” he said. With the complexity of hazardous waste issues faced across the region, dedication to ongoing progress and improved public communication is necessary to containing the human and environmental threats posed by these harmful substances.
• Explore means to encourage transfer of appropriate technology for solving hazardous waste issues • Better equip and train people, especially in developing nations, in approaches to managing hazardous waste Towards better education and training While there has been much advancement in regulation and technology in many countries around the world, there still remains an acute shortage of skilled personnel in most stages of the hazardous waste management cycle, particularly in developing countries. According to ISWA
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E-waste on Kiribati (Courtesy of Dr David Haynes)
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The future of waste management
New ETRP research funding sparks innovative solutions for waste issues
To push for sustainable and innovative solutions catering to environmental management needs, NEA has been actively involved in building up capabilities in the environmental industry. One such effort would be through the Environment Technology Research Programme (ETRP). The ETRP was launched in 2009 and it is a $21 million seed fund spread over a 4-year period to develop technological competencies and manpower capabilities in applied R&D work among the industry, Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) and Research Institutes (RIs). The focus areas of the ETRP are Waste-to-Resource Recovery, Wasteto-Energy Recovery and Special Waste Treatment. The ETRP is administered on a competitive basis via Request-for-Proposals (RFP) with funding capped at $2 million per project and supported to a maximum duration of three years. To date, eleven R&D projects have been awarded in the five RFP calls with a total awarded grant of $12.3 million. What follows are three project case studies covering key focus areas of the ETRP.
Focus Area
Project
Project Team
Waste-to-Resource Recovery
Recovery of Precious and Heavy Metals from Electronic Waste (E-Waste) via Hydrometallurgical Leaching and Spontaneous Reduction by Electroactive Polymers
National University of Singapore (NUS)
Waste-to-Energy Recovery
New Enhanced Capsule Catalysts for Converting Syngas to Liquid Fuels from Biomass
Republic Polytechnic (RP)
Special Waste Treatment
Enhanced Biological and Physical Stabilisation in Landfills
Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI)
Principal Investigator (PI): Prof E.T. Kang Co-PI: Prof K.G. Neoh Industrial Collaborator: Asia Pacific Metals Refiner Pte Ltd
PI: Dr Goh Chee Keong Co-PI: Dr Wong Luh Cherng
PI: Prof Ng Wun Jern Co-PI: Prof Yehuda Cohen Industrial Collaborator: Chemilink Technologies Group
Focus area
waste-to-resource recovery
In this focus area, research that could lead to commercially viable technologies and contribute towards increasing recycling rates are valued. These technologies could either raise the commercial value of recycled raw materials or lower the unit cost of such treatment processes. Project case study Recovery of Precious and Heavy Metals from E-Waste via Hydrometallurgical Leaching and Spontaneous Reduction by Electroactive Polymers The ever increasing waste and scraps from electronic equipment and components (e-waste) is fast becoming a global economic and Prof Kang En-Tang (right) and his NUS team
The future of waste management
Existing Treatment Technologies
Description
Pyrometallurgical Processing
Involves thermal treatment for recovery of metals
Biometallurgical Processing
Recovery of metals using microorganisms via bioleaching
Hydrometallurgical Processing
Involves the use of chemicals for recovery of metals. Examples include acid or halide leaching.
environmental issue. Though making up only one per cent or less of the scrap weight, precious metals, including palladium, gold and platinum, contribute to the major share of worldwide e-waste market value. In addition, the impact of heavy metals among the e-waste on ecological systems cannot be overemphasised. Arising from these economic incentives and major environmental concerns, recovery and recycling of e-waste have become a pressing issue for both private and public sectors in all countries. Pyrometallurgical processing is known to be energy-intensive and environmentally-problematic, while biometallurgical processing is an environmental-friendly approach to treating the e-waste but at low efficiencies. In comparison with these conventional processes, hydrometallurgical processing is considered to be more efficient, controllable and economically viable for the recovery of metals from e-waste. Because of their environmental stability and high electrical conductivity, electroactive (conducting) polymers are promising candidates for the recovery of precious and heavy metals from acid/ halide leaching streams of e-waste. Project Outline The developed process targets the recovery of precious and heavy metals after acid leaching has been carried out on the e-waste. The objective is to recover these metals from the acidic leachate of e-waste using conducting polymers. This would render a more environmentally-benign approach in recovering precious and heavy metals from e-waste streams, as compared to existing technologies. Progress of Project Experiments have been conducted on conducting polymers such as polythiophene (PT), polypyrrole (PPY), polyaniline (PANi) and their derivatives. These polymers are utilised in the form of films, particles, membranes in filtration column and coatings on natural products (such as cotton or jute gauzes). The results indicate that under acidic conditions, the process is capable of recovering most of the precious metals from the leaching streams spontaneously and sustainably. The NUS project team has also developed a sustainable approach in producing these conducting polymers using graphene oxide (derived from natural graphite). These newly developed reduced graphene oxide-polymer nanocomposites are deployed in fixed-bed adsorption columns for precious metal recovery.
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(a) Fixed-bed adsorption column; (b) Filtration column setups; (c) Recovered gold from acidic leachate of e-waste by polyaniline film; and (d) Scanning Electronic Microscopic (SEM) images of the recovered gold nanostructures
Due to the environmental impact of heavy metals, such as mercury, cadmium and chromium coupled with the recent shortage in rareearth metal supplies, the NUS team has also extended the scope of their work to the removal of hazardous metals and recovery of rareearth metals/ions from e-waste and other industrial waste streams. Project benefits The project team hopes to provide an alternative and environmentally acceptable solution to the pressing problem of e-waste disposal and recovery that Singapore and other countries face. These newly developed processes can also be modified to facilitate eventual integration into existing waste recycle and management systems of other process industries.
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The future of waste management
Focus area
waste-to-energy recovery In this focus area, the technologies should lead to cost-efficient, scalable and low environmental footprint waste management solutions or production of high value energy products. The thrust is towards the development of cost-efficient waste treatment technologies to meet the long-term strategic disposal needs of Singapore. Projects related to engineering R&D to improve thermal efficiencies or reduce the unit cost of operating Waste-to-Energy incineration plants would also be considered in this focus area. Project case study New Enhanced Capsule Catalysts for Converting Syngas to Liquid Fuels from Biomass Due to depleting crude oil resources, researchers have turned to producing liquid fuels through synthetic means. A typical scenario is to utilise synthetic gas, also known as syngas, comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen that possess high-energy content. Syngas is typically produced from gasification of high-energy content resources such as coal and biomass. The produced syngas is reformed into liquid fuels via a two-step pathway in separate reactors: a. Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process which converts syngas into large gasoline molecules, such as diesel. b. Reforming process in which Zeolites are used to catalyse the cracking process of large gasoline molecules into smaller gasoline molecules, which improves petrol quality. Project Outline The project aims to develop novel enhanced capsule catalysts with a special core-shell structure to enable a one-step production of liquid fuels from syngas generated from biomass. The external shell layer consists of Zeolites, while the inner layer consists of the FT catalyst. These capsule catalysts would facilitate direct conversion of syngas into liquid fuels with improved petrol qualities. These liquid fuels could ideally be used as gasoline or jet fuel substitutes without any modification to engines and existing refuelling facilities.
Progress of Project The project team in Republic Polytechnic has successfully produced capsule catalysts with a particle size distribution of 700-1000 nm over a significantly shorter synthesis time, i.e. about two hours as compared to 24 hours by using conventional methods. To date, the team has achieved 99 per cent encapsulation efficiency with defect-free, smooth surface and uniform capsules. Moving forward, the team will utilise the capsules catalysts to produce liquid fuels from biomass-derived syngas, which will have fuel efficiency and combustion properties comparable to conventional gasoline/petrol. Project benefits With the new catalytic materials, biomass such as wood waste can be converted into high-value bio-fuels with proper ties similar to gasoline, as a renewable and clean energy source. Morphology of Capsule Catalysts Viewed under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Singapore can therefore diversify its energy sources and keep development sustainable. Biomass has been identified as one of the sustainable and economically viable solutions for Singapore because cellulosic feedstock can be obtained from waste agricultural and horticultural industries, either locally or from neighbouring regions. The new capsule FT catalysts have good potential for scale up and commercialisation as it had been estimated that the global demand for such catalysts has reached US$469 million by 2011, rising to US$1.3 billion in 2015 as a result of greater investment in gas-to-liquid technology. Therefore, this project has the potential to penetrate the market for catalytic materials in the gas-to-liquid processes. The success of the project will also drive down bio-fuel production costs.
Schemetic Diagram of the Capsule Catalyst Capsule Catalyst
Syngas (CO+H2) FT Reaction
Zeolite Layer Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Catalyst
Hydrocracking and Isomerisation Reaction
The value propositions of this innovation are: ďƒź More usable products are produced as compared to the conventional gas-to-liquid process. ďƒź The overall cost of the process is reduced as only one reactor is required with these novel catalysts as compared to two reactors using the existing technology.
Dr Goh Chee Keong (right) and his Co-PI at work
The future of waste management
23
Focus area
special waste treatment The focus area on Special Waste Treatment is a call for research projects that could contribute to reducing the cost of special waste treatment or developing an innovative technology to treat special waste. Project case study Enhanced Biological and Physical Stabilisation in Landfills Typically, landfill sites are left to settle so as to ensure complete stabilisation of landfill contents. Biogas may be emitted due to decomposition of organic materials among the landfill contents and leachate may be released as a result of heavy rainfall. Thus, poorly designed and operated landfills can compromise human health and environmental quality with uncontrolled emissions of gas and leachate. Even sanitary landfills can cause environmental difficulties because the processes occurring within these are slow and hence long periods of proper management are required for stabilisation.
