In the article, “Duo turn plastic waste into concrete idea”, Goy (2016) claims that company BlueRen found an eco-friendly way to incorporate plastic waste into cement by converting them into carbon nanotubes as an additive. Unlike conventional methods, this technology uses an eco-friendlier catalyst to harness stronger material attributes. This results in a reduction of cement consumption thus promoting recycling of plastic. According to the web release, "Waste statistics and overall recycling," (2016) 822,670 tonnes of waste in Singapore is generated from plastic. The staggering amount of plastic waste should raise a concern in its wastage thus individuals, industries, and the government should work cohesively to achieve a greater success by seeking advanced technologies such as BlueRen.
Individuals play an important role to tackle the amount of plastic wastage being generated. Individuals should explore the idea of plastic collection by contributing material source back to the recycling industries such as companies like BlueRen. According to the article, "A Whooping 91% of plastic Isn't Recycled," Parker (2017) 79 percent of plastic waste is accumulated in landfills or found as litter. This means that a huge percent of plastic wastage are contributed by individuals. Moreover with a growing population, this will create a problem as it increases the chances of misuse of garbage of disposal. Hence, individuals should be educated on the importance of plastic recycling and possessive of a conscious mind when disposing of their waste into recycling bins.
With the help of the government, new ideas and technologies are considered in Singapore to test and see if they are beneficial. As outlined in the article by “Govt urged to take concrete action over plastic waste,” Toh (2016, June 03) mentioned that the government can set an achievable goal for its people with regards to the improvement on plastic wastage reduction. These goals will direct companies into adopting better regulations and switching to greener alternatives. Quoted by Toh (2016), another approach by the government is to work with clients by implementing a “structured scheme”, by rewarding consumers to bring their own reusables. These implementations can raise awareness to individuals by cutting down on the number of disposables which will help to conserve resources. However, according to the news article "People recycling less despite government measures to encourage it,"(2016, April 30) despite the numerous measures to encourage individuals to go green, there is still a declining trend of recycling. As a result, the government is considering a stricter and more comprehensive system to promote the idea of plastic recycling to the public. The government should look towards coming up with more innovative ideas to encourage the public in the participation in plastic recycling.
The industry should come up with sustainable engineering solutions for the government's consideration to assign engineers to carry out their task that are effective and comprehensive to promote recycling strategies for consumers. With the latest technology by BlueRen, the challenges of plastic waste management can be resolved through the conversion of plastic waste into carbon nanotubes. BlueRen’s technology is more desirable as the process is cheaper because the use of its raw materials stands out as compared to other methods of conversion. With this effective approach to produce large quantities of carbon nanotubes at low cost, this will contribute to decreasing significant market price to foster the large industrial production of goods such as structural composite materials, thereby reducing the need for its import and making Singapore more self-reliant. As a result, BlueRen has offered a long-term solution to aid in Singapore’s effort towards recycling plastic waste.
In general, the wastage of plastic has been the focal point worldwide. There is a promising future by Blueren in producing high-value carbon nanotubes from plastic. This significantly increases the economic feasibility of the process. Hence, a community’s commitment to a greener environment is often considered to reflect its commitment towards plastic recycling.
References:
A Whopping 91% of Plastic Isn't Recycled. (2017, July 19). Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/plastic-produced-recycling-waste-ocean-trash-debris-environment/
People recycling less despite government measures to encourage it. (2016, May 06). Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/people-recycling-less-despite-government-measures-to-encourage-it
Toh, E. M. (2016, June 03). Govt urged to take concrete action over plastic waste. Retrieved from http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/govt-urged-take-concrete-action-over-plastic-waste
Waste Statistics and Overall Recycling . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nea.gov.sg/energy-waste/waste-management/waste-statistics-and-overall-recycling
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