PAPER 2 - GLOBAL RESOURCE CONSUMPTION (UNIT 3) - GLOBAL CHANGE
Sustainable development / Environmental sustainability
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
Consumption
The level of use a society makes of the resources available to it
Ecological footprint
A figure, expressed in GLOBAL hectares (land area), that calculates the amount of land needed to provide a person or society with the resources needed to live, and to absorb waste
Water security
The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable water quality for sustaining wellbeing, livelihoods and development
Water footprint
The amount of fresh water utilized in the production or supply of the goods and services used by a particular person or group
Food security
When all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life
Energy security
When all people, at all times, enjoy the uninterrupted availability of the energy they require to meet their needs, and at an affordable price
Relative poverty
When a person's income is too low to maintain the average standard of living in a particular society
Biocapacity
The productive area that can regenerate what people demand from nature
Carrying capacity
The maximum number of people an area of land can support
Optimum population
The number of people which, when working with all the
Industrialisation increases, with more workers switching from farming to manufacturing
May facilitate large scale rural-to-urban migration
Growth concentrated in a few industries and regions and in one or two industries
Airports, roads, highways, political and social infrastructure built
New political and social institutions evolve to support industrialisation
Diverse growth + technical innovation
Self sustaining - economic development spreads to all parts
Complex transport system
Increase in the number and types of industries
Rapid urbanisation
Manufacturing expands as early industries decline
Expansion of the tertiary industry
More durable consumer goods produced
Too simple - Growth may not necessarily be homogenous continuum
Assumes all countries follow the same route of development - reductionist
The western capitalist model may not be the only path to economic progress
Rostow developed the model in 1960 based on 15 (mostly) European countries
Does not look at variation within a country
Traditional society is not a prerequisite qualification for development
Countries like the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were not “traditional�� when their economies were born
Precondition phase is not necessary before the take-off
Stages tend to overlap
Countries like New Zealand and Denmark experienced take-off as a result of agricultural development. In these cases, the different stages postulated by Rostow are not distinct
Or chronological order is not maintained, some countries such as Australia attained high mass consumption before maturity
Ecological footprint Definition: a figure, expressed in GLOBAL
Water footprint
Definition: the amount of fresh water utilized in the production or supply of goods and services
Used by a particular person or group
What determines how much water we use?
Poorer countries used more water for agriculture
Agriculture's share of total water withdrawals tends to decrease at higher incomes
At lower incomes, forms a higher share of total GDP
A change in the diet from staple carbohydrates towards meat and fish products, dairy products, and more processed products
Stage 1 - Hunter-gatherers
Stage 2 - agricultural intensive labour
Stage 3 - industrialization of agricultural processes - more supply
Stage 4 - 'western' style diets with processed food, sugar, fat, meat, and dairy
Stage 5 - awareness of healthier lifestyle and food choices (eg. pescatarian, reducetarian, vegetarian, vegan)
From 1960 to 1991, there has been an increase in global land use for agriculture
Past that, the numbers gradually start to decline
Urbanization
Easier to travel to buy food - sphere of influence of food stores increases + specialized food / greater variety
More shops can open
Easier to buy food → convenience
Increased trade between countries
Increased income → can buy more food
Lifestyle changes → people become more sedentary
Rise of supermarkets
Page 17:
Mexican children are overweight because violent streets mean that it is unsafe to exercise outside; they are driven everywhere
Schemes to solve obesity in Mexico have not been particularly successful
Once Mexican children have been in a weight loss programme for a while, they are later put back into an environment where unhealthy eating is promoted
Coke had a distribution programme in Mexico, that was responsible for many children gaining significant weight
This was because soda was more readily available than water, which was polluted due to natural disasters
Soda has been widely advertised, leading to increased consumption
Local TV channels refused to screen a TV advert about soda tax
This campaign was supported by radio channels → the government finally implemented the tax, but it has been criticised for not being high enough because it has not significantly reduced obesity
Processed food responsible for obesity around the world → high in calories
Many health ministries in middle-income countries are looking to reduce reliance on processed food
There is a social cost to high levels of ill health- many lost economic benefits
Especially for countries with socialised healthcare
Countries like Brazil and China are giving subsidies to farmers to cultivate healthy food for schools
With high levels of urbanisation in the world, there is a large push for farmers to create crops that allow them to profit, and not healthy crops
In the previous decade (2014), childhood obesity in the US had gone down by 43%, showing that rising obesity rates are reversible
There should be health warnings on certain types of foods, such as those on smoking packets
On TV and internet
More focus should be put on undernutrition and obesity
Obesity is a silent epidemic, and consequences are only seen many years later
Obesity is the cause of many other
How much oil do we have left?
