Engaging the Neighborhood
For sustainability, it’s essential to change people’s mindsets and influence their behavior, but this takes time. As part of this effort, NEA has been partnering with local residents and grassroots organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and schools in order to educate the community about the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling waste. The annual Recycled paper Day, for example, aims to raise awareness of the importance of recycling waste by involving classrooms, community organizations, and recycling companies.
Every household must be provided with a recycling bag or bin under the NRP, and public waste collectors must collect recyclables door-to-door and on scheduled days every two weeks.
In addition to the door-to-door collection, HDB1 housing estates have installed 1,600 sets of centralized recycling depositories in the common areas. This covers approximately 85% of the country’s population centers. Most residents will be able to drop off their recyclable materials at any time of day or night because these centralized recycling depositories are located within 150 meters of most apartment buildings.
In addition to this network, there are 2,200 recycling bins located in high-traffic areas. Outside of train stations, you’ll find these types of places: food courts, food centers, bus stations, the airport, and malls for pedestrians.
Participation In Educational Institutions
There must be a strong emphasis on environmental education from an early age. Recycling Corner Program (RCP) for schools was launched by the National Environment Agency (NEA) in September 2002 as a means of instilling a habit of the 3Rs in educators. Students can dispose of their recyclables at designated Recycling Corners on school property. Most schools have recycling programs as of 2007.
Recycling Nooks under the RCP and are responsible for putting up educational material. Interest and a greater sense of ownership can be fostered through these activities. Every so often, environmental-themed activities are held to keep interest high, including competitions on topics such as reducing waste and recycling as well as environmental camps and excursions as well as workshops and speech writing contests.
Environment Champions to instill a sense of enviro ownership of a recycling programme. These environmental top teams are responsible for a wide range of school-based environmental initiatives, including assisting in the organizing, organizing, and implementing of recycling as well as other environmental practices at the school.
Efforts To Reduce Waste
While end-of-pipe solutions such as incineration and recycling exist, a third approach known as waste minimization or reduction aims to cut waste even before it is produced. As a result, we can get closer to our goal of a waste-free society and thus close the waste loop.
The Voluntary Packaged food Agreement is one of the projects that fall under this strategy. The Agreement’s goal is to cut down on packaging waste generated by the industry. Over one-third of Singapore’s garbage is packaging, so this programme has the potential to significantly reduce trash generation in that city state. A product stewardship approach is used in the Agreement instead of a legislative one, which imposes significant costs on industry. This non-prescriptive and cost-effective approach greatly engages industry participants to assume enhanced business responsibility for packaging waste.
These agreements aim to secure the pledge of key players within the packaging supply chain, such as brands and manufacturers but also to give the industry an opportunity to discuss and function properly together on feasible and cost-effective packaging waste reduction strategies.
Bring Their Own Bag Day was launched throughout April 2007 as a way to encourage people to bring their own shopping bags. Every month on the first Wednesday, a day called “Bring Your Own Bag Day” is observed. In order to reduce the amount of plastic checkout pouches that are thrown away without being reused, such as to line trash bins or other containers, retailers encourage customers to bring their own bags to the store.