Progress of Project The study revealed that methane production is enhanced through carbon dioxide sequestration. Thus, more biogas is recovered. For the IBA liner system, its unconfined compression strength is much higher than the minimum acceptable value for materials to be used as hydraulic barriers in containment structures. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) study shows that content of all the heavy metals was much lower than both target and intervention values of the Dutch Standards (environmental pollutant reference values). Meanwhile, the measured hydraulic conductivity is higher than the target value, indicating signs of water penetration through the liner. Further study would need to be done to address this challenge.
Project Outline This project has three components: (i) To recover biogas through the use of micro-organisms (ii) To sequestrate the emitted carbon dioxide from the microorganisms and convert into landfill binder (iii) Developing landfill membrane material incorporated with Incineration Bottom Ash (IBA) to replace commonly used compacted clayey soils In this project, a novel anaerobic system with effluent stream being recycled back to the landfill site is developed with the purpose of establishing an integrated landfill with accelerated stabilisation. Usually, the wastes in landfills without effluent recycle may require 15 to 20 years to stabilise; however, this stabilisation period may shorten to 2-3 years with this novel biological treatment system. Meanwhile, energy in terms of biogas is recovered from the enhanced stabilisation process.
Prof Ng Wun Jern (centre left) and his NTU team
Lab-scale setup of anaerobic bio-system
Permeability test specimens of the proposed outliner for landfills
Project benefits The enhanced biological approach offers high energy recovery and accelerated stabilisation. The novel liner system would also minimise risks to environment and human health caused by leachate. In addition, IBA is one of the major by-products of waste incineration and it is currently disposed off at the Semakau landfill. By utilising the IBA, a significant amount of ash could be diverted from the landfill. This will help to reduce disposal costs, increase the lifespan of the landfill, preserve natural resources, and decrease environmental impacts.
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The future of waste management
Case Study Singapore’s Integrated Waste Management Approach and Community Outreach Efforts for Recycling On a land area of 714 sq km, Singapore’s population of five million is set to grow with more industries, tourists, and economic activity. As a result of this, some 18,000 tonnes of waste are generated every day, and projected to increase in the next 10-20 years. Thus waste disposal would pose a challenge due to land scarcity. An integrated waste-management approach Waste minimisation and recycling efforts have helped to recycle 59 per cent of the waste, and utilisation of waste-to-energy incineration means that 38 per cent of the waste is burnt, with only three per cent of non-incinerable waste being sent directly to the landfill. Overall, the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint has set recycling targets at 65 per cent by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2030. To meet these targets, NEA has developed a solid waste management plan to build a sustainable and affordable integrated waste-to-resource management system. One key driver is to put in place a viable system for at-source reduction, segregation and recycling of waste. Recycling is deemed an important and essential feature to close the waste-to-resource loop, and is therefore a crucial part of the waste management strategy. Educating the public on reducing and recycling waste would encourage their engagement in the success of this drive.
of recycling to meet the objective. Nurturing good environmental behaviours starts from young. Various programmes such as the School Recycling Corner Programme have been implemented. By 2009, all primary and secondary schools were participating in the programme. Junior colleges, polytechnics and campuses of various educational institutions are slated next for joining the programme. Apart from setting up recycling bins in schools to cultivate recycling habits in students, various activities such as exhibitions, competitions and talks on recycling are also organised. Students are also encouraged to reach out to residents in the neighbourhood to promote recycling under the Recycling Outreach Programme. These activities are led by student environment champions who undergo a training programme conducted by the NEA. These activities are reinforced with partnership programmes with corporations such as Canon, CapitaLand, and Panasonic, which involve students in project work on recycling. Students share the projects with their peers at the annual Clean & Green Singapore (CGS) Schools’ Carnival and outstanding efforts are recognised to encourage others to emulate.
Involving citizens and getting engagement To reinforce the concept of waste reduction and recycling, communications and outreach efforts must take on a consistent and targeted approach. In this respect, NEA has put in place various programmes such as the National Recycling Programme (NRP), Schools Recycling Corner Programme, and the annual Recycling Week. The NRP provides the means for households to recycle by designating recycling bins and bags, while the School Recycling Corner Programme aims to foster a recycling culture in students. Furthermore, Recycling Week is held yearly to encourage the community-at-large to reduce and recycle waste. Recycling Week started off as Recycling Day in 2004. It is part of the Clean-and-Green Singapore event organised by NEA and is supported by the Public Waste Collectors (PWCs), schools, town councils, and organisations like the National Library Board and People’s Association. On Recycling Day, themed activities were held at the various HDB estates throughout the island. These included exhibitions, the collection of recyclables, competitions and games aimed at informing, and providing hands-on lessons in recycling. Since 2010, Recycling Day has been renamed Recycling Week to reflect the expanded time scope and outreach. Going forward, national recycling targets under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint have been set at 70 per cent of waste by 2030. This is a very ambitious target which will require increased promotion
The importance of engaging youth to care for the environment and promote environmentally friendly practice is recognised. Organised together with schools and various NGOs, Youth for Environment Day, which is held annually on Earth Day, provides a platform for young Singaporeans to champion environmental ownership. This year’s tagline “I Think, I Care, I Act” focuses on getting students to think more deeply about environmental issues and commit to care and take simple actions to make a difference in local concerns, starting with themselves, and then their friends, family and community. More than 150 schools participated in YED this year, and some schools organised recycling drives, competitions, talks, workshops and conducted site visits to promote the recycling message among students.
The future of waste management
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Case Study: Recycling District at South West Apart from school-focused activity, over the years the community, i.e. the Community Development Councils (CDCs), Town Councils (TCs) and Resident Committees (RCs), has taken the lead to integrate recycling into their activities. Central Singapore CDC’s Project E.A.R.T.H. (Every Act of Recycling Trash Helps) has the aim to collect more than 10,000 tonnes of recyclables a year. South West CDC’s ECo Day Out @ South West will be in its 7th year in 2012. First initiated by the Hong Kah North grassroots organisations, South West district‘s annual recycling drive is unique for merging both environmental and social causes. It started off in 2003 as a recycling event where residents could exchange their recyclables for groceries, and was arranged to coincide with the Chinese New Year spring-cleaning. Due to the warm response, it grew to become an annual district-wide event by 2006. In January, a total of 12.5 tonnes of paper, 11.4 tonnes of clothing, 5,300 plastic bottles and 1,400 aluminium cans were collected from the residents at 24 locations across the South West District. More were collected a week later during the district’s environmental flagship programme - ECo Day Out @ South West. In partnership with their corporate partners, all the recycling proceeds were matched by $60,000 from the Lee Foundation, Koh Kock Leong Enterprise Pte Ltd, Sumitomo Chemical and other affiliated companies, to benefit St Luke’s Eldercare Centre (Clementi). These donations funded the purchase of a new vehicle with disability retrofitting which could ferry 100 elderly persons from their homes to the centre for rehabilitative treatment. Over the last three years, $180,000 has been raised for more than 1,500 needy youths from ITE College West and MINDS Training and Development Centre (Clementi) to cover their educational and transport expenses. Besides this annual district recycling event, South West CDC and NEA South West Regional Office also worked with their 3P partners to organise regular community recycling activity. In 2007, Colex Holdings Pte Ltd started the weekly ”Cash for Trash”. Since then, 11 divisions have partnered with Colex to cover a total of 22 locations for weekly or monthly collection drives at Ayer Rajah, Boon Lay, Bukit Batok, Bukit Batok East, Bukit Gombak, Hong Kah North, Jurong Central, Nanyang, Pioneer, Taman Jurong and Yuhua. Since 2009, Alpha Biofuels (S) Pte Ltd has also started the Used Oil Recycling Drive where residents can recycle their used oil for groceries. Since then, grassroots organisations in Bukit Gombak, Choa Chu Kang and Hong Kah North have adopted similar programmes.
Convergence of environmental and social goals All the community recycling initiatives are part of the 10year “ECo Plan South West” aimed at achieving a 60 per cent
Minister Vivian Balakrishnan at ECo Day
recycling rate through the 3Rs. The “ECo” name designate is a portmanteau reflecting it as a holistic Environment and Community Plan. Its common vision is to rally the community to build a home that is clean, green and sustainable. The ECo Plan lays out five key goals – three relating to the environment (Cool, Green and Clean) and two relating to the Community (Caring and Proactive). •
Cool Community: Reducing Energy Consumption and Promoting Resource Conservation
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Green Community: Nurturing and Appreciating Nature.
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Clean Community: Maintaining Public Health and A Clean & Litter-Free Environment
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Caring Community: Helping and Supporting One Another
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Proactive Community: Being Active Citizens
More people now recycling In 2001, when national recycling was first launched, 15 per cent of households recycled. Today, some 60 per cent of households participate in recycling. More efforts are however needed to increase engagement so that more recyclables are designated for recycling instead of disposal. The NEA is currently reviewing the recycling programme to improve its effectiveness in residents outreach. Furthermore, NEA is working with industry stakeholders to reduce waste at-source through initiatives like the Singapore Packaging Agreement and the 3R Programme for hotels. Through these partnership programmes, industry can play a role in reducing packaging waste at-source, raising consumers’ awareness, and recycling commonly-used items like beverage cans.
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The future of waste management
Upcycled Space:
Designing for industry’s leftovers
The future of waste management Finding clever things to do with industrial by-products might not strike many as an exciting profession, but for Thailand’s Singh Intrachooto, closing the loop on trash has become his claim to fame. From cutting-edge high-end furniture made from recycled buttons to entire libraries constructed from building scraps, he has pushed the boundaries of “Upcycling”— the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value . 1
A pioneer of ecological design in Thailand, Mr Intrachooto is a practising architect, Head of the Building Innovation and Technology Programme at Kasetsart University (Bangkok), Design Principal at OSISU, Thailand’s leading eco-design production house, and Design Innovation Ambassador for the National Innovation Agency. He received the country’s Emergent Designer of the Year Award and Elle Décor’s Designer of the Year Award in 2007, as well as the Top Environmentalist Award from the government’s Department of Environment in 2008. His team at Architect Kidd recently won the silver Holcim Prize for Sustainable Construction in 2012 for their project Urban Farm Urban Barn.
