People come and go but the plastic bottle stays – G01.2
Nam Gimin, Phoebe Yap Xiou Ching, Yogusvi Tewari, Zhang Cheng
This project aims to find out the trends in plastic bottled water usage among tourists in Singapore through a better understanding of their mindsets. From street surveys at tourist locations, we found out that convenience was a major factor motivating tourists to buy plastic bottled water instead of bringing their own water bottles to refill. The results also revealed that age was another major factor which affected water consuming habits. Surprisingly, the country of origin of the tourists had little impact on their behaviour towards plastic bottle consumption. Eager to find out more? Join us in discovering the reasons behind the behaviour of tourists which can hopefully provide us with potential solutions to reduce plastic bottle usage in Singapore!
Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin
Industry Advisor: X-hebit
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Composting as a means of reducing spent coffee grounds (SCG) waste – G05.2
Andy Lim Chau Sheen, Justin Chia Yi Pin, Leong Wai Ying, Neo Siao Eng, Kym, Samuel Ong Keng Cheong
Coffee consumption generates significant waste as spent coffee grounds (SCG) are often incinerated and discarded in landfills. Little has been done to address the waste issue in Singapore, despite rising coffee consumption. Our project seeks to use composting as a means to reuse SCG. A group of home gardeners were surveyed and a majority (>70%) have open attitudes and knowledge about SCG composting. An experiment was also conducted using kang kong (Ipomoea aquatica) to determine the effect of SCG compost on plant growth. The results demonstrated the possibility of using SCG compost to grow plants.
Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
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The Door Gift Conundrum – G08.3
Chanda Akshaykumar Veersain, Cheryl Soh, Cyrus Lim Lek Wee, Dominic Frank Quek Ci Hao, Lee Yi Wei, Joel
Tradeshows and events have a trend of giving out goodie bags and door gifts to the event goers. The production of the items found inside these goodie bags require significant amount of energy and resources. Their subsequent disposal also poses another significant environmental problem. Our project aims to inquire event goers whether the goodie bags are useful and preferable by them. The project also aims to evaluate the reasons why event organisers are giving out door gifts and find more environmentally friendly alternatives. This data can be presented to event organisers to effect greener door gifts.
Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Industry Advisor: X-hebit
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Using a Chatbot to reduce plate waste – G09.1
Chen Jiahao, Chew Yu Cheng, Lee Yi De, Madeline Ng Qi Xuan, Ng U – Hui Gideon
There is a significant economic and sustainable opportunity in reducing food waste by consumers. The aim of this project is to go beyond posters to make the consumer feel they are actively contributing to this reduction. Our group has created a Telegram Chatbot to encourage students to reduce food waste. This Chatbot helps to track data of each person such that they are able to view their personal and group statistics. It is hoped that by making participants more aware about the amount of food waste they generate, they will make a conscious effort to reduce their food waste. The food waste was manually measured, with avoidable food waste being separated from unavoidable, and the data was uploaded to a spreadsheet. Our group set a benchmark of 100g of daily food waste per participant and after 3 weeks of pilot testing, we hope that every participant will achieve this goal.
Academic Advisor: Prof. Adekunle Adeyeye
Industry Advisor: Sodexo
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Marketing and Food Waste – G10.3
Gao Jingyi, Phua Jia Hao, Tay Lu Chi Louisa, Wang Mo Shu, Zhang Yihan
Food waste occurs in many stages of the food supply chain. Our project focuses on marketing practices in supermarkets in Singapore, and its relation to food waste. Focusing on marketing practices on non-perishable food items in supermarkets, we look to answer the following questions: Is there a relationship between marketing and food waste? Do the marketing practices spur consumers to purchase more than needed, and therefore result in food waste? Are there differences in responses across different age groups? We zoomed in to three marketing practices: (1) tags on price displays, (2) “Buy 2 Get 1 Free” promotions, and (3) large packaging.
Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin
Industry Advisor: Sodexo
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Trends in Events within NUS: Identify Challenges and Opportunities to Improve Environmental Sustainability – G14.3
Chua Ru Min Stacy, Du Sibo, Lim Kai Wei, Loo Shu Hui, Serene, Teh Hian Yong Thaddaeus
The aim of our project is to understand how events are being organized in NUS and whether there is sufficient action to incorporate sustainability in events. Thereafter, a sustainable guideline will be crafted to help event organizers introduce the element of sustainability in future events. Both event organizers and event participants were interviewed to obtain a reasonable and balanced viewpoint on potential sustainability guidelines that will benefit both parties, as well as to assess their willingness and perception on events being more sustainable in the future.
Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Industry Advisor: X-hebit
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Optimising spent coffee grounds for mushroom growth – G17.1
Bai Sin Yeou, Huo Lushuang, Khoo Han Sheng, Marcus, Sew Wen Xin
Singapore alone consumes about 2.1kg coffee per capita and the spent coffee grounds (SCGs) produced brings about significant waste disposal issues. By tapping on its high nutrient and energy content, SCGs can be added into composts and be used to promote plant or fungi growth. To further minimise household waste, the group investigates the idea of creating modular mushroom growth kits using SCG and growing in containers made from household wastes (plastic bottles and milk cartons). The team also plans to find out optimum conditions for mushroom growth to occur indoors and share it with households.
Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
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Trends in Single-use plastic bottled water amongst tourists in Singapore – G17.2
Lee Hong Wei, Liu Yiyang, Low Ci Hao, Gabriel, Seow Song-en, Latasha, Wee Yingsheng, Benjamin
Single-use water bottles are extremely common in the tourism industry, although there are alternatives such as water dispensers and water coolers. Our project seeks to understand the extent of plastic bottled water consumption amongst tourists as well as the factors which tourists take into account when making a decision.
Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay
Industry Advisor: X-hebit
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The Door Gift Conundrum – G20.1
Chew Yu Ning, Lynn, Lee Wei Bin, Liu Yingnan, Natalie Phang Suet Yee, Toh Yong Jian
Event Organisers provide door gifts as they think that event-goers want and expect it. However, observations of campus events point to disposal without use of many item types. In this project, we investigated the importance of door gifts in attracting event-goers and the possibility of reducing such resource investment and wastage. With an online survey, 169 event goers, aged 18-65, were evaluated for their views and preferences for door gifts. Event Organisers were interviewed to understand why they choose to provide door gifts and if they were willing to accept sustainable solutions. The results suggested door gifts are not a critical factor to event-goers in choosing to attend an event and Event Organisers were willing to consider sustainable solutions. With the trend of receiving door gifts, however, door gifts reduction, first through sustainable alternatives could be attempted gradually over time.
Academic Advisor: Mr. N Sivasothi
Industry Advisor: Earthys