Alternatives to plastic

After collecting my trash for 2 weeks and identifying the types of waste I produce, I found out that one of the top 3 types of waste I produce is plastic. As such, I will share some alternatives that I would like to implement in my life to reduce producing this kind of trash.

Firstly, an alternative I found for the use of plastic bags would be reusable shopping bags or canvas bags (Sustainable baby steps, n.d.). Plastic bags are something that is very common in our daily lives as they bring many conveniences from their many uses. However, plastic bags contain many harmful chemicals and collectively, we discard over 1 trillion plastic bags every year. These plastic bags that are thrown away are mostly non-biodegradable or they take a very long time of up to 1000 years to decompose and during this period after the plastic bags are discarded, the harmful chemicals present in the plastic bags would be released into the ground and soil which would affect the environment and the living things in it (Wellness Mama, 2016). Hence, I will make an effort to keep a portable reusable shopping bag I have from my home with me. This way, I would be able to use them to carry the things I buy home instead of using a plastic bag and since the bag is reusable, it would reduce the plastic bag waste I produce.

Secondly, plastic bags are also commonly used as trash bags for homes. However, as said above, plastic bags are very harmful for the environment. Hence, an alternative to these plastic bags would be the biodegradable kitchen trash bag. The biodegradable kitchen trashbags are compostable which means that when dissolved, they would benefit the soil which would help plants to grow better and it is a better alternative to plastic bags as they do not stay on earth for a long time (Organics, n.d.). Places such as Amazon sells these bio-degradable trash bags and hence, I would like to adopt the habit of using these biodegradable trash bag instead to reduce the amount of plastic waste I produce as the biodegradable trash bags will not remain on the earth as long as plastic and are hence better as they will not contribute to the waste present (Amazon, n.d.).

Lastly, another type of plastic waste that I produce is plastic bottles and cups. I tend to buy a lot of drinks that come in plastic bottles and cups from stores even though it is not reflected as much in my 2 weeks of trash collection. Plastic bottles are harmful to the environment as they use up a lot of petroleum which is a fossil fuel thus using up a finite resource rapidly. Bottled drinks are also transported from one place to another which requires fuel and thus, they create a lot of pollution during transportation. The plastic bottles are also non-biodegradable and hence, when thrown away, they remain on the earth for a long time and release harmful chemicals into the soil (Lee, 2014). Thus, I would switch to the alternative of using a tumbler bottle as it is able to store both hot and cold drinks making it very useful and it is also reusable. I would also start to recycle the plastic bottles I do buy to reduce the amount of plastic waste I produce by keeping a box where I will place my plastic bottles in every week before bringing it to a recycling bin (Ellsbury, 2012).

 

(Left: Reusable bag that I found at home that I plan to use; Right: Tumbler bottle that I can use instead of plastic bottles)

References

Amazon. (n.d.). Biodegradable bags. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/biodegradable-

bags/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abiodegradable%20bags

Ellsbury, H. (2012). 5 ways you can help reduce plastic bottle waste. Retrieved from

https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/5-ways-you-can-help-reduce-plastic-bottle-waste/

Lee, K. (2014). The Negative Effects of Using Plastic Drinking Bottles. Retrieved from

http://www.livestrong.com/article/183101-the-negative-effects-of-using-plastic-drinking-bottles/

Organics. (n.d.). 7 Biodegradable Earth-friendly Products that you didn’t know existed.

Retrieved from http://organics.org/7-biodegradable-earth-friendly-products-that-you-didnt-know-existed/

Sustainable baby steps. (n.d.). 35+ Alternatives to plastic items in your home. Retrieved from

http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/alternatives-to-plastic.html

Wellness Mama. (2016). Natural and Eco-friendly alternatives to plastic bags. Retrieved from

https://wellnessmama.com/105581/alternatives-plastic-bags/ 

Reflection on field trip to Tuas Incineration Plant

     1) What are your 2 key takeaways from the trip?

One of my key takeaways is that it is very important to reduce, reuse and recycle to reduce the amount of waste we produce. This is because it is expensive to build waste incineration plants which costs up to $1 billion to help reduce the total waste present. My next key takeaway is that it is difficult to have proper waste management as there are a lot of problems that result from the incineration process such as the need to filter what can be burned and the ways to reduce pollution caused by the incineration process. 

2) Where were some thought/emotions you had during talk and the sight/smell tour?

