Recycling, much as it pains me to say this, is overrated. For starters, it’s much less effective than we think. While it’s not uncommon to see blue bins stuffed to the brim, a large proportion of the contents (as much as 40%, in one instance) will be unsuitable for recycling due to contamination. Plastic recycling rates, in particular, have fallen year-on-year since 2013. In this vein, Singapore still relies on its neighbours to do the actual recycling for us. After being sorted locally, recyclable waste is sent to countries in the region for processing—and many of them have started rejecting imports of plastic waste. Although Singapore is due to open a recycling plant of our own next year, it’s clear that recycling can’t be the panacea to all our environmental woes. While we shouldn’t stop doing it—every bit of effort counts—it’s ultimately a last-resort measure. Recycling doesn’t actually tackle the heart of the issue: waste itself. Zero-waste, like the name suggests, involves managing consumption in a way that produces no waste overall.... Continue Reading