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is super light like a cotton ball but is strong enough for seating,” Mr Intrachooto said. A startling calculation he shared is how for each truckload of value created by economic activity, some 32 truckloads of material become rubbish. While there are obvious environmental benefits from more effective and efficient material use, business-wise Mr Intrachooto’s value proposition is “waste equals money.” “Osisu has nearly zero inventory— it is a studio with a design team. We can basically go out and tap different waste streams when we get orders or make new products,” he said. Tapping waste streams provides a steady supply of resources to draw on, often for free. Finding creative, high-end design applications provides sufficient margins to support a team and make profit. However, it does not stop there for him: He wants to push boundaries still further.
Trained in Seattle and Aachen as an architect, Mr Intrachooto eventually worked in Washington for a few years until his interest in innovating buildings took over. “I got bored with the business-as-usual mentality with little concern for the environment at the time,” he said. “It just didn’t suit me.” He then pursued a PhD in building technology at MIT to further explore the incorporation of practical environmental innovations for industry. After a research and teaching stint in Boston he returned to his native Thailand where he once again found himself working as an architect and facing the problem of waste, even from projects that were supposed to be green. “My colleagues and I started discussing about using materials efficiently and how construction debris could become our resource. I couldn’t face my students and clients and talk to them about green projects with that situation continuing. Something had to be done. I didn’t feel I was acting genuinely,” Mr Intrachooto said. He began harvesting waste from commercial building projects, paying workers to separate materials, which he then turned into furniture for use in the same project. His designs were in such hot demand that one developer client became his business partner. With the help of a new ally, he formed his design studio Osisu to keep up with demand with buyers from as far away as Europe and the United States. “Even the Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn came to our exhibition to have a look and see what we were doing,” he said. Besides working at Osisu, he conceptualised many of his products with students at Kasetsart University’s “Scrap Lab”— established in 2007 in collaboration with the university and Siam Commercial Bank. Materials are sourced from numerous waste streams, including buildsite materials like metal, plastic, wood, fabric, wires, glass; consumer waste products like Tetrapaks, envelopes, and packing material; and, industrial scraps like chips, agricultural fibres, leather and surreallooking blobs of polyethylene. One of his latest furniture designs is “Boulders”. Made from steel scraps reclaimed from construction sites, it has customised pieces of debris showcased inside as a sort of aesthetic time capsule. “It
“Can we resuscitate community through scrap reclamation and design?” he asked, referencing one of his latest projects: Thailand’s first eco-library on Kasetsart University campus. Mr Intrachooto feels that beyond just the economic or environmental aspects of work, carrying forward a social mandate is also possible. “The library and all the furniture are made from industrial scraps and the building features energy-efficient design. We also reduce library fees to allow the urban poor and kids around Kasetsart University campus to come in and read. Indirectly, we also educate them about ecology and environmental issues in hopes the library would inspire them. So far, it has been a great success with many kids, teens and students spending time in the library daily. Now we’re trying to create another one,” he said. Mr Intrachooto has applied a design background to an environmental conscience and turned it into a business success. In breaking new grounds and using waste as a tool for social innovation, the foundation stone has been laid for other like-minded ecoentrepreneurs. What’s most exciting is that, given the global nature of waste management issues, his approach is ripe for replication well beyond Thailand’s borders.
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McDonough, W and Braungart, M. 2002, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, New York, North Point Press
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The future of waste management
Moving Up to Solve Waste Issues
Introducing the VCU One of the key waste management issues facing many rapidly developing Asian nations is that of food waste. Rapidly growing populations mean an equally rapid growth of food leftovers at the industrial, commercial, and household levels. Across several major Asian countries, food waste ranked as a major waste stream, with Taiwan producing 225,600 kilos/million people (2007), Japan producing 431,400 kilos/million people (2007), South Korea producing 271,400 kilos/million people (2005), and Singapore generating 311,200 kilos/million people (2008). At the top of the pack by a significant margin is Hong Kong, which produced 3,280 tonnes of food waste daily in 2009. While governments around the region are aware of the need to cut food waste volumes, there exists a gap to be filled in connecting ambitious reduction targets with the means to achieve them. Overseas technology however may offer some advantages in this regard.
Difficulties of processing food waste Food waste is typically classified into two categories. The first is derived from preparation which is uncooked food, and leftover food that has not been sold or otherwise used. Generally, this preconsumer source of food is easier to manage and process, due to relatively low levels of contamination and the lower risk of public health issues. The second category is the post-consumer food waste where leftover food is collected from consumers’ plates and processed. Dealing with food that has been in contact with the consumer potentially raises a number of public health issues. The premise is on the consumers to separate the plate scrapings from plates and utensils to minimise levels of contamination from cutlery or other packaging materials. While food waste can be incinerated, attributes like high moisture content decreases operational efficiency. Food waste can also be processed using anaerobic digestion methods, but contamination with unseparated non-food substances can diminish performance and impact the economic viability of projects. If sent to the landfill, food waste takes up land area that many already packed municipalities may be unable to sacrifice. Not only that, landfill decomposition will generate methane —a harmful greenhouse gas— and leachate that need to be carefully managed at the site to avoid secondary pollution sources. While large-scale composting of food waste is possible, it also has caveats. Traditionally organic waste is mixed with a feedstock and then laid out on the ground by enormous tractors and specialised equipment forming long piles called windrows. These windrows must be kept moist and aerated by turning the rows on a regular basis. It can take up to six months or more to compost in this fashion. The down side of this method is the cost of all the equipment, labour and maintenance. Additionally, composting by the windrow method uses a great deal of land and produces odours, attracts pests (e.g. rats, flies, insects) and faces continual fire risk from spontaneous combustion.
Alternatives: solutions go vertical Beyond working to cut food wastage and volumes at source, which many agree is the best approach, another potential technological alternative exists. Already in use in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand among other places for roughly 30 years, the Vertical-Compost Unit (VCU) is potentially ideal for crowded, space-constrained Asian cities given that it is a lower-cost modular solution, has a relatively small footprint compared to other alternatives, minimises odour, noise, dust, litter, and vermin, and poses no fire hazard. Further, the infrastructure can be decentralised and installed at existing satellite waste management facilities with comparatively small capital investments versus conventional technologies like incinerators.
Vertical Composting Unit (VCU) technology and its benefits The VCU is an in-vessel, passively aerated composting system capable of composting a wide range of organic waste materials, such as vegetation, food wastes and offal wastes. The main benefits of the technology are a small physical footprint which can be tailored to most sites depending on the size of application and the processing parameters (e.g. waste volumes), odour elimination using biofilter systems, fast processing times, minimal leachate generation, and a saleable, superior quality compost product due to a high degree of a process control. During the VCU operation, shredded and blended organic material (such as food or landscape waste) is loaded at the top of a vertical insulated chamber where it descends and undergoes composting. Ancillary shredding and loading equipment can be located either onsite or offsite. It should be noted that contamination of material interferes with the shredding and mixing apparatus, and would therefore require additional processing. The composting process operates under a plug-flow system that allows air to enter from the bottom of the chamber and exit from the top. As the compost is broken down by bacteria it creates heat and draws cooler air in from the bottom which fuels the process even more. Stabilised mulch or compost is harvested from the base of the unit within seven days and maturated for a further six weeks. Subsequently this soil amendment product is graded and ready for use in local landscaping, farming, or nursery applications, or for sale.
Implementation considerations When considering appropriateness of VCU implementation, a number of aspects should be carefully considered. Site issues need to be examined, including space requirements, material handling and storage logistics. Development and licensing requirements before installation also need to be addressed.
The future of waste management HOW THE VCU WORKS
The VCU is an economic way to turn organic waste into a valuable resource.
UPPER PILE Very hot – where pathogens and seeds are destroyed
FEED SYSTEM Organic wastes are mixed and fed into the top of the composting unit.
MIDDLE PILE Hot – bacteria break down fats and proteins. Material reduces in size. LOWER PILE Cooler – fungi further reduce and stabilise the material as it matures.
ODOUR CONTROLLED Organic wastes are mixed and fed into the top of the composting unit.
HARVEST The result is fresh, clean compost, full of microorganisms that benefit the soil.
LOW ENERGY The VCU uses $1.50 worth of electricity to process one tonnne of waste
It should be noted that the main cost considerations include those derived from manufacturers (e.g. purchase of equipment and training costs), operating costs, potential savings from the reduced dependence on other waste management methods, and potential social and environmental benefits and outcomes (e.g. sustainability education, waste recovery from compost, and earning carbon credits etc.).
Case studies An audit of generated waste stream material flows should be conducted to assess potential handling issues (e.g. type and minimum operating volume), and considerations must be made to how projected output volume of compost material can be best utilised and whether surplus can be vended. The feasibility of VCU technology must take into account sufficient volumetric capacity to process the total available waste from the nominated food and green waste streams, as well as the technical capability and projected lifespan of the project.
New Smithfield Market in East Manchester (UK) has an onsite VCU diverting bio-waste and producing high quality compost. They process in the vicinity of 3,500 tonnes of organic and green waste per year in six VCUs situated in the market centre, and produce 1,500 tonnes of compost per year. The operations have been BSI PAS 100 accredited, which means that the compost is consistent, reliable and free from pathogens, viruses and weed seeds.
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The operation runs on a six-day week with waste supply delivered to the site by partner traders. This has enabled the whole process to be located in the market, thus removing the need to transport waste materials. Just as important, locating in the market has helped to develop understanding and support from market traders, customers, and council workers. A sampling of the material inflow includes sweet corn, watermelons and apples, which contribute to the nitrogen element of the compost, and the carbon (woody) component is currently supplied from the city council. Markets for the final compost products are split into bulk and small users, including 10 tonnes to Central Parks in Manchester, and also to householders and allotments. In New Zealand, there is a growing number of composting facilities now handling food and green waste. Onsite composting systems at schools and other establishments are also on the rise. In Waitakere City (now part of the new city council structure) in west Auckland, an industrial-sized VCU was commissioned by the Solid Waste Business Unit back in 2001. At the time, of the 95,387 tonnes of waste Waitakere City sent to landfill, 17 per cent was organic. Originally, all green waste entering the transfer station was composted using the VCUs, and operations have since expanded to cover food wastes with the objective to divert all organic waste from entering landfills. The VCU system is the central tool in the green waste recycling programme and in its first year of operation it collected 8,000 tonnes of green waste. The local council was confident that the use of the technology would enable them to meet Ministry of Environment targets.
