Month: November 2019

AY1819G59- “WashingCycle”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Water

Christine Koh Hua Yue, Denise Chong Huimin, Ding Feng, Fauzan Adipratama Bin Yusman, Kieren Chua

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

Reducing high domestic water consumption has been an important priority of Singapore’s water conservation efforts (Tortajada and Joshi, 2013). In a typical Singaporean household, showering, flushing, kitchen and laundry contributes to a significant proportion of water use (Tan, 2016). In particular, laundry contributes to 19% of domestic water consumption, and a significant proportion of it is due to water wastage from underloading the washing machine as more water is being used than needed (Kruschwitz, Karle & Schimtz, 2014). Our survey findings revealed that a significant number of RVRC residents wash laundry on a reduced load, resulting in significant water wastage. Thus, to address this problem, our group will develop a manual washing machine prototype, the Washing Cycle, that serves as an alternative to wash small laundry loads with less water. Our prototype adopts a top load design to avoid water leakage and is powered manually and thus does not use any electricity. We evaluated our prototype using 3 criteria: water efficiency, spin efficiency and stain removal (Alonso et al., 2017; Merediz, 2009). Focus groups were also conducted to assess the user’s experience for our prototype during our trial run. Finally, the results obtained were analysed to provide future recommendations for further expansion of the project.

Keywords: Water, Manual Washing Machine, Washing Machine

AY1819G58- “Composting”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Waste Management

Andy Low Yi Soon, Chaudhari Parimal Prashant, Chou Han Xian Aaron, Faruq Yunus Alsagoff, Yeo Yak Hang

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

Over the past ten years, the food waste recycling rate has been stagnated between 10%- 16%, with significant portions of food waste still being incinerated (NEA, 2018). Composting can be used as an effective method to recycle daily food waste from Singaporean households (Khoo et al., 2010). Upon conducting a preliminary survey, our team has discovered that most households dump their food waste indiscriminately, with many respondents citing smell and lack of composting knowledge as their primary reasons for not composting. The experiment aims to provide an effective and efficient method of composting tailored towards alleviating concerns regarding performing composting indoors. Our group will explore two types of composting methods, black soldier fly larvae, and blue Malaysian worms. Using specific amounts and types of food waste, we will reach a conclusion regarding which method is best suited to the household environment. We promoted these methods to households through the distribution of instructional materials to increase the composting knowledge of our target population. Finally, a post-experiment survey was conducted to measure changes in individuals’ perceptions and receptiveness towards adopting composting practices at home, which was used to gauge the effectiveness of our project.

Keywords: Composting, Food Waste

AY1819G57- “Auto Irrigation for RVRC”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Water

Agnes Natasya, Hans Sebastian Mulyawan, Kwan Chen Sheng, Wang Xueman

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

RVRC as an environmentally friendly college has many greeneries in the college. To maintain the lawn and the plants, gardeners need to use a manual watering system, watering them manually on a regular basis using a water pipe. According to Kodukula, Prasad & Charles (2005), the manual watering method may cause inefficient water usage. Water is a scarce natural resource, especially in Singapore. Our project aims to introduce a way to reduce water usage with a more efficient method, specifically on the RVRC lawn. After analysing the disadvantages of the existing method, we had created a new smart irrigation system, which can measure the moisture level in the soil and turns on the light indicator when the soil hits a certain humidity level. The amount of water used by the smart irrigation system is compared with the amount of water used by the manual watering system. The data collected from our observation has shown a significant decrease in the amount of water usage when the smart irrigation system is compared to our initial quantitative measurements of the manual irrigation system. However, this observation is limited to the RVRC lawn and is only representative for those particular biogeographical conditions. Hence, further improvements in the future in covering larger scope of area is highly suggested.

Keywords: Water, Water Consumption, auto irrigation

AY1819G56- “ReFash – A Mobile Clothing Sustainability Application”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Kamalpreet Kaur D/O A S, Lee Max, Ooi Wen Yi, Sim Sheng Xue, Zhu Bingjie

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

The phenomenon termed “Fast Fashion” refers to the rapid rate at which clothing are produced by fashion companies, resulting in transient clothing trends that change every few months or even weeks. This encourages irresponsible clothing consumption habits which therefore results in severe environmental consequences. Our project investigated the extent of irresponsible clothing consumption habits amongst NUS students and their degree of awareness of sustainable clothing consumption practices. We conducted a survey on NUS students to investigate the degree of awareness on the topic of responsible clothing consumption habits and used the data collected to develop a mobile application that aims to bridge this knowledge gap. Our survey results have shown that NUS students not only practice irresponsible clothing consumption habits such as the impulsive buying and resultant disposal of excess clothing but has low awareness of how to change these unsustainable habits. This is shown quantitatively by the data collected. The mobile application developed therefore serves to take advantage of the tech-savvy and technology reliant nature of NUS students to increase the awareness and convenience of practicing sustainable clothing consumption habits. A focus group was then conducted to test the feasibility of the application by gathering feedback on how to improve user satisfaction and to better understand what would incentivize users to download and use the application. Feedback gathered was used to improve the functionality and appeal of the application.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Clothing, Mobile Application

AY1819G55- “Edible Cutlery”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Food, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management

Chehak Bhandari, Jessica Phua Shu Xin, Ming Yifan, Ng Siu Hian, Ye Yuxiang

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

The improper disposal of huge amounts of plastic waste has caused serious environmental issues around the world. Disposable plastic cutlery, one of the sources of plastic waste, has significant negative impacts on marine wildlife, because disposed plastic cutlery in the ocean is frequently ingested by marine animals, which can cause their death (Wilcox et al., 2016). Disposable cutlery is widely used because of its convenience and low cost, and consumers usually do not have another option apart from plastic cutlery when taking away food. Our project thus aims to promote edible cutlery as an alternative to plastic cutlery within Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) and test students’ receptivity to it. To achieve this, we came up with our own recipe for edible cutlery, and there were a total of three rounds of testing. In the first two tests, we examined the edible cutlery we made in terms of usability, taste, and quality, and we also invited our friends to try our cutlery. Based on the feedback we collected, we made our third batch with two flavours, Italian herbs and vanilla. We then brought the cutlery to students in the dining hall and conducted a post-survey to collect their feedback. The results of our post-survey shows that students were generally receptive towards our edible cutlery and more than half of them were willing to continue to use it. They also gave valuable suggestions on how to improve them. Looking forward, we could implement our project throughout NUS.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Food waste, Food