Crude oil - non-renewable
Almost all of the world’s oil is located in vast reservoirs
Whether the oil can be extracted is proven or unproven
Proven: 90% chance of oil being extracted. Also certain that the oil is available
Unproven: believe that the oil is there but uncertain about how to extract
Can last a century and a half- However, oil usage is rapidly increasing
80% of the world’s oil comes from the 12 members of OPEC - Concentrated in West Asia and the Middle East
1.5 trillion barrels of oil are still available according to OPEC
20% of the world’s oil is located in Venezuela (almost 300 billion barrels)
265 billion barrels (Saudi Arabia)
173 billion (Canada)- Of all 285 billion barrels held outside OPEC, more than 60% is in Canada
The world uses 34 billion barrels of oil a year
China is expected to account for half that usage within the next 5 years
British projection- Only 53 years of oil left
How much oil is left is a question. Estimates vary and are constantly changing. Peak oil extraction
The United States had been the largest oil producers for 100 years- Eventually reached a peak
Peak in production curve- Hubbert’s peak
There will eventually be a shortage as production continues to increase
Page 26:
The largest increase in renewable energy is in South America, from around 15% to around 25%.
In Europe and Africa, there has been little to no change in renewable energy since 1965.
In Asia, there has been an increase in renewable energy from around 3-4% in 1965 to around 7%.
Obtaining energy is one of the biggest challenges faced today.
80% of global energy consumption comes from oil, coal, and natural gas, which produce greenhouse gases.
Fossil fuels will still need to be used in the next few decades to meet energy demand.
To respond to global warming, there needs to be a switch to low-carbon energy sources or a decrease in energy consumption globally.
Wind power has developed significantly in certain countries in the last 25 years.
It has become cheaper, more reliable, efficient, and affordable due to technological advancements.
Building wind farms offshore is a good way to increase wind energy usage, but it is expensive.
If it becomes cheaper, more wind energy can be harnessed.
Electricity only accounts for ⅓ of total energy consumption.
Transport and home heating are other uses that need to generate electricity cleanly and reduce CO2 emissions.
Wind power only accounts for 1% of all global electricity consumption, but there is a possibility for growth.
Carbon capture and sequestration can address the carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, but there is a risk of leakage.
More demonstrations are needed to understand the practical challenges of engineering involved in CCS.
Fossil fuels are likely to be part of the main energy system for many decades to come.
CCS could have a major role in reducing
Lack of water needed for steam generation or cooling in thermal or nuclear power plants
Lack of water may lead to decline in biofuel production
Biofuel: any fuel derived from biomass
Consequences of climate change on the nexus
Changes to rainfall
Decreased rainfall:
Lower crop yields due to drought
Decreased food supply
Negative impact on tidal energy
Increased water prices
Reduced water security
Inequality in access to water
Increased rainfall:
Less solar energy
Opportunities for tidal energy
More fertile soil in some areas
Increased food production
Fuller reservoirs
Increased water supply
Floods:
Low lying countries, e.g. Bangladesh
Potential to destroy croplands
Changes to temperature
Increased in temperature:
Longer summers
Can lead to increased food production, e.g. vineyards in the UK
E.g. Siberia: Less cold, more favourable for crop growth
More droughts in tropical/ equatorial locations due to increase temperature
Famine, water bodies drying up
The Story of Electronics:
"Designed for the dump" is a key strategy for companies to earn money.
Making stuff to be thrown away quickly.
Today's electronics are hard to upgrade, easy to break, and hard to repair.
Moore's Law: Every 18 months, there will be big developments in processor speed.
Companies use this theory to sell more products.
Encourages consumers to buy a new gadget every 18 months.
Workers involved in the making of electronics experience health risks as the devices are packed with toxic chemicals, such as mercury and lead.
Workers making computer chips experience 40% more miscarriages.
Workers are significantly more likely to die from blood, brain, and kidney cancer.
E-waste exported to MICs/LICs like China and India.
Workers break open electronics to recover valuable metals.
The rest is incinerated because it is deemed useless, contributing to air pollution as the burning releases GHG.
25 million tonnes of e-waste generated every year.