Possibilities for growing Asian cities Noting the space-saving, food waste solutions offered by the VCU, it is possible that implementation of the technology in rapidly growing Asian cities as part of a wider waste management strategy could pose significant advantages. Among these, improved processing of food and green wastes is possible without significant infrastructure investments. The production of a saleable compost product, and numerous environmental and social benefits are also possible.
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ENGAGEMENT
Listening to the Ground:
It is said that today’s youth are generally apathetic about social and environmental issues shaping the modern world. While it would be easy to indulge in notions that pop-culture, social media, and general cynicism have shaped youth responses at a superficial level, recent work in Singapore highlights that even in a highly urbanised context, young people can be re-connected to their natural environment and grow into a community of involved change-makers. ENVISION Magazine explores how immersive activities enable youth engagement, and the role ‘gamification’ plays in that process. Tay Lai Hock and Chris Jensen may be considered unlikely collaborators. Mr Tay, a Singaporean ex-corporate executive, is the community leader who founded the Ground Up Initiative (GUI) in 2008 and has been gaining steady support for environmental activities GUI organises at Bottle Tree Park. Australian-born Mr Jensen was originally an actor, but
Building youth environmental engagement through immersion and gamification
a passion for environmental issues eventually paved a way towards consultancy work that creates youth engagement programmes through his outfit Kinetics Engagement. The two met when Mr Jensen volunteered for GUI’s urban farming activities in 2010, and bridged by their common interests and philosophies, they decided to work together. “Initially, it was just a way to get a good workout and be involved with nature,” Mr Jensen said, “but slowly I started to see the amazing power the place had in rallying people to a cause.” From the onset, Mr Tay’s vision for GUI was to draw people from all ages and walks of life to participate and learn more about the environment. “I would sum it up as a mix of imparting good leadership values, and nurturing members and volunteers alike to create a beautiful and rustic space,” Mr Tay said, and added that it was the emphasis of genuine connection between participants and the space, and the dedication of a supportive community that has made GUI successful so far.
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The power of community
Things further crystallised when Mr Jensen was asked to develop a new project with Canon and NEA called H3ROES (pronounced as heroes). It is aimed at raising youth awareness of the 3R’s of reducing, reusing, and recycling, and getting students in touch with their environment. The programme was conceived by Canon to be a platform for growing youth leadership. “We believe that environmental consciousness should start at a young age, and we wanted the student H3ROES to learn the principles of sustainable living early,” said Mr Lee Eu Jin, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications at Canon Singapore. “Through experiential learning, it instils a sense of environmental ownership and grooms environmental leaders.” As the team came together, the uniqueness of the opportunity came into focus. “When I first met with Canon and NEA to discuss H3ROES, it struck me as a genuine opportunity to help students gain a deep understanding of what is at stake with the environment, and to sow seeds of empathy, compassion, and drive in them,” Mr Jensen said. “The great thing was that the organisers were really open to new ideas. We had students camping outside, taking part in sustainable urban farming, and even managed to incorporate an alternate reality game into the programme,” he said. “A lot of people creating an outreach programme would have shied away from these things and opted for something safer like eight hours of seminars in a classroom, but then there would have been no real impact on the students.” Based on his volunteer experience with GUI, Bottle Tree Park seemed the best place to host the H3ROES programme. Mr Jensen said, “The people at GUI all brought such an incredible positive energy to what they do, which was invaluable. With such amazingly committed people, you cannot help but put in everything you’ve got.”
Creating youth heroes
The H3ROES programme was crafted with a holistic approach to the 3Rs in mind to educate students about nature, community, lifestyles, and of course the notions of waste and recycling in a larger context. Students spent a week onsite getting immersed in activities, without the distractions of the internet, mobile phones, TV, and other technology. They camped in tents under the stars and were kept occupied with activities like site maintenance and gardening, skits and role play, video-recording, and design exercises. The students also self-directed their 3R initiatives and digitally captured the process at each stage. These images were later shared on their social media profiles to spread awareness. The aim of the week-long camp was to foster an understanding of the environment and society, and how they could affect the equation. The ultimate outcome was that each of the 77 participants went back to their respective community and school to start their own 3R-related programme modelled on H3ROES. “By organising environmental outreach programmes in their own schools, we’re empowering students to take on leadership roles and make a difference in their community,” Mr Lee said. Summing up the activities that took place at GUI, Mr Tay concluded: “It’s about harnessing the power of the community to pursue what is achievable when people come together for the greater purposes of humanity and the Earth.”
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Using gamification to achieve engagement outcomes
In the programme, the team also introduced elements of gaming aimed at improving engagement with participants. Worldwide, this has been a building trend as many researchers, including Jane McGonigal (of TED fame), have been working towards finding fun ways to solve serious global issues. Considering that upwards of 500 million people worldwide are playing at least one hour of online games per day, the idea of capitalising on this participation for reallife outcomes actually holds immense potential. “Games can be informational, instructional, and even critical. If we play a game badly, we lose, and then we have to learn to be better. But we don’t mind the tough lesson because it’s fun to play,” Mr Jensen said. For the H3ROES programme, the team created Project SEED — a “secret agency” tasked with protecting the environment from ecovillains. The game premise is to recruit and train new agents through SEED until an eco-villain shows up on the scene. The training wheels would then come off, so to speak, and student “agents” had to thwart the evil schemes by solving riddles themselves. The clues would be hidden throughout the game, in the training manuals as videos or as messages from an inserted SD card in the Canon cameras the students used during the camp.
“Often people despair at the cynicism and ‘don’t care’ attitude of young people. Part of that attitude is a response to the approach: Young people see that others are not genuinely connecting and just trying to get easy results from them. The attitude is a barrier to protect themselves,” Mr Jensen said.
“SEED was a great process of discovery for us. There were more opportunities to embed environmental education in gaming than we first thought possible. The students were all engaged so we’re keen to see how this format can be taken further,” Mr Jensen said. After the SEED experience, the team became increasingly keen on alternate reality games (ARG) — games that cross the line between a video game, movie, and real life. In fact, they ran a real-life version of the popular Facebook game Farmville on GUI’s grounds. The participants did actual farming work while learning about environmental issues like climate change and water scarcity. According to Mr Jensen, there is a huge potential in using games to make environmental issues more fun and interactive. “Games have a longer lifespan and impact than other activities like movies. Games pique our curiosity and we want to replay to see if we can win,” he said. “Thus the potential to learn is high and heavily experiential. A gamer’s investment in the game progression would always be accumulative, not reductive.”
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ENGAGEMENT
Unearthing the values driving youth
Planning the experience was not all about fun and games though and, in many respects, the team had to continually question the values and motivations driving youth in order to recalibrate their approach to activities and the environmental content they were presenting. “While it is true that environmental stewardship is everyone’s responsibility, it’s another thing for people to hear and feel it,” he said. “We have to be careful to make a genuine connection with youth,” he continued. “If being green is just the trendy thing to do, then it will be dropped for the next trendy thing just as quickly. It has to be something that moulds their identity and ethos (sic).” “Often people despair at the cynicism and ‘don’t care’ attitude of young people. Part of that attitude is a response to the approach: Young people see that others are not genuinely connecting and just trying to get easy results from them. The attitude is a barrier to protect themselves,” Mr Jensen said. “The pop-culture approach will make environmentalism merely a badge that youth wear on top of that cynicism, or merely token gestures. But in instances where people are given the chance for genuine, immersive interaction, that cynicism dissolves and the issue starts to take root,” he said. “We’ve all seen the difference between someone who is doing something because of external expectations, and someone who does it when it is intrinsically motivated. If we’re going to solve the serious environmental problems that face us, we have to touch people’s hearts. “Awareness of environmental issues has yet to translate into change, or even a desire to change. I don’t think this is necessarily the youth’s fault, I think we as practitioners could do a lot better. It’s not just spreading the information, but making people care. Nagging and lecturing doesn’t work, and taking the next step towards positive engagement is a challenge,” Mr Jensen said. “Environmental issues are all interconnected, and when you step back and look at the whole system, the root of society’s problems is our lack of understanding of the interconnectedness, and a lack of compassion for our neighbours. If there is a magic bullet for environmental issues, compassion is probably it,” he said. Mr Jensen believes that because many people feel socially isolated, especially in cities where they might not know their immediate neighbours, it becomes harder for them to connect to big picture environmental issues like climate change, or even what is going on in the country next door. They feel disassociated and may even harbour feelings of disaffection.
Getting buy-in
Ironically, youth’s general disinvestment in society comes at a time when there is an urgent necessity for change. As Mr Tay elaborated, “There is a desperate need in society to search authentically for a greater purpose in life, to participate in shaping peoples’ destiny and the future of their country. To find a supportive community that creates a safe space and an open environment for people to have a voice and try out stuff, to dream and fulfil their dreams is something important,” he said. But how to engage people on environmental issues? Mr Tay said: “First, there must be a genuine desire for genuine connection between people, and this must be beyond social media. We need to nurture more grounded leaders who are willing to walk the talk, get their hands dirty and have the desire to work with others for the greater good. Start small, bring them together on meaningful challenges, and bring experienced people to mentor them.” “Beyond activities and projects, one must create values — not just merely print it and forget to mention it — really manifest it and refresh it constantly. I called it actionable values. Only when people can see the written being manifested and actually created will they come together to rally to a greater cause.”