AY1819G54- “Sensor for Lounges”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Energy

Ang Shi Wei Gwenda, Foon Xin Yi, Koh Jun Ming, Tiffany Tan Hui Hoon, Chehak Bhandari

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

In Singapore, the use of air-conditioning is responsible for 24% of its electricity consumption (Abdullah, 2017). As the nation’s energy usage grows, its carbon footprints grow larger and become more harmful than before. This results in disastrous impacts on our environment, including rising temperatures and sea levels (MEWR, 2019). The issue becomes even more problematic upon the realisation that electricity wastage is still an ongoing problem today. While efforts to encourage conservation through social nudges have been present, they have generally been unsuccessful as there is still a high amount of electricity wastage, given the unpredictability of human behaviour (Houde, Todd, Sudarshan, Flora & Armel, 2013). Hence, this project aims to explore the effectiveness of alternative methods to conserve electricity, namely automated technology. Relating the observed issue to Ridge View Residential College, our initial survey found that an astounding 66.7% of respondents witnessed the air-conditioner left running while unused in the lounges three or more times per week (n=52). With this number in mind, we implemented our solution that automatically switches off the air-conditioner by connecting it to bidirectional infrared sensors that detect human presence and absence in the lounge. After comparing the amount of time by which the air-conditioner was observed to be left on unused before and after our solution was implemented, we concluded that electricity wastage has been reduced, with the sensors in place. Hence, we put forth the recommendation to shift future conservation efforts to technological-based methods in order to effect real, effective change.

Keywords: Energy, Energy & Climate, Sensor

AY1819G53- “Reusing Greywater”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Water

Chng Kai Yi Kimberly, Choo Run Kang Neville, Foo Chuan Yew, Jin Jin, Nicholas Lowie

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

The need to conserve water rises as pressure on water supplies increase due to rising demand from population and economic growth (Grafton, et al., 2013). In particular, Singapore’s water demand of 430 million gallons per day, is expected to double by 2060. Hence, there is a need to manage water consumption to ensure supply meets demand (PUB, 2019). There have been many nationwide campaigns in place to reduce water consumption. Among them, are initiatives promoting the reuse of greywater from washing machines for non-potable purposes such as toilet flushing. Lack of widespread adoption however, may be due to perceptions of health effects or belief that using recycled water represents a decreased standard of living (Bakare, et al., 2015). Our project explores the possibility of reusing greywater by assessing the quality standard of greywater in RVRC before and after treatment by simple filtration. By collecting greywater from washing machines within RVRC and the use of a simple filter with activated carbon to remove undesirable physical and chemical substances, we aim to compare the contents of the filtered greywater with raw, untreated greywater using a complete water analysis test kit to evaluate its viability for reuse. This will be analysed through the greywater quality guidelines set by PUB and parameters such as pH and total residual chlorine. The effect of treated greywater on plant growth will then be quantified to certify that it is clean enough for non-potable reuse like irrigation. Our projected findings would be that plants will be able to successfully grow when watered with the treated greywater. Through greywater recycling, less water would be wasted, reducing total water consumption within the college.

Keywords: Water, Water Filter, Greywater

AY1819G52- “Illumination”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Natural Environment and Ecosystem

Kim Seok Kyu, Kwek Jing Yi, Lin Hou-Chun, Liu Zimu, Vegi Manas

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

Singapore is currently facing 100% light pollution (Robert, 2016). Excessive artificial light at night leads to light pollution which endangers biodiversity by distorting animals’ night habits like reproduction and migration (Hölker, Wolter, Perkin, & Tockner, 2010). Previous research done by G.Eisenbeis and Hanel (2009) covered how the type of light source and the spectrum of light would affect the insects’ behaviour towards artificial light sources but there is little research done on the effects of how light orientation will affect the insects’ behaviour.  The objective of our group is to replace RVRC lights to a more insect-friendly light. We will be investigating the objective by experimenting the combination of colour of light and orientation of light source that will have the least impact on insects. The aim of the project is to test the different light colours- white, blue and amber and the different orientation of light source upwards, downwards and downwards (cone shape). The prototype will trap the insects that are attracted to the light bulb and the number of insects trapped will be counted. Lesser number of insects trapped will indicate that the combination is less harmful. From our experiments, we have found that the light orientation of downwards (cone shape) and white colour light has the least number of insects trapped on the sticky tapes. Therefore, we can conclude that the combination of downwards (cone shape) and white light is the least harmful to the insects.

Keywords: Ecosystems, Insects, Light pollution

AY1819G51- “Home Made Wind Turbine”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Energy

Koh Wen Xiang, Nicol Lam Xian Li, Tran Quang Thanh, Zhang Anqi

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

Given the undesirable and unsustainable future of Singapore’s current energy supply, there is a need for an alternative energy source like wind power to replace our heavy reliance on unsustainable energy sources like Natural Gas (Energy Market Authority. 2018). This project aims to determine the feasibility of installing wind turbines in RVRC to power up a 20000mAh power bank. We are going about this project by building our own version of wind turbine using low cost, recycled materials such as water bottles and umbrellas. Initial testing of our prototype involves putting it in a controlled environment of using a fan to blow at the turbine at a constant speed of 5m/s which is higher than the actual average wind speeds. Since results may vary between the controlled experiment and the actual experiment as there are variables like weather that will affect the wind speeds and its consistency, we decided to test the prototype at RVRC (Ridge View Residential College). We tested out the average wind speeds using an anemometer at 4 different locations, on different timings throughout a week, we identified that the RVRC Tower Block Level 8 balcony as the optimal location for installing and testing our wind turbine. Further testing is needed to account for variations in the yearlong weather patterns and the different monsoon seasons which have different wind directions that can affect the results of our experiment.

