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Before my first job in the office, I never really thought about the issue of recycling until I realized I had to stand at the shredder for a long time to get rid of waste paper. Sometimes, I would be guilty for choosing the wrong option and end up wasting half a stack of paper just to print one document. I believe many of us have committed similar mistakes while printing and photocopying notes. In addition, it takes an average of 4,444 trees to print approximately 400,000 copies of Straits Times in circulation today!(1) Undoubtedly, we have created a lot of wastage unintentionally, but we should bear in mind that it is important to make up for that by sending the used paper for recycling. It does not only apply to paper, even materials like plastic, metal cans and glass can be reused and recycled.
To begin with, we need to know to what extent young people are aware of the importance of reuse, reduce and recycle (3 Rs); how they sort recyclable materials from other waste during disposal; and if people practice the 3 Rs outside school and at home. The potential people for this survey are NUS students staying in HDB flats. What are the reasons that people do not always practice 3Rs although they know they should be environmental friendly?
Research Questions
How often do NUS students make an effort to sort recyclable materials from other waste when disposal? Why are there people who refuse to be environmental friendly?
Hypothesis
Placing more collection bins around every HDB block can raise awareness of the 3 Rs and make it more convenient for people to practice them.
Problem Statement
The objectives of this study are to determine the number of people who practice 3 Rs on their own, and if there is a need to have more collection bins at every block or recycling chutes along common corridors at every level of HDB flats.
Purpose Statement
The objective of this report is to inform the National Environment Agency, and the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, about the extent of awareness of 3 Rs among people; as well as the effectiveness of having more collection bins or recycling chutes along common corridors at every level of HDB flats to increase awareness about the 3 Rs.
Reasons for having this survey in the research project
Reasons for having this survey in the research project
It is important to raise awareness of conserving the environment. Everyone can play a part to save trees and improve air quality by practising 3 Rs. The survey can also help to find out other creative ways to raise awareness among people .
(1)Source: http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~career/PRC/PRC.html
(1)Source: http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~career/PRC/PRC.html
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8 comments:
Hi Eileen,
Our research topics are very similar, both of us are focusing on 3Rs.
I like the solution you provided to the problem. I think it is quite true that collection bins are a major obstacle to the potential "environmental friendly" people. I always have the problems of locating the collection bins when I want to discard the recyclable products, and as a result I discard them into ordinary dustbins.
We can discuss more about the topics during the meeting.
Thanks for introducing this invaluable topic (which, as Sammy says, he has also introduced!).
You have very clearly provided a context for your potential research topic, and your framework is exemplary.
Excellent effort, Eileen!
Dear Eileen,
I agree with you that perhaps by putting more collection bins in Singapore would help to sort the recyclables from the normal rubbish.
I often had difficulty finding a rubbish bin when I need them, not say a collection bin. I think the number of rubbish bins in Singapore is too little. I once heard someone saying that the reason behind this is because we want to beautify the environment and should hide the "ugly" bins. This is so ironic! I think by doing so, the rubbish will be on the floor and this certainly helps to "beautify" the environment!
back to the topic. I think I have drifted off to rubbish bins instead of collection bins. there are collection bins near my house. However, I wonder does anyone ever make use of them? I don't see people walking towards them with bags of garbage. Maybe that's why this research is very relevant to show if the collection bins are useful or simply wasting resources.
To add on, actually, yellow recyclable bags are often placed at my doorstep. These bags are provided free of charge by some organization which i forget [you see, they don't create much of an impression- this may be one of the areas you can work on]. the residents can put their rubbish into these bags and place the bags outside the house. there will be people collecting them. What they do with those yello bags, I do not know. I guess they sort out the recyclables?
I think the ultimate purpose behind all the "green" activities should be to create a habit in people to constantly be concerned for the environment and not really educate. This is because,from all the environment-related information found on TV, radios, posters and textbooks, I believe, we, singaporeans can open a school of conservation of the environment. The problem is not that we are not aware, is we don't practice.
Dear Eileen,
While I was on exchange in the Netherlands, all our garbage have to be separated into organic waste and recyclables. I think this is the most feasible form of recycling we can expect from everyone. In fact in Asia, we do recycle quite a bit. Think about the last time you saw the garbage collector scavenging and ripping through the nicely wrapped garbage to scrounge for tin cans, cardboard, plastic bottles, newspaper, etc. In my opinion, these experts do the sorting jobs best (let us not take their bread away) and if we were to separate our organic waste from the recyclables, at least the garbage would not be spewing out of the ripped bags.
Hence, just a thought from someone who has not lived in HDBs - Are you required to separate your garbage?
Hey Eileen!
I was thinking that it's quite rare to see recycling bins at the HDB blocks in Singapore. Unlike what Yuming said about the people in Netherlands, Singaporeans are not required to separate their garbage. And when we do so, it's only out of our own will and initiative. Everyone just dumps their rubbish down the rubbish chute. However, we have the The National Recycling Programme which encourages Singaporeans to recycle.
Under this programme, residents are given recycling bags where they can put in their old recyclable materials. The recycling companies will collect them from their doorsteps fortnightly.
This is one of the few little ways that the Singapore has initiated to promote waste minimisation and recycling.
Dear all,
Thanks for all your comments!
First of all, I would like to say that I almost forgot such things like yellow recyclable bags placed outside every door still exist! In fact, now that Pei Rong has mentioned it, I remember I USED TO have green recyclable bags around my area too. This clearly shows how often do we practice recycling. If you realize I bolded the words "use to", yes, I have not seen the green bags anymore nowadays.
But what I have over at my flat area now is one collection point within a few blocks. Every now and then, when I have the time and effort, I would especially go to these collection bins to recycle my waste paper. One interesting thing I noticed from it is that every time I recycle something, the collection bins are always full! I really wonder sometimes if there are so many people who practice recycling or it is just that the materials have not been cleared for ages(I seriously doubt it is the former).
As for Yu Ming's question, I can confidently say that having stayed in HDB for all of my life, it is sad to say that we do not sort our garbage from those that can be recycled, like what Xin Yi said, we just dump all the rubbish down the rubbish chute. Because even if we do sort them out, we have to make a trip to that collection point to dump the recyclable materials since there isn't recyclable bags placed at doorsteps now. That is why nobody would even care to practice 3Rs.
Hi Eileen,
Wow this is indeed an invaluable topic to research on! It seems that there is a major problem of not recycling papers and materials existing amongst us. Well, for a start, I so believe that what perirong had mentioned that is we are aware of the recycling issue but we are just simply nonchalant about it. Hence, I feel that perhaps we could go about finding out what the potential recepients feel about practicing the 3Rs, be it at home or in school.
Undeniably, NUS does have certain student organisations that help to push for environmental-friendliness so as to increase the 'green' factor of our school. Well, this could be a start to 'force' the students to practice 3Rs. Take for example, there are paper recycling bins placed around in school so that students can place their waste papers inside. Thereafter, probably after a month or so, this boxes will be passed to external organisation like Sembcorp Environmental Management. Hence, we could probably inculcate the idea of recycling in school first, thereafter, after the students are used to the idea of recycling, we could have input more solutions pertaining to the recycling issue at home. Hence, this could possibly be an area of interest to kick start our research!
I look forward to our meeting so that we can discuss on these topics. Good job! =)
This is one of the few little ways that the Singapore has initiated to promote waste minimisation and recycling. Rubbish Bins
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