Ethical issue: Companies most responsible for this e-waste externalize the true costs of production.
Externalized costs: costs generated by producers, but carried by society as a whole.
Companies profit and workers are significantly disadvantaged.
Possible solution: Extended producer responsibility, making companies responsible for the waste they generate.
What we as consumers can do to reduce e-waste exports:
Choose greener products (more sustainable consumption).
Cut down on electronic consumption (minimizing waste according to the waste hierarchy).
Demand stronger laws on toxic chemicals and banning e-waste exports.
Page 36:
A 2017 global report estimates that the world generated 44.7 million tonnes of e-waste in 2016 equal in weight to almost 9 Great Pyramids of Giza.
About 60,000 tonnes of e-waste are generated a year. This is equivalent to the weight of 220 Airbus A380 airplanes.
About 11kg of e-waste equal in weight to 73 mobile phones is discarded by each person a year.
Types of e-waste (by weight):
Audio/video equipment: 1%
Mobile phones: 1%
Printers: 1%
Computers: 2%
Air conditioners: 4%
Washing machines: 4%
Others: 10%
TV (LCD/LED): 22%
Refrigerators: 27%
An NEA survey found that 60% of consumers said they don't know or are unsure of how to recycle their e-waste.
E-waste is normally:
Traded-in/ re-sold: 6%
Passed to deliverymen: 35%
Donated: 9%
Thrown away: 24%
Channeling e-waste to reputable e-waste recyclers will benefit the environment and the public, as this:
Keeps valuable resources out of the waste stream
Conserves our planet's finite resources
Ensures harmful substances are not released into the environment
Grows our green economy and local employment opportunities
Helps fight climate change
Reduces strain on Singapore's waste disposal facilities and frees up land for better quality of life for residents
Source: National Environment Agency Straits Times Graphics
July 2017: China notified WTO of its decision to ban imports of 24 types of scrap, which its environment minister called “foreign garbage”
China is the world’s largest importer and recycler of scrap materials
Prompted outrage from US-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries and Bureau of International recycling
Warned that China’s actions could result in job losses, close down many US recycling facilities and send more waste to landfills
Led to a buildup of rubbish at recycling plants around the UK
UK had previously been relying on exporting plastic recycling to China for 20 years
British companies alone shipped more than 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste to China (⅔ of the UK’s total waste plastic exports)
2012: China received nearly half of all plastic waste that US sent abroad for recycling and about one-third of EU’s plastic waste exports
This is attributable to cheap shipping → cargo ships carry goods from China to Western countries and carry scrap back, a process known as reverse haulage
For US-based waste collectors, selling scrap to China is cheaper than sending it to recycling facilities at home
Some of the materials shipped over to China for recycling end up in a storage facility and not recycled
Much of the plastic scrap sent to China does not end up being recycled, or is recycled under hazardous conditions
2013: China’s plastic recycling rate was around 22%
1988: China imported 4-4.5 million tonnes of solid, non recyclable trash
This figure grew to 45 million tonnes in 2018
Other countries which have similar roles to China in waste importation and recycling are Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam
The amount of US plastic waste ending up in countries with poor waste management could be higher than 78%,
Definition of circular economy
Approach to business management and product design
Maximizes efficiency of resource use
Aims to phase out waste and pollution
Linear approach vs. cyclical model
Linear approach: take, make, dispose
Finite supply of resources, toxic waste
Cannot work long term
Cyclical model in the living world
Can humans adopt a circular economy approach?