Keywords: Renewable Energy, Wind Turbine, Energy & Climate

AY1819G50- “Reduce the usage of plastic carriers with FabCups”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Goh Yen Ther, Low Xin Hui, Ng Jing Xue, Pong Jia Min Joan, Tan Jun Hao

Academic Advisor: Mr. N Sivasothi

Excessive plastic usage especially by single-use plastics like plastic bags and plastic cups has led to excessive plastic waste around the world (World Economic Forum, 2016) and Singapore’s contribution is more significant today (Channel News Asia, 2018). With the increased incidence of ‘Bring Your Own’ campaigns, we hope to extend this to single use plastic carriers. We identified staff and student consumers of LiHo drinks in NUS as a target audience for the adoption of a BYO cup holder to replace the free plastic carriers issued by LiHo. We found that 58.3% of students (n=48) are not aware of sustainable alternatives to plastic carriers. But some 75% are willing to use reusable cup holders. With a small number of   reusable cup holders, we examined consumer receptivity to the adoption of this alternative.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Plastic carriers, Cup holders

AY1819G49- “Saving Waste with Containsil”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management

Liu Yutong, Mo Zongran, Quek Min Kiat Nickson, Zhong Zhiming, Goh Yen Ther

Academic Advisor: Mr. N Sivasothi

Plastic waste is a major global problem. In Singapore, only 6% of 815,200 tonnes of plastic waste  was recycled in 2017 (NEA, 2017). Based on ZeroWasteSG’s (2016) estimate, some 30-70% of total plastic waste were single-use disposables, such as takeaway containers.Our project “Saving Waste with CONTAINSIL” aims to reduce material wastage by NUS consumers with single-use utensils with an alternative design. This will integrate fork/spoon into takeaway containers and be perforated ao as to be easily pushed out of container lids. 88% of 86 respondents indicated that they have takeaway meals between 1 to 5 times a week, and most indicated these were for rice dishes, which the design thus targetted. 90% also indicated they do take plastic utensils, reflecting a high demand.  Most (90%) also expressed interest in our idea. based on our calculations on the monthly use of containers within NUS canteens, this design could lead to a reduction of some 245 kg of plastic waste per month.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Plastic, Takeaway containers, Containers, Utensils

AY1819G48- “End Food Shaming”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Food, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management

Chen Hui Li, Koh Jin Qi, Sarah Koh En Hui, Yong Jin Hao Brandon, Liu Yutong

Academic Advisor: Mr. N Sivasothi

In Singapore, food waste comprises of the highest portion of solid waste composition (Bai, 2000).  A component of food waste is “ugly food”, or food which is deemed unattractive and thus “not saleable” (de Hooge et al., 2018). For ugly food to be redirected from food waste, it must be accessible to potential consumers. Here, we seek to  persuade online grocers to sell ugly food to improve its accessibility and convenience. We first participated in an SGFoodRescue rescue event, to gain insights into the wasteful disposal of fruits and vegetables in Singapore. With high volume and affordability, we directed efforts at approaching major online grocers such as Redmart and NTUC. This did not elicit a response, while amongst small grocers, only UnPackt responded initially. We concluded that interest in the viability of ugly food consumption first requires a boost, so we compiled a video of undergraduate responses towards ugly food through blind taste tests and interviews. With this video, we will revisit the issue with online grocers, environmental activists and sustainability-centred social media accounts to boost consideration of the issue.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Food Waste, Ugly food, Food

AY1819G47 – “Reducing soya by-product wastage through repurposing of Okara”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management

Dong Haiping, Tong Jia Heng, Kezia Kew, Liao Meng, Shawn Ho

Academic Advisor: Ms. Wong Kah Wei

Okara is the waste by-product of soybean, derived from the production of soya products such as soymilk and tofu. Okara wastage is a significant issue in Singapore, with almost 10,000 tonnes discarded annually. Therefore, the overall objective of the project is to identify new ways to repurpose okara to reduce its wastage. The initial method was to develop a prototype DIY mushroom growing kit utilising okara. This was done by substituting okara as a component of the growing substrate, taken from a commercial kit developed by Kin Yan Agrotech Pte. Ltd. Various technical issues were encountered in the primary testing stage, and changes made during secondary testing did not effectively solve these issues. Requiring further research, it was concluded that using okara to grow mushrooms might not be an easy, viable option of repurposing okara. The second method was using okara in baked goods. This was done by modifying online recipes of vegan okara chocolate brownies, thereafter holding a focus group session for demonstration and taste test. According to post-session surveys, tasters had generally positive comments about the brownies, and they agreed that the baking process is simple and easy-to-follow. Therefore, it was concluded that using okara for baking is a suitable, viable option of repurposing okara.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption, Okara, Soya, Repurpose

AY1819G46 – “Trashure Our Earth: Educating young children about waste management”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption

Vivian Lim Su Qi, Matheus Aaron, Dickson Lim, Han Yu Fin Jonathan, Charmaine Lee Jia Min

Academic Advisor: Ms. Wong Kah Wei

Inculcating proper waste management habits among Singaporeans is of paramount importance as the landfills will be filled by 2035. Despite continuous efforts to integrate environmental education into the formal education system, many are still unaware of proper waste management methods and do not recycle regularly.

Thus, our project aims to engage children aged 4-6 in activities that will raise their awareness on the importance of proper waste management. As young children require auditory and visual engagement to internalise concepts effectively, we utilised books, skits, and games to teach them the importance of recycling. The children also learnt about upcycling through craft activities where they made toys from recyclables.

To examine the effectiveness of the strategies employed, we assessed the change in children’s awareness by noting their behaviour and responses and surveying the parents and interviewing the teachers before and after the activity. Based on our findings, we recommend similar methods to increase the sense of environmental stewardship among children.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption, Activities, Pre-schoolers

AY1819G45 – “Using games to increase students’ learning of sustainability”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Sim Wee Guan Raiant, Lin Zhen Lillian, Chan Tze Cheng Tricia, Abhyarthana Aroop Pradhan, Lai Wei Xian Clemence

Academic Advisor: Ms. Wong Kah Wei

Experiential learning is the process of learning through reflecting on doing. There is an alarming lack of awareness on environmental issues amongst youths in Singapore today, and education is key to curb the issue and spread awareness on the environmentalism movement.

In our project, we aim to enhance the most enjoyable learning activity used in GEQ1917 to increase students’ learning of sustainability. Current activities were solely used to garner interest in the topic. After surveying RVRC students and their experience using learning activities applied in GEQ1917, our findings showed that 48.5% of respondents enjoy games the most. Thereafter we created a transferable lesson plan with elements of gamification and improved upon the gaps in implementation of the preferred learning activity (Go-Fish Game).  We conducted trials on non-RVRC students selected from a mix of faculties. A focused group discussion was held after the lesson to assess their knowledge on the topic. The results showed a considerable improvement in the achievement of learning outcomes. Thus, we recommend incorporating more of such elements in any educational programs which have the purpose of enhancing student’s learning in sustainability.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Games

AY1819G44 – “Generating a reliable source of pico-hydroelectricity in campus”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Energy, Responsible Consumption, Water

Chen Bo Han, Ji Yuxuan, Liu Huiyi, Shi Wen, Su Haotian

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

In Singapore, 95 percent of energy is generated from natural gas, a non-renewable resource while only the remaining 5 percent is sourced from renewable sources, such as solar energy. Hydropower is traditionally neglected in Singapore due to the lack of a waterbody as a sustainable resource. However, research on harvesting rainwater to generate electricity through micro or pico generators has provided an alternative approach to hydropower. Singapore’s tropical geographic location provides plenty of rainfall, with 190 days of rain, and mean annual rainfall of 2165.9mm. This is an area for hydropower generation that has the potential to be tapped on.