Structuring future youth programmes: the need to create experiences and take risks
Both Mr Tay and Mr Jensen believe that producing successful youth programmes require a consistent investment of time and effort, especially to bring about behavioural-mindset change. “Change is hard and it is a long-term investment that needs constant attention,” Mr Jensen said. “In general, there is a temptation to think that programme budgets can go further if you just make it shorter, then you have spare money for other initiatives, but this actually does a lot of harm,” he said. “Trying to force cost-effectiveness at the expense of experience creates this cynicism in the public and students about efforts being taken. We need to ensure that we are genuinely connecting with the youth, so that they feel we’re not treating them like robots, trying to download information into them. If we do not aim to achieve this, we don’t just fail to achieve our environmental objectives, we create new hurdles for ourselves to clear.” According to Mr Jensen, ramping up progress also means being willing to take calculated risks. “I’d love to see more bold risk-taking like what Canon did with H3ROES. In society today, we are all generally heading towards risk adversity, the irony being that I have never lived
ENGAGEMENT
in a country where it is safer to take risks,” Mr Jensen said about Singapore. “We need to celebrate and reward those that take risks, and acknowledge that even though not all of those risks will succeed, there is no path to true success that doesn’t involve risk.” Youth engagement and the proliferation of change it can produce is an important part of the social progression. If young people are encouraged to use their talents, energy, fearlessness, and energy to take risks, there can be enormous benefits to society at large. In the case of H3ROES, student performance feedback from the facilitators of the H3ROES programme was positive. The facilitators noticed how the children opened up and changed during their period of involvement, and what evolved once they subsequently went back to their communities. “Through our visits to the schools, we were impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of our young H3ROES, and we hope to reach out to even more student leaders in the subsequent programme this year,” Mr Lee said.
“The other irony is that the less we are willing to risk in the battle to save our future, the more we are actually going to lose. Nowhere is this more evident in the environmental sphere where we can see the rising number of natural disasters worldwide and the toll they have on the economy and on our lives. Yet humanity is too afraid to take bold steps necessary to prevent future losses,” Mr Jensen said.
While the maiden programme had a direct influence on the lives of 77 children, the domino effect would assure that many more would be changed. This could only be made possible by an organising team from public, private, and people sectors, willing to take risks to authentically engage the younger generation on their own terms.
For more on H3ROES and student perspectives, check out: http://www.h3roes.com.sg/documentary-video/
Tips for getting engagement: • Explore what supportive focal points for the community might already exist and seek to partner, build, or enhance what is already going on in your initiative. • Be genuine and transparent in what you hope to accomplish and how it is going to be done. • Remember that youth especially are sharp and aware. They are not willing objects awaiting information. Downloading approaches will not work, and can even backfire and create obstacles in the future. • Immersive, experiential approaches are better than classroom/seminar approaches. • Youth can be catalysts for community and family change. • Encourage and reward risk taking, especially among the younger generation, and foster growth of their leadership abilities. • Cynicism and indifference can be defence mechanisms. If encountered, question the approach being taken and adjust accordingly. • Creating empathy and compassion for environmental and social issues is critical to getting results (e.g. elicit an emotional response from participants vs. merely plying people with information and expecting them to act rationally). • Games can serve to attract participants’ interest and encourage problem solving.
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ENGAGEMENT
Meet the communicators Green gurus share insights into media, engagement, and the future of environmental issues What does it take to inspire civic engagement with environmental issues? What are the most effective communication strategies? With the proliferation of online information and social media, the entire communications landscape has changed substantially. What formally was a domain of print publications, media conglomerates, public relations firms and corporate communications only fifteen years ago has rapidly evolved into a bold new era where anyone can be a media producer. Staying relevant now requires a clever use of online, print, and personal approaches to maximise reach to an audience with an increasingly short attention span. It also means syncing with the needs and values of the audiences. ENVISION Magazine gets environmental practitioners in the Asia-Pacific region to share time-tested communication approaches.
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...I share what I write. It could be addressed to the industry or government about a particular issue. In doing so, it lets people think, ‘If she can do it, why can’t I?’ This is why social media is such a wonderful tool – it lets anyone take a leadership role. I think this is what will inspire people to care and take ownership. Bhavani Prakash on social media Bhavani Prakash
Depending on how you look at it, communicating has gotten both harder and easier in recent years. Harder in the sense of mastering its complexity. Messages must now be carried across a wider range of formats and platforms using a myriad of ever-evolving tools. On the other hand, communicating is considered easier, in the sense that now, more than ever, the range and access of media options allow anyone to readily communicate. When it comes to key environmental issues, everyone from business commentators to politicians to NGOs, has gotten in on the game with varying degrees of success. We investigate the successful approaches and examine the hard-won lessons in spreading environmental messages in the Asia-Pacific region.
and ramping up green-growth-related jobs in the region.
Former finance industry veteran Bhavani Prakash has had a growing interest in environmental issues since 2003. Her volunteer stint as a tour guide at Singapore Botanic Gardens after relocating from India was what first made Ms Prakash aware of the dire state of the world’s rainforests. “Digging deeper into the issue, I found that it was interconnected to so many other environmental issues in the world,” she said. “I would end the tour saying, ‘We’ve walked the walk, now we need to ‘walk the talk’.”
With these diverse goals and platforms, Ms Prakash’s communication experience has paved the way to a career of writing, blogging, recruiting, speaking, and training. Her approach to communications is to move away from fear tactics. “We have to shine the light on positive examples of change, to really inspire people with that, and to show people how that can be replicated, scaled up or localised,” she said.
That notion eventually spawned a website of similar name, and by 2008 she was well-entrenched in raising awareness of environmental issues. She is especially motivated by her desire to leave a positive legacy for future generations, including her two daughters. After starting ecowalkthetalk.com to educate the general public on issues like organic gardening and marine conservation, she recently branched out into a portal for professionals called greencollarasia.com, aimed at recruitment
“There was a lot of information on the green movement but it was mostly coming from the West. There was no dedicated platform to talk about environmental issues and campaigns from an Asian vantage point,” she said. “Last year, I took the plunge to engage more actively with our industry and government through greencollarasia.com. Before that, there was no dedicated website capturing macro-level green job trends. By showcasing the insights and experiences of green professionals and entrepreneurs in the region, it is my hope the portal would inspire people to know enough about green jobs to get into this sector.”
Understanding the importance of values and behaviour Critical to reaching people through communication is a good understanding of their values, framing, motivation, and behaviour. Citing WWF UK’s Tom Crompton’s extensive work with www.valuesandframes. org, Ms Prakash is quick to highlight the importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic values. “For example, if we encourage people to switch off their light bulbs in order to save
LEARNING POINTS Communications in general should: • embrace a conversational approach • anticipate what tools, platforms, and media your target audience uses • evolve new and topical information to retain interest • involve a newsworthy story/ angle • frame the topic in a way that is enticing and relevant to people • impact them in a way that attracts their attention • ideally have a prominent spokesperson • have strong images to accompany other content • be open, honest, and genuine • take a convergent approach across different online and print media, and also involve face-toface opportunities such as events • take into account different values and frames that steer people’s behaviour in order to successfully reach out to bridge the gap between awareness and action (check out www.valuesandframes. org for more infomation) • keep in mind that there will always be detractors and negative people; never devolve the conversation to the lowest common denominator
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LEARNING POINTS Websites and social media: • should be treated as an ongoing dialogue with people, not as a onesided broadcast • is considered more of a pull marketing approach, rather than a push; it involves listening to what people are interested in and want to engage with • are part of an integrated communication strategy and should be closely aligned and worked in unison (e.g. linkages between Twitter and blogs or websites)
• can be used formally to reach more professional audiences via LinkedIN, Slideshare, YouTube, and Twitter in combination with niche environmental websites and blogs • benefit from content like images and videos which are powerful for inspiring and motivating people • get the word out fast to a large number of people, but can be impersonal and also leave room for miscommunication • should have a fun or thought provoking factor to drive engagement
• should be carefully monitored, moderated, maintained, and regularly updated
• strive to be always genuine, transparent, friendly, and avoid sponsored content
• may be supplanted to quickly broadcast information (rather than
• should keep in mind shelf-life for content is getting shorter and must be kept fresh
have a conversation); an e-mail or newsletter might be more appropriate than social media in some cases to achieve quantitative reach • can be used informally to reach the general public via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube in combination with blogs and websites
money, we are actually promoting the extrinsic value of wealth which can be very short-term. If we can engage with people’s intrinsic motivation and enable them to feel their connection with the planet and society, they don’t need to be told to switch off their light bulb – they will do it because it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “Many of us may inadvertently promote the extrinsic values of green consumerism but this may backfire on communications campaigns in the long run. On the contrary, promoting intrinsic values of a sort of green citizenship is more likely to bring about lasting change.” This has become the frontier of many global environmental campaigns and is a constantly evolving space. However, like behavioural economics, it is vital for communicators to understand values in order to get their message across and have the desired impact — be it on climate change, energy efficiency, or conservationrelated environmental issues. For Ms Prakash, a par t of steering behavioural change involves showcasing positive role models on her websites
• need to ensure resources are adequate (e.g. man hours and content) to keep updated • should tie to events and actions in the physical world to move the reader beyond the online space
and through social media. “When people see an eco-campaigner coming from their community, they are encouraged to make changes themselves. It is incredibly powerful,” she said. “I reveal how I do organic food gardening in my own home, for example, by sharing the pictures on social media. Similarly, I share Eugene Tay (right)
what I write. It could be addressed to the industry or government about a particular issue. In doing so, it lets people think, ‘If she can do it, why can’t I?’ This is why social media is such a wonderful tool – it lets anyone take a leadership role. I think this is what will inspire people to care and take ownership,” she said.