Building capital from waste
Work on packaging: use compostable material
Find ways to reuse metals and alloys
Products disassembled and regenerated
Rethink the way we view ownership
Circular economy as a collective effort
All companies coming together
Striving towards this approach
Characteristics of circular economy
All outputs are reprocessed
All waste is viewed as a resource
Reuse may be more efficient than recycling
Managing food more carefully
Composting all waste
Maintaining natural resource stocks
Performance economy: renting or sharing goods
Innovation in recycling and reusing
Statistics on waste production
300 million tons of plastic thrown away in 2019
Predicted more plastic than fish in oceans by 2050
Over 50 million tons of electronic waste in one year
One-third of all food produced is wasted
60% of resources end up as waste or GHG emissions
Impact of Covid
Fairphone
Goal: To inspire change in the electronics industry
Use: Fair materials, good working conditions, long lasting design, reuse recycling
Source tin, tungsten, tantalum from conflict-free sources, integrated Fairtrade gold into the supply chain
Allows users to use their phone for longer (extended lifespan of 3-5 years)
Save 30% of CO2 emissions and valuable resources needed to produce smartphones
Phones are also easier to repair and refurbish, recycle, and dismantle
Fairphone offers repair tutorials
Researching the best way to recycle its phones by making them easier to dismantle
Set up a successful recycling program
Recovering more than 20 tons of E-waste
Working with partners to improve local collection efforts in countries struggling with E-waste
Fairphone’s business model allowed for possible reduction of CO2 emissions by 25%, and reduction of human toxicity by 42%
Partnerships: Fairphone has been developing innovative business models with Circle Economy, Sustainable Finance lab, etc
More than 175,000 Fairphones have been produced and sold, nearly 100,000 waste phones have been shipped back from Ghana to extract and reuse the materials within Google
Attempting to use technology and data to achieve circularity and cut down on waste generation
Google’s circularity principles:
Designing out waste and pollution
Use materials that are more environmentally sustainable
Applied machine learning to the cooling system in the data centre → reduced the energy used for the data centre by 30% (used AI)
Keep products and materials in use for as long as possible to exploit maximum value
Responsibly recycle materials
Take apart old machinery and use the parts to make new machines
Promote healthy
Circularity in Singapore
To overcome challenges, adopt a circular economy approach
Reduce waste sent to landfills
Requires public participation
Shift from "buy, use, throw" mentality to reusing resources
Importance of circularity in Singapore
Waste reduction
Drive greater resource productivity
Deliver a more competitive economy
Address emerging resource security/scarcity issues
Reduce environmental impacts of production and consumption
How Singapore can achieve circularity
Extended Producer Responsibility (starting in 2021)
Starting with electronic waste
Feasibility of EPR to packaging waste being discussed
Research grant call under "Closing the Waste Loop Initiative"
Launched in 2017
Goal is to make plastics more reusable and easier to recycle
Encourage collaboration between institutes and businesses
Resource stewardship and sustainable development
Sustainable development: Meeting present needs without compromising future generations
Model of sustainable development
Economic
Social
Environmental
Progress across SDGs
Economic, environmental, and social aspects overlap
17 SDGs, 169 targets
Targets have moved slowly
Sustainable development / Environmental sustainability
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
Consumption
The level of use a society makes of the resources available to it
Ecological footprint
A figure, expressed in GLOBAL hectares (land area), that calculates the amount of land needed to provide a person or society with the resources needed to live, and to absorb waste
Water security
The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable water quality for sustaining wellbeing, livelihoods and development
Water footprint
The amount of fresh water utilized in the production or supply of the goods and services used by a particular person or group
Food security
When all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life
Energy security
When all people, at all times, enjoy the uninterrupted availability of the energy they require to meet their needs, and at an affordable price
Relative poverty
When a person's income is too low to maintain the average standard of living in a particular society
Biocapacity
The productive area that can regenerate what people demand from nature
Carrying capacity
The maximum number of people an area of land can support
Optimum population
The number of people which, when working with all the
Industrialisation increases, with more workers switching from farming to manufacturing
May facilitate large scale rural-to-urban migration
Growth concentrated in a few industries and regions and in one or two industries
Airports, roads, highways, political and social infrastructure built
New political and social institutions evolve to support industrialisation
Diverse growth + technical innovation
Self sustaining - economic development spreads to all parts
Complex transport system
Increase in the number and types of industries
Rapid urbanisation
Manufacturing expands as early industries decline
Expansion of the tertiary industry
More durable consumer goods produced
Too simple - Growth may not necessarily be homogenous continuum
Assumes all countries follow the same route of development - reductionist
The western capitalist model may not be the only path to economic progress
Rostow developed the model in 1960 based on 15 (mostly) European countries
Does not look at variation within a country
Traditional society is not a prerequisite qualification for development
Countries like the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were not “traditional�� when their economies were born
Precondition phase is not necessary before the take-off
Stages tend to overlap
Countries like New Zealand and Denmark experienced take-off as a result of agricultural development. In these cases, the different stages postulated by Rostow are not distinct
Or chronological order is not maintained, some countries such as Australia attained high mass consumption before maturity
Ecological footprint Definition: a figure, expressed in GLOBAL
Water footprint
Definition: the amount of fresh water utilized in the production or supply of goods and services
Used by a particular person or group
What determines how much water we use?
