GOING GREEN IN THE HEARTLAND
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Nov 19, 2010 - ST Forum
Still stuck with an 'F'
AFTER living in Singapore for almost 20 years and admiring its progress on many fronts, one area my family and I are sad to see little development in is the failure of people to take ownership of the national recycling initiatives.
For example, the fortnightly door-to-door collection of recyclable items often draws a response from only a small proportion of apartments in our HDB estate.
So much paper from our mail boxes still finds its way to the ground below the boxes rather than in the recycling bin. And we cringe to see so few people taking their own bags on their intentional shopping trips to the FairPrice supermarket in our estate.
The incentive of a 10-cent rebate (for a minimum purchase of $10) for customers using their own bags fails to bite. It is time for the Government to take a more active role in encouraging the use of recyclable bags by putting more pressure on the supermarket chains to charge customers for the use of plastic bags.
Allan Harkness
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Other problems are cost...
"When recycling is neither convenient nor cheap, it will be difficult to convince the public to support the national green movement.'
MR LIM BEO LOON: 'I live in a shophouse along Lavender Street and there is no recycling bin along the entire street. In the past few months, I've had to collect the plastic bottles from my neighbours and take them to City Square Mall. I contacted SembWaste, which handles waste disposal in my area, and was quoted these monthly charges: $80 for collection once a month, $150 for two collections a month and $200 for a weekly collection. When recycling is neither convenient nor cheap, it will be difficult to convince the public to support the national green movement.'
...and inconvenience
'There has to be greater convenience for people to purchase green cars and recharge their vehicles.'
MR VICTOR LOOI: 'Cash incentives are insufficient in promoting the use of energy-efficient cars in Singapore ('Give cash incentives to boost green car sales'; Nov 3). There has to be greater accessibility and convenience for people to first, purchase green cars, and second, recharge their vehicles. There is also this persistent mindset among Singaporeans that they are willing to switch to green cars if everyone else is doing it. So produce a few types of green cars - some with stylish looks to appeal to businessmen and others which emphasise comfort to appeal to small families.'
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green is not promoted here.
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I'm a green guy, and I love the earth, but really, the govt should look into ways to improve the rewards of recycling.
recycling doesn't make sense when it costs more to recycle.
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the govt is more interested in the tax part of the equation.
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Save the earth, goes green.
Spore as a green city, should lead and be an example to our neighours and the worlds.
It take time to really make everybody love greens. Not an overnite issue.
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the govt must make it affordable to going green
reduce or remove the tax on using hybrid cars....
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Govt should also give tax rebates when pple able to hit the targets too.
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Give incentives to industries that adopt & implement green technology
and, instead of a carbon tax, have a Green Index
this index will reward countries with low pollution standards with cash or other incentives
countries that pollute a lot have to pay more
this is so much better than buying to pollute more
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About carbon tax, when govt implement? Next year Jan 2011?
If really implement, I think most of the pple will hack care of 'go green'...already fed up paying more taxes.
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Implement carbon tax? Dunno when
anyway, i also heck care...........already pay 4 so much things ler...............
what 4 pay for this carbon tax thing? somemore the money from this tax will not directly benefit us in any forseeable way
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Originally posted by Mr Milo:
Implement carbon tax? Dunno when
anyway, i also heck care...........already pay 4 so much things ler...............
what 4 pay for this carbon tax thing? somemore the money from this tax will not directly benefit us in any forseeable way
Benefit only their pocket money, their salary increnment, their yr end bonuses, their cost of living, their daily expeneses. All well taken care of if carbon tax is implemented. -
Really, SG is starting to become more & more like Animal Farm
the Pigs get 90% of the benefits while the rest suffer or get a pittance
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haiz, more tax only.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
haiz, more tax only.
This is only 1 small part of tax.More coming soon.....either new tax or increase tax.
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Originally posted by likeyou:
This is only 1 small part of tax.More coming soon.....either new tax or increase tax.
That's is what green is all about. Not about the environment but to give excuses for higher and more variants of taxes; can also work into deficits. So forget about commercial green, it will never work for the environment.
The green funds is a rich man game. Wanna buy some?
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Allah Harkness, you suck
if you want to be green, go kill yourself as you are polluting the enviroment every second you are alive
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Nov 27, 2010 - ST Forum
60% of Singaporeans recycle now
WE THANK Mr Allan Harkness ('Going green in the heartland: Still stuck with an 'F'') and Mr Lim Beo Loon ('Other problems are cost...') for their letters on Nov 19.
Based on feedback from public waste collectors, the average household participation rate in our national recycling programme has increased from 14 per cent in 2001 to 63 per cent last year. Our surveys also indicate that more than 60 per cent of Singaporeans recycle now.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) organises community events, such as Recycling Week, Clean & Green Singapore, and NEA Community Day, to educate the public on waste minimisation and recycling.
The public can help by segregating waste into recyclable and non-recyclable, using reusable shopping bags and rechargeable batteries, while industries should work towards using less packaging materials.
As the value of recyclables depends on the market, all forms of recycling entails a cost that must be borne by the Government, consumer or waste collector.
NEA will consider requiring public waste collectors to provide more recycling bins and look into the frequency of collection when their contracts are up for renewal, if the benefits outweigh the costs.
Ong Seng Eng
Director
Resource Conservation Department
National Environment Agency