This project seeks to evaluate the feasibility of generating electricity from tapwater as a supplementary energy source on a smaller scale of Ridge View Residential College (RVRC). Targetting taps used for watering the RVRC garden, we will test the water flow through a pico-hydropower turbine to obtain voltage produced. This data will finally be compared to the voltage required to power common appliances.

Keywords: Energy; Water; Pico-hydroelectricity; Responsible consumption

AY1819G43 – “Light savers”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Energy, Responsible Consumption

Chan Tse Yan, Hing Jen Wei Clement, Megumi Chua Hui Mei, Siah Chi Wei, Leonard Sim Jun Jie

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

Artificial lighting contributes to up to 25% of a household’s electrical consumption while creating excessive light pollution. We aim to half the amount of electricity consumed by LED lights in the rooms in RVRC. We conducted a trial with 20 RVRC students by removing one existing LED tube in their rooms. After a week, we conducted another survey to assess how this change has impacted their productivity and living condition. Most residents did not observe any significant difference in apparent brightness and are content with 1 LED tube. We hope that the results would aid students in making a more informed and positive decision by removing one of their light tubes to save electricity and reduce e-waste.

Keywords: Energy; Responsible consumption; LED lights;

 

AY1819G42 – “Karanguni 2.0 – An Initiative to Advance Towards a Circular Economy”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Waste Management

He Songchi, Pranay S. Mohnot, Teng Chen Liang, Teo Wei Jie Shaun, Wang Ziyun

Academic Advisor:  Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

Consumers are straining landfills with massive amounts of waste and incessantly buying products with significant carbon and water footprints. Motivated by a stagnant recycling rate in Singapore, we have launched a Telegram peer-to-peer trading channel for NUS students and staff. On this platform, members can list items for donation and claim items already listed via simple messages. A survey conducted to gauge the receptivity of students to such a platform yielded promising results as over 80% of respondents showed interest in donating or using second-hand items. A large proportion of respondents also reported disposing of various usable items every semester, signaling the potential of such a platform. While similar trading platforms already exist, our project differentiates itself as it increases the accessibility of such a service by implementing it in a popular messenger application. Since the launch of our Telegram channel, we have facilitated multiple item transfers and amassed over 50 members. All claimants indicated that they were satisfied by the condition of items received and if not for this platform, 75% of them would have gone on to buy a similar new item elsewhere. Reinforcing our promise of convenience, all transfers were made in RVRC and were completed at least 18 hours faster than the fastest transaction on the pre-existing trading platform. We have successfully met our objective of sparking joy through the sharing of used items and fostered an awareness of the potential of item upcycling.

Keywords: waste management; online applications; circular economy

AY1819G41 – “Black soldier flies as a food waste management method”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food

Jason Ongkowijaya, Joash Lim Shen, Mabel Khaw Shi Qi, Sneha Sunil Pillai, Yew Kai Zhe

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

Food waste in Singapore has risen by over 40% over the last decade, amounting to over 800,000 tons per year. However, only 16% of this volume of waste is recycled. Thus, there is a need to increase the food waste recycling rate through innovative and inexpensive means. Black Soldier Fly (BSF) waste processing is a growing area of research due to their ability to eat up to 4 times their size, low cost, and space efficiency. The aim of our project is to increase youths’ willingness to adopt Black Soldier Fly food waste recycling in their respective homes. Our group conducted a pre and post survey on youth aged between 15-30 years on Instagram, with an educational campaign between the release of both surveys.  We also created a prototype of a small scale BSF food waste recycling kit and conducted focus groups to test its feasibility as a household recycling system. We received feedback from BSF researchers on our prototype which enabled us to create a more efficient and feasible system. Our survey findings have shown that educating consumers on how the BSF process occurs results in an increase in receptiveness to adopting BSF recycling. More research and information is needed to be shared among the public before we can effectively implement BSF recycling on a larger scale.

Keywords: food waste, waste management; black soldier flies

AY1819G40 – “Waste–E”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption

Damian Lim Jun Yee, Davin William, Heng Dingwen Wayne, Ho Zi Feng, Keith Tan De Shun

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

Singapore produces an alarming 60,000 tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) annually, making us the second largest e-waste producer in the Southeast Asia region. The average Singaporean produces 11kg of e-waste annually. Unfortunately, only 6% of the total e-waste produced in Singapore is being properly recycled. According to NEA Survey, 60% of Singaporean consumers said they do not know or are unsure of how to recycle their e-waste. E-waste is normally traded in/re-sold, thrown away passed to delivery men. There are harmful effects of e-waste on both the environment and human health, due to toxic metals found in phones such as lead. With our preliminary survey, we realized that the lack of awareness is a key reason exacerbating the growing problem of e-waste. As such, we set up an e-waste booth in UTown in NUS to raise awareness of this issue. We liaised closely with external organization, namely a recycling company ViroGreen, who provided us with banners and an e-waste recycling bin, and a phone assessor Next Telecom Pte Ltd. At the booth we put up educational posters, banners and the recycling bin for participants to drop off e-waste. The on-site phone assessor provided a price quote to participants who wish to sell their old phones. The life cycles of such phones will be prolonged as these phones are once again circulated and used, showing participants that everyone can play their part in reducing the amount of e-waste generated.  More than 200 people participated at the booth in the two days, and they were made more aware of e-waste.

