Welcome back to our blog! As we come towards the end of our blogging semester, I hope that you have managed to gain insights on how our consumerist lifestyle has contributed to environmental pollution and found our various mitigation ideas useful. Today, I would like to share about a movement that you can be apart of to stay away from aggravating environment woes. That is to be: Zero Waste.
According to Zero Waste SG, Zero Waste is a concept that challenges the old way of thinking about waste as something that has no value and to be thrown away. This is in accordance with the Zero Waste Alliance which states:
“Zero Waste: The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of products, packaging, and materials without burning and with no discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.”
Here, the Zero Waste concept is in line with our goal to reduce our carbon footprint and to mitigate the issue of environmental pollution. This has been taken up by the Singapore government who has responded with its commitment towards a zero-waste nation. See Singapore’s Zero Waste Masterplan here. Alternatively, a summary of the Masterplan can be seen here.
While the Zero Waste Masterplan delineates nationwide targets and efforts, there are things we could do as individuals in support of the nationwide Zero Waste movement. To start our zero waste, we can do so by supporting and making purchases at Zero Waste stores, rather than plastic packaging filled retailers. The scope of Zero Waste stores has been expanding rapidly to cover the sale of different necessities given the rise in environmental consciousness, and positive responses towards the movement.
In case you are unaware of the range of items available in stores, here are some Zero Waste stores in Singapore that provides a range of necessities:
- Scoop Wholefoods: nuts, butters
- Unpackt: dried foods, superfoods, natural washing and cleaning liquids
- Reprovisions: dried foods
- Vom FASS: oils, vinegars, wines, whisky
- Eco.Le: grains, snacks, soap bars, scented candle refills
- The Castile Soap Shop: eco-friendly soaps
- The Social Space: shampoos, cleaning & washing agents
In addition to Zero Waste stores, do also engage in the 3Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle! Together, we can all be environmental-friendly individuals by leading eco-friendly lifestyles. Not all is lost! There are ways and things we can do save the environment, as long as we are committed to doing so as one humankind.
