Are We A Little Green Dot?
Singapore has been trying to play the Green card for a while, but exactly how sucessful are we? While the government has quoted that that our per capita consumption of water is low, we have to also look at what our country uses water for. We have to remember that we have no agricultural sector at all, and that agriculture is one of the biggest users of water. Since Singapore imports most of our food products, we are just moving the usage of water elsewhere. I do wonder where we stand, if this is taken into account.
Then, there is our prodigious ability to generate waste. While the government has started building HDB flats with recycling chutes, we are very far behind many developed countries. Meanwhile, our landfills are being used up so quickly that we have to look for further landfills in land-scarce Singapore. Perhaps we do not quite care, since the landfills could yield more land for reclamation...
Still, there is a technology that I have never understood why we never invested in. In many parts of Europe and in Japan, there are power plants that are fueled by solid waste. This would mean that we would be less reliant on fossil fuels (be they fuel oil or natural gas), and would get rid of our solid waste (causing less pressure on landfills). While the earlier plants were quite dirty, the modern plants actually burn rather cleanly, operating scrubbers to clean out any toxic gases that may be produced.
Right, so much for the government, and major corporates. What about the common man on the street? Do we really think that the average Singaporean is less likely to litter than anyone else? I doubt that sincerely. Credit for the immaculate state of our streets and common areas should go to the thousands of cleaners and sweepers, cleaning up after us. Just look at the state of things after a major public event, and I think you will understand. The Koreans and Japanese are far more disciplined in way of littering. No wonder we had the latest campaign on clearing our plates at hawker centres!
So, if you want to trumpet Singapore as a Little Green Dot, I think we have to work much harder first!
Then, there is our prodigious ability to generate waste. While the government has started building HDB flats with recycling chutes, we are very far behind many developed countries. Meanwhile, our landfills are being used up so quickly that we have to look for further landfills in land-scarce Singapore. Perhaps we do not quite care, since the landfills could yield more land for reclamation...
Still, there is a technology that I have never understood why we never invested in. In many parts of Europe and in Japan, there are power plants that are fueled by solid waste. This would mean that we would be less reliant on fossil fuels (be they fuel oil or natural gas), and would get rid of our solid waste (causing less pressure on landfills). While the earlier plants were quite dirty, the modern plants actually burn rather cleanly, operating scrubbers to clean out any toxic gases that may be produced.
Right, so much for the government, and major corporates. What about the common man on the street? Do we really think that the average Singaporean is less likely to litter than anyone else? I doubt that sincerely. Credit for the immaculate state of our streets and common areas should go to the thousands of cleaners and sweepers, cleaning up after us. Just look at the state of things after a major public event, and I think you will understand. The Koreans and Japanese are far more disciplined in way of littering. No wonder we had the latest campaign on clearing our plates at hawker centres!
So, if you want to trumpet Singapore as a Little Green Dot, I think we have to work much harder first!