Keywords: E-waste, Responsible Consumption, Handphone

AY1819G39 – “Food (Scrap) For Thought”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food

Gladys Tan Shi Xuan, Kelvin Harris, Low Jun Yang Leroy, Nadya Devani, Oh Won-Jun

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

According to National Environmental Agency, approximately 800 tonnes of food waste was produced in Singapore in 2018 and only 16% was recycled. Food waste is also predicted to continue to increase with the growth of Singapore’s population. However, even with elaborate food waste strategies, the issue of food waste persists and majority of the food waste contributed by households could have been prevented at the beginning. Households are also found to be one of the main contributing factors to increasing food waste. Our project aims to nudge changes to households’ behaviours by raising awareness of cooking with food scraps, and studying households’ receptivity to cooking with food scraps. We created a consolidated web page that consists of self-created videos, text recipes and supplementary videos to showcase ways to cook with food scraps. We then assess viewers’ level of understanding and receptivity to cooking with food scraps through a feedback survey. Our results shown that majority of the respondents found our web page to be useful in raising their awareness of cooking with food scraps. Majority of the respondents are also receptive to cooking and consuming food scraps. In short, the use of video and text recipes on a website appears to be a feasible approach to increase household’s awareness and receptivity of cooking with food scraps, which would alleviate the problem of food waste in Singapore.

Keywords: Food, Food Scraps, Household Food Waste

AY1819G38 – “Hydropower from Rainfall”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Energy

Kang Chanwoo, Liu Guangyuan, Sun Xiuqi, Tran Quang Dat

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

95% of Singapore’s electricity is generated using natural gas. While natural gas gives Singapore a stable and well-connected electrical grid, it is unsustainable due to the high environmental and energy cost in extraction. Solar energy as an alternative to natural gas has been implemented in recent year. However, hydropower research in Singapore is still in its infancy. According to Meteorological Service Singapore, it rains an average of 167 days a year and much of the rain is heavy. Furthermore, Singapore has 8000 km of drains, rivers and canals. These gives Singapore a lot potential in harnessing hydropower from rainfall. Our group aims to examine the feasibility and efficiency of hydropower generation using Singapore’s rainfall, with minimal modifications to existing infrastructure. In particular, our project focuses on generating power from the rainwater harvesting system deployed by newly built HDB flats. We assembled a prototype with a small hydro turbine, water hose and a funnel to examine the effects of various parameters on the efficiency of hydropower generation. From the data collected and studies done on Singapore’s infrastructure, we examined whether hydropower from rainfall collected by buildings would prove to be a viable supplement to Singapore’s energy supply. While its prospects initially seemed promising, much remains to be developed and researched on, for the results from our experiment falls short of our expectation. However, it is still possible that hydropower generation from rain fall could be integrated into buildings and underground drainage systems to generate electricity on a larger level.

Keywords: Energy and Climate, Hydropwer, Rainfall

AY1819G37 – “Carbon labelling of food in RVRC dining hall”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Responsible Consumption

Ang Ge Lin, Bryan Lim Wen Chong, Chan Wai Hon Jonathan, Hon Shi Rui

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

Food systems contribute to 19% – 29% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans (Vermeulen, Campbell, & Ingram, 2012). However, food consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are often not associated with each other. From a survey we conducted, there is a general lack of awareness on the carbon footprint of food consumed by consumers in Singapore. Hence, we decided to use carbon labels to encourage consumers to pick food choices with smaller carbon footprints. Similar to a nutrition label, a carbon label highlights the carbon footprint of a food item, which is the measure of the total amount of carbon emissions accumulated over the life stages of a product (Wiedmann & Minx, 2008). We implemented it in the RVRC Dining Hall and compared the amount of consumption between different food items in the week before and after. We also created a survey on the side that imitates the addition of a carbon label to measure the general public’s response to a carbon label. By comparing the before and after findings, we found that the labels were able to cause a slight change in consumption, encouraging the RVRC residents to pick the options with a smaller carbon footprint. Similar results were found in our survey, leading to our conclusion that a carbon footprint label can slightly influence food choices in a positive way. Further implementations in Singapore should investigate utilising carbon labels on a larger scale to obtain more significant results.

Keywords: Food, Carbon Labels, Responsible Consumption, Carbon Footprint

AY1819G36 – “Vegetation: a buffer against anthropogenic influences”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Built Environment and Green Infrastructure

Elizabeth Chia Kai Lun, Kee Cheow Yan, Lee Saehae, Ong Bai Quan

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

While landscape designers often try to incorporate green spaces in urban landscapes, they are usually done with the intention to green the area for human benefits, and often neglect the habitability of wildlife. Research has shown that sound and light pollution can harm the wildlife ecosystem psychologically, mentally and physically. It is important to consider the anthropogenic effects (light and sound) because of human activities from these urban landscapes to figure out the best conditions for wildlife survivability in nearby vegetation. Our project focused on the NUS campus, and measured the damping effect of vegetation with incremental distances from nearby buildings to vegetation. We researched on the acceptable range of anthropogenic effects that wildlife can tolerate, and juxtaposed it against the data we have collected to find an association between foliage density and its damping ability. With these information, future campus infrastructure designers can better plan their project such that buildings are placed at a comfortable distance from the vegetation with minimal impacts on wildlife. Foliage density was classified into sparse, normal and dense using a Secchi Disc, a method modified from aquatic sampling. Light and sound data were measured with incremental distances of 5 meters up to 25 meters away from buildings using a REED environmental meter and datalogger. Our results concluded an overall decrease in light and sound data with incremental distance. A more comprehensive research can be incorporated with our project findings for landscape designers to plan their future projects.

Keywords: Green Landscape, Light and Sound Pollution, Damping Effect, Built Environment and Green Infrastructure

AY1819G35- “Increasing RVRC residents’ awareness of sustainable toilet paper”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Ching Jiaying Megan, Kong Zhen Hao Stanford, Wang Haocheng, Xu Wenhao, Zhou Zhefang

Academic Advisor: Prof. Adekunle Adeyeye

In 2010, toilet paper accounted for fifteen per cent of the world’s deforestation (Robbins, 2010) and yet, we observed that many people are still unaware of the extent of deforestation and pollution of water bodies that comes with it. In 2018, an average Singaporean used 7.5kg of toilet paper, and this number is set to increase (Statista, 2018). Our project aims to look at the perception and awareness of RVRC residents on sustainable toilet paper. At the same time, increase their knowledge on the environmental issues and alternatives of toilet paper through campaigns and a trial. Using Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) as our case study, our quantitative survey showed that there is indeed a lack of awareness on the environmental problem surrounding toilet paper. Additionally, respondents also scored low on the awareness of alternative toilet paper that are sustainable and currently available in the market. Our group launched awareness campaigns including a trial and informative and experiential posters across RVRC. Our post-campaign survey indicated an increase in awareness and interest in sustainable toilet paper among the target audience. The results of our project can help suppliers of sustainable toilet paper to refine their marketing campaigns towards university students in Singapore.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Paper Wastage, Paper Recycling