Getting the right balance between websites and social media Since 1994, Eugene Tay has been working on environmental issues both in his academic and professional life. Thus the founder of Green Future Solutions has seen the evolution of environmental communications from its very early days. As a consultant to industry and an editor of nine websites spanning the gamut from zero waste to green business, Mr Tay has gained an in-depth understanding of integrating environmental knowledge with web and social media platforms. “I’m greatly influenced by the vision of a bright green future,” he said. “I like to look at the different possible ways in which ideas, businesses, technology, social sciences, and Web 2.0 can help us achieve sustainability. I’m also interested in understanding why and how things, technology, people or systems work together.” True to his training as an environmental engineer, Mr Tay takes a systematic approach in his communications strategy. “All my websites have Facebook and Twitter accounts. Some have LinkedIn, YouTube, or Flickr accounts as well. Due to a lack of resources, I only use websites and Facebook (FB) as my main platforms, and manage
ENGAGEMENT these two sites closely,” he said. “Twitter accounts are linked to Facebook accounts so any posts on Facebook are automatically posted on Twitter.” “Both websites and social media channels (SM) are an integrated par t of the communication strategy. The website acts as a home base and the SM act as outposts with both linking back to each other. This ensures that whichever platform the user lands on, there is a consistent message and the opportunity to look across different platforms and use the one that he/she is comfortable with,” said Mr Tay on the important issue of usability. He decides on their suitability in terms of content and interaction. For example, he generally uses websites for longer messages and posts as they allow for more deliberation time. Social media is employed for shorter messages, fun content, and quick interaction with the users. “Due to the shorter attention span on SM, it is increasingly difficult to get the attention of users,” he said. To build up engagement with people, Mr Tay advises to “always be positive, constructive and embrace users’ feedback.” It is a constantly evolving process of trial and error, so it is important to consult FB Insights or Google Analytics. He concludes, “Overall, it only becomes an effective platform when the audience are engaged actively both via online content and offline activity. Always link online and offline together; one can’t do without the other.”
Bring the crowd Co-founding a local chapter of the global networking phenomena Green Drinks back in 2007, Olivia Choong has brought audiences together to promote Earth Hour, carbon financing, sustainable development and energy security. Drawing on a background in public relations and her involvement with boutique communications agency Sustainable PR, she has spent recent years raising awareness of eco-products and services in the media and through events. Speaking from experience, she relates the challenges of engaging people with environmental issues. “It took me around 28 years before I felt moved enough by any one topic to take action,” she said. “I only got the message when I was watching television from my sofa, specifically Live Earth, which I was watching for the music.”
That moment led to a career re-dedication and a proliferation of activity, both on and offline. Like Ms Prakash, her roles cut across different areas, including writing, blogging, event organising, campaigning, and promotion. With nearly five years of Green Drinks under her belt, Ms Choong has been at the interface between online and offline interaction. “Planning and executing events is a delicate art. It is important to make participants feel comfortable and have them open up,” she said. “Therefore it is important to be open and honest when communicating with people.” This holds true both for events promotion as well as online social media. “Of course, the challenge is in finding a topic of interest to as many people as possible,” she said. “There’s strength in diversity. I need to have as many people in a room as possible so that they can speak to each other and share their viewpoints.” Determining a successful and engaging event is both qualitative and quantitative. “While having a crowd of 120 is spectacular, the real gauge is when people personally come to tell me how they really enjoyed it and that they will be back,” Ms Choong said. In relation to her work with more traditional media like print publications, she offers some tips on generating the interest of Olivia Choong
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LEARNING POINTS Events and in-person approaches: • should include diversity of topics/ angles to help attract an equally diverse crowd • are good for going into details, or for subjects that might require extensive Q&A; face-to-face approach is better for qualitative reach • mean participating in a wide range of events (e.g. conferences, summits, symposia, talks, networking events) whether as presenter or participant • can add richness to interaction and communication that online tools cannot reproduce
journalists. “The most important thing is for me to get the information out there. Often, sending interesting content to my friends in the media when I come across information worth reporting is helpful,” she said. “It must be fresh, new information, with a newsworthy angle,” she said. “It is important to frame the topic in a way that is of relevance to the audience. That is
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the first step. It is also important to present an enticing image to interest people who are more visual,” Ms Choong said. “Having a prominent spokesperson to reinforce a campaign message can also help.”
The renaissance of environmental print media With all the buzz about social media and online content in recent years, one might expect a lacklustre reception for more traditional print publications, especially one that covers environmental issues new to the public conscience. As Kuala Lumpur-based editor Lim Siang Jin found out, the timing for print publications in this niche sector was spot on, but not in the way one might expect. Kicking off the publication Green Prospects Asia (formerly Green Purchasing Asia) with his team back in April 2011, Mr Lim positioned the publication to cover a wide swath of environmental issues relevant to industry and policymakers, including energy efficiency, recycling and recovery, green buildings and eco-cities, renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal), biomass and bio-energy, smart grids and power management, water management, green financing, transportation, and eco-labels and standards. “We believe that existing resources, especially energy and materials, can be used more optimally via greater efficiency of use and recovery, and through the use of renewable sources,” he said. “There is a pressing need to spread these ideas among policymakers and businesses to prevent further wastage, and thereby benefit the stakeholders in the form of economic and environmental sustainability, profits and better-priced products.” According to Mr Lim, governments and businesses are beginning to understand humanity’s transition to a global economy of scarcity. This, he believes, is coupled with climate unpredictability. Prices of business inputs are on the rise, with supply chains becoming increasingly vulnerable. Economic and population growth are pushing the ability of the world to cope with these extreme limitations. Many leaders are generally not ready for this changed world, and time to adapt to the macro trends is growing short. As a result, there is a need for seasoned advice to help leaders address these emergent problems with their constituents. Merely putting out a traditional print
Lim Siang Jin (third from right) with the Green Prospects Asia team
publication to address these needs was out of the question, and the publishing team realised early on the importance of having a holistic media strategy that mixed the magazine with other platforms. “There will always be a place for ‘print’ as a form, if only as e-books on digital tablets,” Mr Lim said. “Much thought has gone into design for effective print communication. Digital pages coupled with video, animation and other web links are by far the best to carry complex messages to large, geographically-dispersed audiences.” “Our audience of decision makers and influencers in business ecosystems would have to be active or even proactive. They cannot spend time on impractical ideas and untested theories. They are looking for actionable ones, from simple to-dos to inputs into projects and strategies. At the operational level, businesses are looking for ideas that would lead to sales and purchases for implementation of projects. Strategically, they are looking at policy environments, trends and cases to support decisionmaking,” he said. While the media has carried stories on the environment for a very long time, the issues were viewed as peripheral. According to Mr Lim, two things are changing. “First, environmental issues have moved to the centre,” he said. “Second, media has fragmented with the rise of the Internet, personal computing and short-run printing.” Recent years may have seen the erosion of
LEARNING POINTS Print publications: • are not obsolete as they still fill the need of discerning readers for authoritative, digested, and targeted content • are no longer solely static, hardcopy material and must take a convergent approach with holistic online media integration and other exposure • can take the form of e-books on digital tablets and laptops and involve digital pages coupled with dynamic content like video and web links • should proactively embrace other tools (e.g. social media) and platforms (e.g. smart phone apps) to their advantage • should find a niche and provide good quality content
traditional print media, but well-established publications are still valued for reliability and accountability, in accordance with the standards expected by a discerning readership. “Media brands must respond to the fragmentation of media by selectively using the Internet, smart phone apps, shortrun printing, etc., to their advantage in a holistic manner,” Mr Lim said. “After all, when you boil down to methods, effectiveness in communication is really highly contextual.”
Innovation
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Inside the Blue Economy
Emergent Technology to Solve Environmental Woes and Provide Opportunities While the global current fixation is on a green economy typified by energy and resource efficiency, Dr Günter Pauli is already giving thought to what is coming thereafter. In reference to his book Blue Economy (www.blueeconomy.eu), the founder of Zero Emissions Research Institute (ZERI) believes that we should move the discussion beyond the notion of green to one that is guided by the time-honoured natural principles and laws of physics and chemistry. Dr Pauli is adamant that we need to depart from our debt-fuelled in-the-red economic system that bleeds the planet of its human and environmental assets. He also thinks that notions of the Green Economy should be debunked if many of its innovations are minimally aimed at merely preserving what’s left of our environment rather than restoring it. Furthermore, this is achieved at higher consumer costs, for the same or even less benefits than the status quo. He feels that in spite of much goodwill and effort, the viability of the Green Economy would face challenges in the long term and especially in an economic downturn. What he advocates in its place is a Blue Economy which engages regeneration beyond mere environmental preservation, where ecosystems can maintain their evolutionary path, and all can benefit from nature’s abundance. It would be a new approach that re-imagines the entire global environmental, economic, and social system. While it might sound far-fetched or even utopian to some, Dr Pauli’s extensive research evidently shows that numerous emergent and commercialised technologies, products, and solutions have an underlying and contrary regenerative impact. He believes there are immense untapped economic opportunities awaiting the right entrepreneurs willing to re-craft industrial processes taking into account how ecosystems function. So, for example, rather than work against basic laws of physics or chemistry by creating compounds that cannot be decomposed, he advocates we emulate nature and structure industrial production in a way that things can be disassembled, reused, or decomposed. With this in mind, another main theme centres on continually cascading energy and resources. Rather than create waste or use materials ineffectively, this principle implies a continual capture and re-use to add value. Dr Pauli also advocates using material flows and business in general to generate multiple economic and social benefits by more thoroughly addressing the entire value chain to create jobs and a more stable society in the process. In a similar vein to Janine Beynus’ Biomimicry, or Braungart and McDonough’s Cradle-to-Cradle, Dr Pauli delved further by examining
these case study technologies — how they joined together into larger systems to tackle pressing environmental problems, how those systems commercialise and integrate into industry and society, and become mechanisms for job creation. He also extensively detailed their chemical, physical, industrial, economic, and cultural processes. This thorough approach lends his case studies both tangibility and a formidable implementation path. Furthermore, he outlines how these opportunities are primed and ready for entrepreneurs, industrialists, and innovators in the decades ahead.
