wild places | wild happenings | wild news
make a difference for our wild places

home | links | search the site
  all articles latest | past | articles by topics | search wildnews
wild news on wildsingapore
  Today Online 8 Mar 06
 Firms in pact to cut packaging waste
Lee U-Wen

SEVEN companies from the food and beverage industry have pledged their support to help cut down on the amount of packaging waste being disposed of locally.

The effort is part of a new voluntary agreement put together by the National Environment Agency, which wants to further reduce the 7,000 tonnes per day of solid waste generated each year.

Packaging waste such as paper, metal, plastic and glass makes up 35 per cent of all household waste in Singapore, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim in Parliament yesterday.

The seven companies, which include Asia Pacific Breweries and Nestle will work with the Packaging Council of Singapore on this five-year agreement, which will be launched by the middle of next year.

Meanwhile, Dr Yaacob said that his Ministry was on track to achieve its target of recycling 60 per cent of the total waste generated here by 2012. By next year, centralised recycling bins will be set up at all housing board estates to further drive home the importance of recycling.

Dr Yaacob also called on Singaporeans to cut down on their water usage where possible. To help them out, the Public Utilities Board is starting a "10-litre challenge" to encourage each person to use at least 10 litres of water less per day. Said Dr Yaacob: "Just by reducing shower time by one minute, each person can save up to 9 litres of water a day."

MEWR NEWS RELEASE NO: 02/2006
DATE OF ISSUE: 07/03/2006
Statement by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Committee of Supply Debate 2006, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, 7 March 2006 - Part 1

Extracts

Minimising Waste

13 Waste management is another one of our key environmental challenges. We are on track to achieve our target, which is to recycle 60% of the total waste generated by 2012. Our recycling rate in 2005 was 49%, up from 40% in 2000. We are setting up centralised recycling bins in all HDB estates by 2007 to encourage more household recycling.

14 Beyond recycling, however, we can do more to reduce waste at source. Last month we launched the campaign to reduce excessive use of plastic bags and encourage the use of reusable shopping bags. The response from the public as well as from retailers including the major supermarket chains has been encouraging.

15 Another major type of waste is packaging waste, which makes up 35% of household waste in Singapore. My Ministry is working with manufacturers and distributors to develop a voluntary agreement to reduce the amount of packaging used and enhance the recovery of packaging materials. To date, several major food and beverage companies and the Packaging Council of Singapore have indicated their interest to participate in this proposed agreement.
links
Related articles on Singapore: reduce, reuse, recycle
about the site | email ria
  News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes.
 

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com