AY1819G34- “DiningMANIA”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food

Muhamad Amir Thaqif Shah S/O Muhd Iskandar Shah Ta, Thanmaya Sivadasan, Wong Jin Fu Shaun, Zhang Xiaoyu, Zhao Wenqi

Academic Advisor: Prof. Adekunle Adeyeye

In the increasingly high-profile battle against food wastage, a prominent culprit would probably be surprising to many—schools. Data collected by past GEQ groups (GEQ Group 31, 2016; GEQ Group G01-B, 2017) demonstrate that a noticeable percentage of food waste come from school meal plans, with an estimated 15% of the meals prepared in Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) being thrown away because they are unserved. As such, our group aims to design a solution to better match meal demand and supply in RVRC through the development of a digital platform that allows residents to pre-indicate their meal choices. Our methodology comprises an online survey evaluating user receptivity towards our mobile application, as well as a beta testing period in weeks 10 – 11. After which, we will analyse the findings from our beta test in order to evaluate the feasibility of our prototype. Preliminary results indicate that an overwhelming majority of RVRC residents were open to the concept of a new and more efficient mobile app system where they could pre-indicate their meals up to 7 days in advance. This entails that there is an existing market of users who would be willing to participate in our trial tests and thus drive adoption in the future. However, due to the time-intensive nature of our mobile application development, we will only be able to do our evaluation in week 11 and therefore will only be able to draw conclusions later in the semester.

Keywords: Food, Food Waste, Mobile App, Mobile Application

AY1819G33- “ReSue- Telegram Chatbot”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Ho Xin Ying Andrea, John Cuthbert Khoo Teng Fong, Jonah Huang Zi Chao, Mccoy Lim Wei, Teo Kai Pun

Academic Advisor: Prof. Adekunle Adeyeye

Paper wastage is a perennial issue in Singapore. 1,144,800 tonnes of paper and cardboard waste were generated in 2017, of which only 50% was recycled (National Environmental Agency [NEA], 2018). Despite Singapore’s efforts, the paper recycling rate has remained around 50% since 2005 (NEA, 2016), indicating a chronic problem with paper recycling. As the flagship university in Southeast Asia and a major consumer of paper, the National University of Singapore (NUS) offers a promising testbed for sustainability solutions addressing the paper wastage problem. Our project explores the circular economy approach in ameliorating paper wastage among students in NUS. Based on our analysis of the data gathered by AY16/17 G03-A, we conclude that there is potential demand for an online peer-to-peer marketplace where students can monetise their used notes and contribute to environmental sustainability at the same time. Capitalising on the popularity of the smartphone application Telegram, a chatbot was developed to serve as a decentralised peer-to-peer marketplace for students to buy and sell academic resources. In addition, a pilot test and an end-user survey were conducted to gauge students’ reception of our project. Through drawing upon the data we obtained, we understood that we must be cognizant of consumer preferences, product differentiation, and the idea that addressing the awareness-behaviour gap is crucial in promoting tangible improvements for campus sustainability. We hope that our project would be useful for further exploration in the implementation of efforts towards achieving campus sustainability.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Paper Wastage, Paper Recycling, Chatbot, Telegram

AY1819G32- “Food Waste Dining Hall”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Waste Management

Lim Yu Ling Victoria, Muhammad Faryz Bin Khazid, Ong Jing Ting, Sathappan Aishwarya, Tan Yugin

Academic Advisor: Prof. Adekunle Adeyeye

Reducing food waste in higher education institutes is worth investigating because food wasted in such institutions is significant. We aim to launch our measures in RVRC and eventually expand to other residential colleges in NUS if they are successful. Our goal is to tackle food wastage through both a digital platform and physical measures, by reducing both the amount of food that is cooked but not taken by diners, and the leftovers generated by diners at the end of meal services. We obtained data from caterer Chartwells on the amount of food waste before and after our trial, and conducted a survey on food waste patterns in RVRC to determine the main causes of food wastage. In the survey, nearly half the respondents mentioned that they fail to finish the food on their plate “sometimes” or more frequently. Of those, over half cited portion sizes being too large as a main reason for their plate waste, while over 75% indicated that quality of food was also a factor. Based on these results, we implemented strategies to tackle both significant causes of wastage. We developed a Telegram chatbot to provide an improved channel for diners to provide feedback on their meals. We also introduced a self-serve rice station for diners to adjust their rice portions based on their needs, and allowed free takeaway of meals during the end of a meal service to reduce leftovers. Our trial produced promising results for self-serve rice stations as an immediate means of reducing food waste, and for the Telegram chatbot as a way to improve the quality of dining hall food, thereby reducing wastage caused by diner dissatisfaction.

Keywords: Food, Food Waste, Dining Hall, Chatbot, Telegram

AY1819G31- “Project Strawy”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Beatrice Chan Tong, Lin Mei An, Nicholas Neo Shi Wei, Pamela Koh Rong Yi, Phillmont Muktar

Academic Advisor: Prof. Adekunle Adeyeye

Plastic straws affect more than 700 marine species and are estimated to be found in 90% of seabirds and sea turtles. The 2015 video of the sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck up its nose sobered many into the fact that plastics in our seas are taking a toll on our marine species. Closer to Singapore, the introduction of straw bans has been widely regarded as a step towards a world consuming lesser plastic. However, there are still cases such as the iReject campaign in NUS that was highly criticized upon its launch. This was surprising given that university students are supposed to be aware of the environmental impacts of plastic straws. From our survey targeted at NUS students and staffs, we found out that 69.7% of respondents are aware of the harms of plastic straws and yet continue to use them. Users still largely prefer the use of straws, and thus, our project seeks to create an environmentally friendly alternative: edible biscuit straws, which will be able to fulfill practical needs of consumers and their strong reliance while reducing its impacts on the environment as opposed to plastic straws. Our group created prototypes with the aim of achieving close functionality to plastic straws. Through various baking sessions, we tested the usability of different materials and how long they can last in liquids to better cater to the needs of the consumers. We managed to derive a recipe that makes straws of relatively good functionality. Results of workshops conducted also showed that the NUS community is generally receptive of and eager to try out edible straws.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management, Edible Straw, Biodegradable

AY1819G30- “Integrating Straws into Drinks”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Liew Li Heng, Nabilah Bte Bahrim, Tay Yu Hong, Yash Mishra, Yew Ji Hao