Poorer countries used more water for agriculture
Agriculture's share of total water withdrawals tends to decrease at higher incomes
At lower incomes, forms a higher share of total GDP
A change in the diet from staple carbohydrates towards meat and fish products, dairy products, and more processed products
Stage 1 - Hunter-gatherers
Stage 2 - agricultural intensive labour
Stage 3 - industrialization of agricultural processes - more supply
Stage 4 - 'western' style diets with processed food, sugar, fat, meat, and dairy
Stage 5 - awareness of healthier lifestyle and food choices (eg. pescatarian, reducetarian, vegetarian, vegan)
From 1960 to 1991, there has been an increase in global land use for agriculture
Past that, the numbers gradually start to decline
Urbanization
Easier to travel to buy food - sphere of influence of food stores increases + specialized food / greater variety
More shops can open
Easier to buy food → convenience
Increased trade between countries
Increased income → can buy more food
Lifestyle changes → people become more sedentary
Rise of supermarkets
Page 17:
Mexican children are overweight because violent streets mean that it is unsafe to exercise outside; they are driven everywhere
Schemes to solve obesity in Mexico have not been particularly successful
Once Mexican children have been in a weight loss programme for a while, they are later put back into an environment where unhealthy eating is promoted
Coke had a distribution programme in Mexico, that was responsible for many children gaining significant weight
This was because soda was more readily available than water, which was polluted due to natural disasters
Soda has been widely advertised, leading to increased consumption
Local TV channels refused to screen a TV advert about soda tax
This campaign was supported by radio channels → the government finally implemented the tax, but it has been criticised for not being high enough because it has not significantly reduced obesity
Processed food responsible for obesity around the world → high in calories
Many health ministries in middle-income countries are looking to reduce reliance on processed food
There is a social cost to high levels of ill health- many lost economic benefits
Especially for countries with socialised healthcare
Countries like Brazil and China are giving subsidies to farmers to cultivate healthy food for schools
With high levels of urbanisation in the world, there is a large push for farmers to create crops that allow them to profit, and not healthy crops
In the previous decade (2014), childhood obesity in the US had gone down by 43%, showing that rising obesity rates are reversible
There should be health warnings on certain types of foods, such as those on smoking packets
On TV and internet
More focus should be put on undernutrition and obesity
Obesity is a silent epidemic, and consequences are only seen many years later
Obesity is the cause of many other
How much oil do we have left?
Crude oil - non-renewable
Almost all of the world’s oil is located in vast reservoirs
Whether the oil can be extracted is proven or unproven
Proven: 90% chance of oil being extracted. Also certain that the oil is available
Unproven: believe that the oil is there but uncertain about how to extract
Can last a century and a half- However, oil usage is rapidly increasing
80% of the world’s oil comes from the 12 members of OPEC - Concentrated in West Asia and the Middle East
1.5 trillion barrels of oil are still available according to OPEC
20% of the world’s oil is located in Venezuela (almost 300 billion barrels)
265 billion barrels (Saudi Arabia)
173 billion (Canada)- Of all 285 billion barrels held outside OPEC, more than 60% is in Canada
The world uses 34 billion barrels of oil a year
China is expected to account for half that usage within the next 5 years
British projection- Only 53 years of oil left
How much oil is left is a question. Estimates vary and are constantly changing. Peak oil extraction
The United States had been the largest oil producers for 100 years- Eventually reached a peak
Peak in production curve- Hubbert’s peak
There will eventually be a shortage as production continues to increase
Page 26:
The largest increase in renewable energy is in South America, from around 15% to around 25%.
In Europe and Africa, there has been little to no change in renewable energy since 1965.
In Asia, there has been an increase in renewable energy from around 3-4% in 1965 to around 7%.
Obtaining energy is one of the biggest challenges faced today.
80% of global energy consumption comes from oil, coal, and natural gas, which produce greenhouse gases.
Fossil fuels will still need to be used in the next few decades to meet energy demand.
To respond to global warming, there needs to be a switch to low-carbon energy sources or a decrease in energy consumption globally.
Wind power has developed significantly in certain countries in the last 25 years.
It has become cheaper, more reliable, efficient, and affordable due to technological advancements.
Building wind farms offshore is a good way to increase wind energy usage, but it is expensive.
If it becomes cheaper, more wind energy can be harnessed.
Electricity only accounts for ⅓ of total energy consumption.