During the talk, I found it quite shocking that in such a small country like Singapore, we produce a lot of waste every day. During the tour, I found the waste to give off a pungent smell and found out that a lot of work was needed for waste management.

3) Singapore has the largest Waste Incineration Plant in the world. Is this something that we have to be proud of? If yes, provide reasons. If no, provide reasons. You can have a yes and no answer but you have to support it with reasons.

Yes. I think that having the largest waste incineration plant is something to be proud of as the waste incineration plant helps to reduce the total amount of waste that goes to landfills. This also helps to reduces pollution caused by the waste when moved to landfills. The incineration plant is also very efficient as it operates 365 days a year and burns up to 1,700 tonnes of refuse which shows that Singapore is concerned about proper waste management. However, having the largest waste incineration plant is also not something we should be proud of as it shows that a small country like Singapore produces a huge amount of waste in a day that has detrimental effects on the environment. The incineration plants are also very expensive and hence a lot of resources are used on waste management instead of other areas such as education which might affect economic growth.

Waste Evaluation

Waste collected after 2 weeks (Photo was taken on 9 November 2016 at 9am)

Waste generated on average a day

Waste collection started on 26 October 2016 and ended on 8 November 2016

After collecting my trash for 2 weeks to monitor the amount of trash I produce, I realized that most of the trash that I have produced and collected was plastic-based. I have also realized that a simple act of buying breakfast for the next day would produce a lot of waste as there was food packaging for my breakfast which was placed in a plastic bag. After evaluating my waste, I realized that the top 3 items that I produce are plastic bags, food wrappers and tissue papers.

Plastic bags are very harmful to the environment as they are non-biodegradable and take a very long period of time to breakdown. This means that when discarded, plastic bags will stay in the area where they are thrown for a long time. As such, plastic bags have a high chance to be blown away by wind to environmental ecosystems such as oceans and forests where plastic bags might be mistaken as food by animals and cause the animals to die from the toxicity of plastic bags. When burned, plastic bags also emit toxic gases that are harmful to human health (Greener ideal, 2012; Wagner, n.d.).

Tissue papers are something that almost everyone uses in everyday life as it brings many conveniences to the user for simple things like drying their hands or blowing their noses. However, just like plastic bags, tissue papers have severe environmental impacts on the environment. Tissue papers are biodegradable and hence have little environmental impact when thrown away (Sanitary Care Products Asia Inc, 2013). However, it is during the manufacturing of tissue papers where tissue paper harms the environment. During the production of tissue paper, trees are chopped down to make tissue paper as it is a raw material for manufacturing tissue paper. However, this process of logging can lead to deforestation which causes problems such as global warming. Tissue paper also require a large amount of resources such as water and electricity to produce. As such, a lot of pollution is emitted when fossil fuels are burned to produce electricity (Poppenheimer, 2013).

Lastly, food packaging is another harmful waste that I tend to produce. Food packaging can be made of various materials such as the commonly used plastic, paper or even polystyrene and hence are difficult to handle as plastic and polystyrene are not biodegradable and hence poses a threat to marine life if they get washed into oceans and waterways. As food packaging such as plastic and polystyrene are non-biodegradable, they will take up spaces in landfills and will pose a problem to land-scarce countries such as Singapore as an alternative solution will be needed to handle waste (Grossman 2014).

References

Greener ideal. (2012). How do Plastic Bags Affect Our Environment. Retrieved from 

https://greenerideal.com/lifestyle/0613-how-do-plastic-bags-affect-our-environment/

Grossman, E. (2014, October). When it comes to food packaging, what we don’t know

could hurt us. ensia. Retrieved from http://ensia.com/features/when-it-comes-to-food-packaging-what-we-dont-know-could-hurt-us/

Poppenheimer, L. (2013). Paper Facial Tissue – History and Environmental Impact.

Green Groundswell. Retrieved from http://greengroundswell.com/paper-facial-tissue-history-and-environmental-impact/2013/12/05/

Sanitary Care Products Asia Inc. (2012). Is tissue paper biodegradable?. Retrieved

from http://www.scpa.com.ph/is-tissue-paper-biodegradable/

Wagner, J. (n.d.). The Effects of Plastic Bags on Environment. HealthGuidance.

Retrieved from http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/14901/1/The-Effects-of-Plastic-Bags-on-Environment.html