Academic Advisor: Prof. Adekunle Adeyeye

Packet drinks are often favored due to their long shelf life and ease of storage, but come with attached plastic straws which are separate from the carton. These straws are often accidentally discarded and form a substantial part of marine pollution. Given the environmental threat that plastic straws are known to pose, our project aims to find an engineering solution to this problem by integrating straws into the structure of packet drinks, thus eliminating the need for external straws. To achieve this, we examined current packet drink designs before forming a preliminary prototype for our solution. After finalizing the design through an engineering design approach using various materials, we formed an improved version of the prototype using materials from a deconstructed packet drink to verify that it was feasible when using the actual components of current packets. A survey was then conducted on the general public. The quantitative data we subsequently obtained indicated a few key findings; first, that 74% of respondents used packet drinks more than once a year, second, that over 70% of respondents deemed straws to be necessary when consuming packet drinks and third, that 89% of respondents preferred our design over the existing one if both were available for purchase. Qualitative data was also collected to understand what consumers deemed to be limitations and areas of improvement for our design. Having improved on our solution based on this data, we now intend to approach manufacturers for feedback regarding the feasibility of implementing our design.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

AY1819G29 – “Enhancing the use of Rooftop Greenery in UTown Residences”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Built Environment and Green Infrastructure

Fong Hok Shing Anson, Jelicia Lim Xin Yu, Spencer Kwan Junhui, Vaarsha Nair

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

With the rapid increase in Singapore’s urban density, greenery on walls and roofs is incentivized by the Building Construction Authority for the following reasons – it provides aesthetic relief, creates usable green spaces, and reduces Urban Heat Island effect by cooling ambient temperature (URA, 2017). New projects on the NUS campus incorporate such greenery to promote a sustainable campus. Our project assessed and raised awareness about the use of integrated greenery by NUS students who live on campus, with a focus on University Town residences. Our research identified three factors that impact greenery use by students; 1) awareness of location, 2) perception of these spaces, and 3) design preferences for these spaces.

The project adopted a three step strategy for primary data collection. The first was conducting field trips to measure current use – including observation and user interviews. Preliminary results indicated that green spaces, with the exception of Utown Green, primarily function as transit zones. The second step was to interview staff from the Office of Facilities Management (OFM) to understand operational costs and challenges of maintaining green areas. Our final step was to conduct a workshop with the target users in UTown.

The results from our workshop indicate that students are not aware about the location of these spaces, and that they would be willing to use the spaces if improvements were made such as the installation of lights or better landscaping. Our project concludes with specific recommendations to OFM to enhance greenery use in Utown.

Keywords: Built Environment , campus greenery, landscape,

AY1819G28 – “PETrick: Workshop for Repurposing single-use Plastic Bottles”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption, Water

Benson Li hin Cheung, Huang Anqi, Jashleen Kaur Bhandal, Ron Tay Hao Qian, Tan Yew Mei Nysha

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

With a rapid increase in population and consumerism, an unprecedented volume of plastic waste is entering our landfills and oceans. According to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF, 2018), Singapore discards 700 million kilograms of plastic each year and less than 10% of it is recycled. Given a forecasted global production volume of 583.3 billion plastic bottles in 2021 (Statista, 2017), besides having an efficient recycling process, Singaporeans need to have a prudent mindset in using plastic.

Consumer habits need to change from the ground up and our project aims to shift opinion on the use of single-use PET bottles by engaging the student community in a work-with-plastics workshop. In preparation, we explored several different methods of constructing furniture out of used plastic bottles such as heating and fusing the bottles together with a hot gun, glue gun, heated grill etc. However, safety concerns like burns and toxic fumes ruled out heat based options. We finally chose a simple adhesive medium for ease of participants.

During the workshop, we educated participants on the 7 grades of recyclable plastic while making stools out of PET bottles. We measured the effectiveness of our workshop by conducting pre and post workshop surveys. Our results indicated that direct engagement in re-purposing used plastic bottles had a significant and meaningful impact on participants’ perception of the problem of plastic waste, and their individual contribtion to the global problem. We will explore a collaboration with OES to conduct such workshops for the NUS community.

Keywords: Waste, Responsible Consumption, Plastics

AY1819G27 – “AntiBiotic Non-Adherence”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption

Ang Wei Heng Kendrick, Sadia Batcha Mohamed Kamaldeen,Teo Wei Zhou, Weong Ee Shuen Natasha

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

Fifty percent of bacterial infections in Singaporean patients have become resistant to frontline antibacterial therapies. This is explained by the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) phenomenon or the evolution of ‘superbugs’. One of the main reasons for this is patients’ failure to complete the prescribed antibiotics. We found that this is due to a multitude of reasons, but we seek to focus on the one we find most urgent and prospective: forgetfulness. To ensure the sustainability of existing antibiotic treatments, we designed and fabricated a modified and personalized pill dispenser called “SmartPill” containing features to minimize incompletion of antibiotics due to forgetfulness.

We focused on a primary target audience of the Singaporean elderly (>65 years of age) as they account for the greatest proportion of antibiotic consumers of all age groups in Singapore. The key features of SmartPill include portability, visual aids, color, and reminders. The SmartPill’s universal 3D-printed design also allows it to be a phone case built for all phone sizes as it is aimed to be on-person throughout a prescribed course of antibiotics. Its features also help it stand out and serve as an active reminder to reduce incomplete antibiotic consumption due to forgetfulness. We conducted qualitative surveys with pharmacists and doctors at NUH and workshops to test our hypothesis that forgetfulness was the main cause of antibiotic misuse. Our pilot examined the elderly’s use and perception of the SmartPill dispenser over a few weeks of use. Our results found our target group to be strongly receptive to the use of our prototype.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption

AY1819G26 – “Your choice of soap, the fate of the environment”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption

Chua Hua Ren, Lim Kai Jun Melanie, Low Jia Chen, Ng Hong Quan

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

The trend in using liquid soaps over bar soaps (Willingham, 2016) is harming the Earth increasingly as experts cite facts on how damaging liquid soap is through greater carbon footprint incurred and larger amount of waste generated (HKFP, 2016 & Drahl, 2018). Being a strategic platform for building a sustainable campus, NUS offers great opportunities for students to share their constructive inputs to our project. Our project explored the perception of NUS Residential College students and their awareness of the environmental costs of liquid soaps. We also tested if students could be encouraged to use bar soaps through the design and installation of a soap dispenser prototype, to ultimately encourage the switch to bar soaps use.