Transport and home heating are other uses that need to generate electricity cleanly and reduce CO2 emissions.
Wind power only accounts for 1% of all global electricity consumption, but there is a possibility for growth.
Carbon capture and sequestration can address the carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, but there is a risk of leakage.
More demonstrations are needed to understand the practical challenges of engineering involved in CCS.
Fossil fuels are likely to be part of the main energy system for many decades to come.
CCS could have a major role in reducing
Lack of water needed for steam generation or cooling in thermal or nuclear power plants
Lack of water may lead to decline in biofuel production
Biofuel: any fuel derived from biomass
Consequences of climate change on the nexus
Changes to rainfall
Decreased rainfall:
Lower crop yields due to drought
Decreased food supply
Negative impact on tidal energy
Increased water prices
Reduced water security
Inequality in access to water
Increased rainfall:
Less solar energy
Opportunities for tidal energy
More fertile soil in some areas
Increased food production
Fuller reservoirs
Increased water supply
Floods:
Low lying countries, e.g. Bangladesh
Potential to destroy croplands
Changes to temperature
Increased in temperature:
Longer summers
Can lead to increased food production, e.g. vineyards in the UK
E.g. Siberia: Less cold, more favourable for crop growth
More droughts in tropical/ equatorial locations due to increase temperature
Famine, water bodies drying up
The Story of Electronics:
"Designed for the dump" is a key strategy for companies to earn money.
Making stuff to be thrown away quickly.
Today's electronics are hard to upgrade, easy to break, and hard to repair.
Moore's Law: Every 18 months, there will be big developments in processor speed.
Companies use this theory to sell more products.
Encourages consumers to buy a new gadget every 18 months.
Workers involved in the making of electronics experience health risks as the devices are packed with toxic chemicals, such as mercury and lead.
Workers making computer chips experience 40% more miscarriages.
Workers are significantly more likely to die from blood, brain, and kidney cancer.
E-waste exported to MICs/LICs like China and India.
Workers break open electronics to recover valuable metals.
The rest is incinerated because it is deemed useless, contributing to air pollution as the burning releases GHG.
25 million tonnes of e-waste generated every year.
Ethical issue: Companies most responsible for this e-waste externalize the true costs of production.
Externalized costs: costs generated by producers, but carried by society as a whole.
Companies profit and workers are significantly disadvantaged.
Possible solution: Extended producer responsibility, making companies responsible for the waste they generate.
What we as consumers can do to reduce e-waste exports:
Choose greener products (more sustainable consumption).
Cut down on electronic consumption (minimizing waste according to the waste hierarchy).
Demand stronger laws on toxic chemicals and banning e-waste exports.
Page 36:
A 2017 global report estimates that the world generated 44.7 million tonnes of e-waste in 2016 equal in weight to almost 9 Great Pyramids of Giza.
About 60,000 tonnes of e-waste are generated a year. This is equivalent to the weight of 220 Airbus A380 airplanes.
About 11kg of e-waste equal in weight to 73 mobile phones is discarded by each person a year.
Types of e-waste (by weight):
Audio/video equipment: 1%
Mobile phones: 1%
Printers: 1%
Computers: 2%
Air conditioners: 4%
Washing machines: 4%
Others: 10%
TV (LCD/LED): 22%
Refrigerators: 27%
An NEA survey found that 60% of consumers said they don't know or are unsure of how to recycle their e-waste.