So what kinds of innovations define a Blue Economy? It is projected that capital costs to remediate former mining operations worldwide would be in excess of US$1 trillion. A well-established fact is how mine tailings can pose major hazards to the surrounding ecology and communities, groundwater, and public health. Cleaning up heavy metals, radioactive material, acidic material, and additives like cyanide, is not an easy task. Indiana, a US state known for strip mining activity, has suffered from chronic contamination in its water sources. A breakthrough came when Indiana high-school student Tyler Barnes learnt about the characteristics of chitosan, an abundant industrial waste from shrimp and crab shells. His research, spanning four years, finally led to the discovery that amino acids in chitosan molecules absorb the iron and copper in contaminated water while keeping the water pH balanced. Chitosan is a good biopolymer which can bind with lipids, fats, and metals. By 2015, its estimated bounty of 21,400 metric tonnes would fetch a profit value of US$63 billion. Its high-grade form has many versatile uses in the medical and nutraceutical industries while lowgrade chitosan is used to neutralise pollutants in water. While it has yet to reach its full commercial potential, the case study shows that with careful re-assessment, a simple industry by-product can be reprocessed to be used in a myriad of other applications, which in chitosan’s case includes cleaning up pollution for biodiversity remediation. This, in a nutshell, is the philosophy of the Blue Economy. Another of Dr Pauli’s case study is on glass bottles that end up in the waste stream in collection vehicles and landfills globally. The most common solution of recycling them into new bottles is deficient because different coloured glass requires labour-intensive sorting prior to this process. One of a number of potential alternatives came
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innovation with aluminium including food packaging, pharmaceutical containers, and media such as DVDs. In terms of the operational process, Dr Pauli points to a study in Curitiba, Brazil where Mayor Taniguchi pioneered a community-based social enterprise involved in the separation of components in aseptic packaging (paper, polyethylene, and aluminium). Dr Pauli believes that business opportunities can be capitalised on at each stage of collection (from existing municipalities for instance), diversion (from landfills and other more ad hoc dump sites especially in developing countries), processing (using microbes) and resale of the final separated components.
from Americans Andrew Ungerleider and Gay Dilingham. In 1994, they founded a company called Earthstone which specialises in transforming leftover bottles into physical abrasive products for a niche market. After the glass is crushed into powder and heated with an injection of CO2, lightweight abrasive glass foam emerges. Applications of this invention include BBQ grill cleaners, paint removers, and blocks that smooth down fibre boards. Earthstone was able to position these products as a more environmentally-conscious alternative to most generics on the market. Soon, major supply stores readily stocked their products and sales increased, and Earthstone became a highly-successful enterprise. They have since expanded their product range to 11 applications, one of which is a biodegradable hydroponic foam medium that negates the waste stream for the agro-industry. Other companies in Belgium and the Czech Republic have also innovated other uses for the technology, including cost-effective, durable, insulating, fungi and pest-proof building materials. Dr Pauli posits that situating glass foam operations near landfills will further reduce carbon emissions and operation costs. In addition to minimising transportation of the raw materials, the recycolate could also be readily removed from the waste stream to be converted into foam onsite, and methane gas generated from the landfill could be used to power operations. He calculates that such a facility will need an estimated five million bottles annually to be commercially viable. If the average consumption is 200 glass bottles per family, then a mere 25,000 families would be needed — a relatively low barrier of entry for potential entrepreneurs as many communities globally could offer such a critical mass. With simple glass bottles having other potential uses, it is exciting to think what other similar opportunities might exist with other materials discarded every day. Compared to bottles, multilayer packaging such as Tetrapaks are more complex to recycle as their materials are bound together in layers. Of its components, the aluminium air-barrier is both highly prized and energy-intensive to produce. Getting such aluminium out of the waste stream proved to be challenging until Mrs Gloria Niño López of Columbia made a surprising discovery. In the laboratory, she observed how soured milk spilled on compact discs quickly separated the metalic from the plastic layers. Upon further experimentation, she learned that aluminium on the inner layers of Tetrapak containers would experience the same effect. The micro-organisms identified in the fermented milk were then developed into a standard solution for separating aluminium from multilayer packaging. Researchers in Sweden, Japan, and Brazil laboured over the process until Professor Luigi Bistagnino of the Politecnico di Torino (Italy) created a detailed technical and business case for the method. This would have a wide-ranging effect on all the multilayer materials
Another innovation is creating plastics from pollution. With carbon markets across the world valued at US$139.3 billion in 2011 (an increase of 4 per cent compared to 2010) and the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS), the world’s biggest carbon market valued at US$100.3 billion, opportunities to take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere have substantial backing. This also comes at a time when the market for purified carbon dioxide for industrial uses is forecast to reach US$292 million by 2017. With ample carbon in the atmosphere and a need for it for various industrial processes, it would seem an ideal pairing at a financially opportune time. Unfortunately, until recently, scientists were unable to crack the process to exploit this ideal feedstock.
This changed when Geoffrey Coates of Cornell University identified catalysts that provided the required reactivity for polymerising CO2. Coates’ team developed several zinc and cobalt-based catalysts to convert CO2 under mild conditions into an intermediate feedstock for chemical products. While the operation is sound, the ability to close the loop on recovering both zinc and cobalt from the process has not yet been overcome, and hence any scaling would have potential negative implications in terms of increased mining of these minerals. Since the initial discovery, Coates founded Novomer to further develop the process. Chemical company DSM and Unilever as well as the US Department of Energy have been quick to offer investment and grants towards a commercialisation pathway. With more research and development, the implications for Novomer are vast and move beyond its initial test prototypes replacing blow moulded bottles. Improvements in the process and technology may mean a revolution for common products as diverse as diapers and paints. Dr Pauli cites this example due to its competing on the market without subsidies, converting a waste into a resource, and its potential for helping tackle climate change. With these and similar innovations and their benefits across economic, environmental, and social aspects, the notion of a Blue Economy is a compelling one worth embracing.
Innovation
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INAUGURAL SEI INNOVATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT SERIES
Design Thinking Insider:
Close Up with IDEO’s Paul Bennett Paul Bennett is Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer of IDEO. During his tenure, his achievements have included creating the firm’s largest global practice, Consumer Experience Design; helping to establish our presence in China; and cofounding the New York office. Mr Bennett is currently based in London, where his focus is working with colleagues, clients, and partners to bring to the market commercially viable, socially significant new businesses and consumer products, services, and experiences. He is responsible for company-wide content excellence, and he actively develops ideas (and publishes articles) related to the field of human-centred, design-led innovation. ENVISION Magazine catches up with him to discuss design thinking’s role in the environmental public service. The Singapore Government in general has been trying to find new ways to improve its relationship and interaction with its population, and some areas include environmental and public health issues. Do you have some tactics for deepening citizen engagement and ownership (on an issue like littering, for example)?
Saying “What should we do?” and then doing nothing with the goodwill that comes with it is worse than doing nothing. There’s a real sense that you have to execute something, even if it’s small, to give people a sense that you’re doing something. There has to be an outcome — it needs to be convincing by action.
This is a true story. In Estonia of all places, three young tech entrepreneurs decided that the country was far too littered. They geo-tagged 50,000 garbage dumps across the country, and they put out through their own social media network “Tidy up Estonia, Estonians”. On a Saturday afternoon, 50,000 people rallied and cleaned the country for free.
One thing going on at the moment locally with one of our sister agencies, PUB — at various water sites around the country such as reservoirs and canals, they’ve been trying to get people immersed in their natural environment and resources through a variety of experiential activities. Are you aware of other case studies that employ experiential techniques to help improve the relationship between the public and their environment?
I say this again and again, the power of human kindness massively outweighs the power of human cynicism. When asked, in the right way with the right degree of authenticity, people want to do the right thing — they don’t want to buck the system. If asked in the right way, with the right question, and in the right spirit, people will want to mobilise. In a similar vein, do you think this same sort of tactics can be employed to help an agency like NEA refine its services for specific stakeholders? Yes, they should be. Refine its services is an interesting thing, but I think refine its stance with the community might be better. What we’re talking about is helping these two worlds bridge to one another. Moving beyond asking people to give you ideas, you have to execute the ideas and bring something to light. In another example, when Ireland went down economically, they put a question out on the Internet, “What should we do with the future of Ireland?” and got thousands of responses — and did nothing with them. The malaise and the anger built up hugely in that example.
