Wednesday 23 May 2012

What a waste?

Now that we've moved into our home for the next two years, I am happy to report that it has recycling facilities. We can recycle paper, glass, plastic and cans. But what happens to the rest of the rubbish?

Recycling bins in my condo - shared by everyone
According to zerowastesg.com, 1,330 kg of tonnes were generated by each person last year. 59% of this was recycled, 38% incinerated and 3% went to landfill. How does that compare to the UK? (The latest figures I could find were for 2008.) There, 4,670 kg of waste are generated per person. Yay, Singapore! Even more yay to Singapore, as only 45% of waste is recycled in the UK. These are figures for the total waste generated and so include waste generated by the construction industry - which is a large percentage.

Looking at my own waste, I'm not recycling as much as I did in the UK. There, the local authority collected paper, glass, cans (as here), cardboard, food waste, clothes, shoes, batteries and garden waste. Metals, plastics, wood and rubble could be taken to a local waste site for recycling. Just before we left, they'd also started collecting plastics from homes and tetra-paks. The downside to all this convenient home recycling was that we had to find space for a black box, a blue box, a small brown bin and a black bin. You could also buy a green bin for your garden waste.

All the recycling and waste containers we had in the UK - per house!
Zero Waste Singapore is full of useful information on reducing, reusing and recycling your waste. I'll be using it to find out what to do about all the things we brought across with us, but don't actually use anymore. Keep your eyes out for updates.

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Just had to post this photo

I started commuting to work by bike today. I felt so good this morning after my cycle. My route takes me along the Gardens by Bay East, across the Marina Barrage and through all the construction to the CBD.


When researching whether you could cycle across the Barrage, I found a forum posting saying that cycling was not allowed. A colleague reassured me it was fine and this photo is evidence that it's definitely allowed, but slowly!

More about cycling coming soon!

Thursday 3 May 2012

Another nightmare week...

After being ill for a week a couple of weeks ago, now my other half is ill, and we've moved apartment. The result has been no time to blog and even no internet access at times. As before, normal service will resume shortly.