E-waste is normally:
Traded-in/ re-sold: 6%
Passed to deliverymen: 35%
Donated: 9%
Thrown away: 24%
Channeling e-waste to reputable e-waste recyclers will benefit the environment and the public, as this:
Keeps valuable resources out of the waste stream
Conserves our planet's finite resources
Ensures harmful substances are not released into the environment
Grows our green economy and local employment opportunities
Helps fight climate change
Reduces strain on Singapore's waste disposal facilities and frees up land for better quality of life for residents
Source: National Environment Agency Straits Times Graphics
July 2017: China notified WTO of its decision to ban imports of 24 types of scrap, which its environment minister called “foreign garbage”
China is the world’s largest importer and recycler of scrap materials
Prompted outrage from US-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries and Bureau of International recycling
Warned that China’s actions could result in job losses, close down many US recycling facilities and send more waste to landfills
Led to a buildup of rubbish at recycling plants around the UK
UK had previously been relying on exporting plastic recycling to China for 20 years
British companies alone shipped more than 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste to China (⅔ of the UK’s total waste plastic exports)
2012: China received nearly half of all plastic waste that US sent abroad for recycling and about one-third of EU’s plastic waste exports
This is attributable to cheap shipping → cargo ships carry goods from China to Western countries and carry scrap back, a process known as reverse haulage
For US-based waste collectors, selling scrap to China is cheaper than sending it to recycling facilities at home
Some of the materials shipped over to China for recycling end up in a storage facility and not recycled
Much of the plastic scrap sent to China does not end up being recycled, or is recycled under hazardous conditions
2013: China’s plastic recycling rate was around 22%
1988: China imported 4-4.5 million tonnes of solid, non recyclable trash
This figure grew to 45 million tonnes in 2018
Other countries which have similar roles to China in waste importation and recycling are Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam
The amount of US plastic waste ending up in countries with poor waste management could be higher than 78%,
Definition of circular economy
Approach to business management and product design
Maximizes efficiency of resource use
Aims to phase out waste and pollution
Linear approach vs. cyclical model
Linear approach: take, make, dispose
Finite supply of resources, toxic waste
Cannot work long term
Cyclical model in the living world
Can humans adopt a circular economy approach?
Building capital from waste
Work on packaging: use compostable material
Find ways to reuse metals and alloys
Products disassembled and regenerated
Rethink the way we view ownership
Circular economy as a collective effort
All companies coming together
Striving towards this approach
Characteristics of circular economy
All outputs are reprocessed
All waste is viewed as a resource
Reuse may be more efficient than recycling
Managing food more carefully
Composting all waste
Maintaining natural resource stocks
Performance economy: renting or sharing goods
Innovation in recycling and reusing
Statistics on waste production
300 million tons of plastic thrown away in 2019
Predicted more plastic than fish in oceans by 2050
Over 50 million tons of electronic waste in one year
One-third of all food produced is wasted
60% of resources end up as waste or GHG emissions
Impact of Covid
Fairphone
Goal: To inspire change in the electronics industry
Use: Fair materials, good working conditions, long lasting design, reuse recycling
Source tin, tungsten, tantalum from conflict-free sources, integrated Fairtrade gold into the supply chain
Allows users to use their phone for longer (extended lifespan of 3-5 years)
Save 30% of CO2 emissions and valuable resources needed to produce smartphones
Phones are also easier to repair and refurbish, recycle, and dismantle
Fairphone offers repair tutorials
Researching the best way to recycle its phones by making them easier to dismantle
Set up a successful recycling program
Recovering more than 20 tons of E-waste
Working with partners to improve local collection efforts in countries struggling with E-waste
Fairphone’s business model allowed for possible reduction of CO2 emissions by 25%, and reduction of human toxicity by 42%
Partnerships: Fairphone has been developing innovative business models with Circle Economy, Sustainable Finance lab, etc
More than 175,000 Fairphones have been produced and sold, nearly 100,000 waste phones have been shipped back from Ghana to extract and reuse the materials within Google
Attempting to use technology and data to achieve circularity and cut down on waste generation
Google’s circularity principles:
Designing out waste and pollution
Use materials that are more environmentally sustainable
Applied machine learning to the cooling system in the data centre → reduced the energy used for the data centre by 30% (used AI)
Keep products and materials in use for as long as possible to exploit maximum value
Responsibly recycle materials
Take apart old machinery and use the parts to make new machines
Promote healthy
Circularity in Singapore
To overcome challenges, adopt a circular economy approach
Reduce waste sent to landfills
Requires public participation
Shift from "buy, use, throw" mentality to reusing resources
Importance of circularity in Singapore
Waste reduction
Drive greater resource productivity
Deliver a more competitive economy
Address emerging resource security/scarcity issues
Reduce environmental impacts of production and consumption
How Singapore can achieve circularity
Extended Producer Responsibility (starting in 2021)
Starting with electronic waste
Feasibility of EPR to packaging waste being discussed
Research grant call under "Closing the Waste Loop Initiative"
Launched in 2017
Goal is to make plastics more reusable and easier to recycle
Encourage collaboration between institutes and businesses
Resource stewardship and sustainable development
Sustainable development: Meeting present needs without compromising future generations
Model of sustainable development
Economic
Social
Environmental
Progress across SDGs
Economic, environmental, and social aspects overlap
17 SDGs, 169 targets
Targets have moved slowly