A lot of our work is about understanding how to create these interventions or moments of reflection where somebody can actually experience the thing you’re designing for them. I don’t have anything particular that springs to mind, but a lot of our work is about engaging people with whatever you’re talking about. I love the idea of getting people to appreciate their natural assets in Singapore — that makes perfect sense. I love that they’re taking it seriously to stop and smell the roses in that regard. What environmental issue is IDEO trying to champion? We are looking at a variety of things. IDEO.org has recently been launched. We are very interested in sanitation issues and anything that has to do with water consumption. Many of our consumer goods clients are looking at things like waterlessness — that’s a huge platform for many of them now so we’re really trying to understand what’s behind that. Also the carbon footprint on products we’re creating. I’ve just spent the whole summer helping a very large
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manufacturer create a regional strategy to reduce their carbon footprint by having a centralised system. We’re trying wherever we can to reduce the bad and increase the good. What are the ways in general that environmental issues can be made more interactive and engaging? How can you make it sexy and attractive enough to people that they want to pick it up and fix it? It’s about scale. You need to give people something they can hook onto. You can’t just tell people to fix global warming because it can seem overwhelming for them — they don’t know where to begin. You focus on what you can do in the local community, pick a piece off that and get them started. It’s like that CoolBiz example from Japan I’ve always loved — I can start by taking my tie off and I’m in the conversation. You have to bite it off at the right scale, make it inspiring, make it fun, and positive. I don’t think all these things have to be a downer, and when they are, it overwhelms people. What would you qualify as the chief differences between design and engineering? We talk a lot about “T-shaped” people, that is, people who have empathy for a variety of different things coupled with a craft that has depth. How we see design and engineering is that our designers think systemically and our engineers think creatively. At this level there is deep expertise brought to bear on both of these disciplines that is quite different, but for us we think of the two as very similar. To me, one of the signs of working successfully with someone is if I don’t actually know what they do. So I think design is definitely much more a sort of a visual act, and engineering is more around the tangible build aspects, but they share the same mindset at the end of the day. We view the two as quite complementary and quite similar in a lot of ways. So in terms of the principles of design thinking and the warm reception you’re getting from governments around the world, what do you think is the attraction? It’s putting several things back in and putting empathy to the forefront. I think it’s this notion of prototyping, and from our own work we see people are very excited about building evidence. You don’t just want to throw a promise out there and then have nothing to show for it. If in a few months’ time you can put something out there, even if it’s in a rough form, and say this is what we were talking about and ask people what they think, you’d get a warm reception. Ideally you’ve co-created that much with citizens along the way. We’re bringing a whole set of tools in — the empathy building stuff, the inspirational stuff, prototyping, feedback and iteration — all of those things working in the constructs of an electoral system was the toolkit I think was missing. Globally, what obstacles do public agencies face when trying to embrace Design Thinking? Measurement. It’s one of the things we’ve talked about here in Singapore — the notion of measuring every single thing every day — the KPI thing. I think KPIs, whilst necessary, are also like removing oxygen from a fire. If creativity is a fire, KPIs take the oxygen out of the room. You can’t just measure everything all the time — there needs to be room to experiment. There are various parts of the process you can measure: input - how good is the question; throughput - what’s the level of participation; output - what’s coming out; and outcome - what is it all in service of. There’s a variety of ways to measure.
The other thing is failure and the notion of the fear of failure. People feel they have to build this incredibly robust case where everything has to be 100 per cent, or if they don’t and it fails, the universe will explode. That’s people’s fear inside these places. The reality is that if you spend a year or two trying to create something, then you’ve lost your market advantage. Or if people haven’t seen evidence of what you’re saying is coming to fruition, then you’ve created a layer of frustration. Failure is a form of innovation, and I don’t say that lightly especially in the context of government because failure can have massive implications. But inertia has massive implications as well. I’d argue that you have to balance those two things out and look at how you can do small things in interesting ways and prototype them, rather than spend all your energy in one corner and it succeeds or fails on its own. At this point in its development, in what ways do you think Singapore is an innovator where design is concerned, and in what ways might there be room for improvement? Singapore is an extremely progressive society. ...And you’ve seen it from a very early age. Yes, I’ve been in and out of here all my life. It’s very successful in finance, technology, and consumer goods, in industries like shipping and with iconic home-grown brands like Singapore Airlines. Where I think there’s room for improvement is in building a vibrant, young entrepreneurial culture. I think Singapore could and should be a Silicon Valley, something that’s created a groundswell of young interesting businesses — I’d like to see more of those. I think Singapore also has an opportunity to make a creative industry with a much larger presence. In what ways do you think Singapore could more systematically approach social, environmental, and economic interests collectively in its planning for the future? Actually I was really inspired by the room we were just in. You had academia, students, agencies, entrepreneurs, government, a design company — you had the constituent parts to do something absolutely mind-blowing in that room. So to me it’s a case of pick battles big enough to matter and small enough to win. I think that’s it, pick something small that you can demonstrate evidence and get the conversation moving past the drawing board and moving out into the world. It’s about doing something, not just talking about doing something. Let’s just start. At any TED talk or other inspiring forums where you see these people changing the world, they’ve usually made the decision to just get on with it, stop talking about it because they’re frustrated with the system, and work outside the system. I think what you have here is sort of a nice combination of a system knowing that it needs to be worked outside of, and the outside of it knowing it needs some buyin from the system, and I saw in that room we were just in a sort of interesting overlap starting to form between those two worlds. I’d love to see something come out of that.
Singapore Environment Institute (SEI)’s inaugural Innovation for the Environment Series (IES) is a new knowledge platform that aims to catalyse critical thinking and provide insights into solutions for environmental sustainability.
Innovation
How the Design Thinking process works
1. Frame the CONCRETE IMPLEMENTATION
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challenge.
Ask the righ
t questions. Think about people. Make it broa d, but not too broa d.
2.
3. Look at the world
Measu . Iterate
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Observe. Hang out at extremes. Speak to experts.
Explore analogous industries.
13.
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Build to thin k what it co uld be. Expect to be wron g. Learn, fail, iterate.
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6. Synthesis
Make meaning of everything you’ve learned. Identify themes.
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5. Storpyetlleing IDEATION
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Prototype v3.0
Prototype what it should be. The final iteration.
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7. Prototype v1.0
Build to think what it might be. Iterate. Learn fast, fail fast and mitigate risk.
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ABSTRACT
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opportunities
OPPORTUNITIES Formed on 1 July 2002, the National Environment Agency (NEA) is the leading public organisation responsible for improving and sustaining a clean and green environment in Singapore. The NEA develops and spearheads environmental initiatives and programmes through its partnership with the People, Public and Private sectors. It is committed to motivating every individual to take up environmental ownership and to care for the environment as a way of life. By protecting Singapore’s resources from pollution, maintaining a high level of public health and providing timely meteorological information, the NEA endeavours to ensure sustainable development and a quality living environment for present and future generations. If you share our passion for the environment and making a difference, a career with NEA might just be it! For more career opportunities at NEA, visit us at www.nea.gov.sg/careers. Interested candidates are invited to apply online at www.nea.gov.sg/careers or the Singapore Public Service Job Portal at www.careers.gov.sg
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EXECUTIVE (CLEANING PERFORMANCE AND STANDARDS UNIT)
(Ref: EHE(CPSU)/EHD/260512/02) You will plan and develop systems, work processes and procedures, performance standards and productivity initiatives for the cleaning sector. Key duties vary depending on the specific area of work assigned, but may generally include: •
Study value chain of the industry and identify gaps for redesigning
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Organise consultation/dialogue/sharing with industry players/government
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Promote the participation of productivity initiatives
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Prepare reports, document findings and recommendations
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Develop and implement application systems and databases
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Respond to feedback and queries related to the initiatives
Requirements: •
Degree in any discipline; preferably in Process Engineering, Systems Engineering or any Engineering disciplines with at least 1 year of work experience
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Knowledge of statistical tool preferred
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Experience in managing application system(s) and/or databases preferred
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Effectively bi-lingual
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER (HYGIENE)
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER (CLEANING PERFORMANCE AND STANDARDS UNIT)
(Ref: EHO(CPSU)/EHD/260512/04) You will assist in the planning, development, and implementation of schemes for key industries in the cleaning sector. Key duties vary depending on the specific area of work assigned, but may generally include: •
Liaise with parties to conduct consultation/dialogue/sharing with industry players/government
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Develop and implement of application systems and databases for the schemes
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Carry out visits, audits and inspections to ensure compliance with schemes through education and advice
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Investigate feedback and complaints from the general public
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Take photos and conduct interviews as part of the audit/ investigation process
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Prepare reports, document findings and recommendations
Requirements: •
Diploma in any discipline
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Experience in managing application system(s) and/or databases
(Ref: EHO(H)/EHD/260512/03) You will assist in the implementation of environmental public health programmes in areas such as vector control, food hygiene, and investigations into infectious disease outbreaks to meet the environmental public health needs of Singapore. Key duties vary depending on the specific area of work assigned, but may generally include: •
Carry out routine or unplanned visits and inspections to ensure compliance with environmental public health legislation and ensure compliance through education, advice and enforcement
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Investigate complaints from the general public
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Investigate food poisoning outbreaks at licensed food premises
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Take photos, remove samples and conduct interviews as part of the inspection/investigation process
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Prepare reports, document findings and recommendations
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Take enforcement action, initiate legal proceedings, prepare and give evidence in court
Requirements: •
Diploma in Civil & Environmental /Environmental Engineering / Public Health Engineering /Biotechnology /Applied Food Science & Nutrition /Chemical Process Technology (Food Technology) / Process Engineering
opportunities
ENGINEER (ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND CONTROL)
(Ref: EHE/EHD/260512/01) You will be part of a team that carries out environmental planning and control to ensure that environmental factors are incorporated at land use planning, development control and building control stages in order to safeguard the environment. Your primary duties are: •
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Evaluate and comment on Pollution Control Study reports to ensure that environmental considerations have been factored into the proposed use of the land and preventive and mitigating environmental control measures recommended for incorporation into the design and construction of industrial plants and equipment to meet the environmental standards Evaluate and comment on Quantitative Risk Assessment reports for hazardous chemical plants to ensure that all potential chemical risks are identified and preventive and mitigation measures recommended for implementation to keep the chemical safety hazards and risks to acceptable safe levels
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Evaluate and approve applications for allocation of industrial premises, ensuring that the proposed industrial activities are properly sited in designated industrial estates and are compatible with surrounding land uses
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Review of environmental planning norms and requirements to keep up with developments in Singapore, leveraging on advancement in technology to adopt modern and state of the art environmental control measures
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Manage consultancy studies relating to environmental planning and control
Requirements: •
A Good Degree in Chemical Engineering
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Sound chemical and basic environmental knowledge
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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EXECUTIVE
(Ref: EHE/EHD/260512/01) You will implement and enforce key environmental public health programmes and policies in various areas such as pest (e.g. mosquitoes and rats) control, food hygiene and environmental cleanliness to upkeep Singapore’s image of a clean and hygienic city. You will also work closely with the people, private and public sectors to develop and execute community outreach programmes in areas such as dengue prevention, food hygiene and public cleanliness. Requirements: •
Degree, preferably with Honours in Science, Engineering or Arts and Social Sciences with elective module(s) in Economics or Geography touching on environmental related topics
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Resourcefulness and willingness to work outside office hours