We chose RVRC as our test-bed. Qualitative surveys were carried out before and after the installation of our prototype to measure the change in attitudes of residents in using bar soaps. The results indicate that the majority of residents are aware of the adverse environmental impacts of using liquid soaps. The residents also highlighted convenience and hygiene as their main concerns for their continued preference of using liquid soap. Our data also indicated that most respondents were willing to switch to bar soaps if the prototype could address their concerns. We have recommend a more extensive pilot testing of the bar soap dispenser in RVRC, with OHS collaboration, to measure the impact of our idea in nudging residents to using bar soap as a sustainable alternative to liquid soap.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption

AY1819G25 – “Water Sustainability Education using Collaborative Learning”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Water

Benedict Tjoeng Ruiyan, Lam Sophie, Lim Hao Xiang Sean, Low Zhen Hao Jefferson, Samuel Choy Meng Soon

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

Water demand in Singapore has been projected to increase, up to double of the current amount of 430 million gallons a day by 2060 (PUB). With the domestic sector being responsible for 45% of current water consumption (PUB), a reduction in household consumption is paramount to maintain our water supply. Existing literature suggests children form habits more easily and are more impressionable at the young age of 6  (Eccles, J.S., 1999). Our group aims to challenge the effectiveness of the “individual” paradigm by focusing on collaborative learning among preschoolers. Collaborative learning has led to increased efficiency in learning and higher achievement among students (Laal, 2012). We hypothesise that collaborative learning is a better pedagogical approach compared to individual learning. This would be done by measuring the degree of knowledge-retention and behavioural improvements of water conservation habits in preschoolers for both teaching methods.

To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experiment in the form of a workshop. The workshop was split into a test group and control group, focusing on collaborative learning and individual learning respectively. Pre-workshop and post-workshop data was gathered to measure the effectiveness of collaborative learning and individual learning. Results indicate a general receptivity of the target group to the activities of collaborative learning. Our data also indicated that this increased engagement was associated with better knowledge retention and development of water conservation habits. Our recommendation is for more extensive testing of this model to ascertain if collaborative learning can be implemented on a national scale for water education.

Keywords: Water, Education

AY1819G24 – “Effects of presenting Plate Waste Records”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management

Koh Kiang Ee Kenji, Lim En-Lye Perrie, Loh Wei Kiat, Tan Wei Hao Jonathan, Tay Sheryl

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

Globally, one-third of food produced for human consumption is wasted (Gustafsson, Cederberg, Sonesson and Emanuelsson, 2013). In Singapore, food waste is also a rising concern with an alarming 40% increase over the past decade (NEA, 2018). Strategies employed for the producer side of food waste have yielded positive results in tackling this issue (Oliver Wyman, 2014). In contrast, efforts expended on the consumer side to reduce their plate waste were mostly rudimentary and devoid of systematic evaluation (Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, 2012). The purpose of our study was to augment the current strategies of plate waste reduction with choice architecture principles in the Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) dining hall.

Our preliminary field research and survey of Yale-NUS current plate waste monitoring system showed that individuals are more compelled to reduce their waste when comparative figures are presented. Therefore, we implemented a waste monitoring system in RVRC for three weeks that utilised norm-based messaging and community approach to nudge individuals to reduce plate waste. The system displayed an individual’s plate waste amount against two other comparative figures: a constantly updated average plate waste amount and the target plate waste amount for the community. Collected data showed that our system effectively

raised the consciousness of plate waste in the RVRC community because of significantly reduced overall plate waste. Based on the results obtained in our study, we recommend incorporating a comparative plate waste display across NUS campus dining halls to reduce food waste by students.

Keywords: Waste, Food, Responsible Consumption

AY1819G23 – “Project Bottle Battle”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management, Water

Akshai Vengat, Ang Jamais, Bethanie Kwok Su Ling, Neo Rui En Wayne, Rachael Rosanna Powell

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

Bottled water is associated with many environmental issues: carbon footprint over its life-cycle, non-biodegradable at end-of-life, and pollution generated during disposal by incineration. Singapore has easy access to high-quality drinking water, and the problem must be addressed by a reduction in the consumption of bottled water. We surveyed NUS students to measure their bottled water consumption and understand their perception of water coolers and tap water on campus. The results identified mistrust in water quality from coolers/tap water and insufficient signage about cooler locations on campus as key issues.

Our group adopted a three-pronged approach. We addressed the issue of student awareness with informational posters as studies indicate that posters are an effective method for conveying knowledge and gaining audience attention (Rowe & Ilic, 2009). This was followed by an art exhibition at the RVRC Dining Hall, using single-use water bottles collected from RVRC bins to measure and creatively raise awareness of plastic bottle consumption rates within the residential college. Our final step was the design and launch of a prototype web application of water cooler locations within NUS campus, launched in conjunction with PUB World Water Day. It incorporates navigational features to direct students to cooler locations on campus. Our data indicates that students are willing to change their habits once the awareness gap about water quality is addressed. Student use of our mobile application was also very favourable and we are in contact with NUS Maps for an integration of this app for campus-wide use.

Keywords: Water, Waste, Responsible Consumption, Plastics

AY1819G22 – “Testing Portable Water Heater for OCIP use”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Energy

Benjamin Fheng Guo Jing, Kerie Tham Jialing, Ng Ca Lin, Ng Yong Zheng, Pang Kim Jin

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

2 billion people worldwide live in rural areas without ready access to hot water, with over 67% of them relying on burning biofuels such as crop residues or manure for their energy needs. While crop straws are a renewable source of energy, burning them inadvertently produces more than 550 kg of CO2 annually, significantly contributing to global warming (Niu et al., 2017). Our project aims to bridge this energy gap by designing an off-grid solution for environmentally-friendly water heating especially targeted at users in tropical.

The key design features of the water heater we designed are ease of fabrication, portability, and economical. Our prototype circulates water from a storage tank through a network of copper pipes, which are heated when placed under direct sun exposure, before storing the heated water back into the tank. To test this, we built and tested our prototype over 4 weeks to measure water temperature change in a controlled setup. We followed this with a volunteer group experiment to measure user comfort levels of the temperature of the heated water using our prototype and compared it to results from the electric heater.

We found that our solar-powered water heater prototype was able to consistently heat water above the average comfortable hot water shower temperature of 42.8°C. Based on these results, we have shared our prototype with NUS OCIP and recommend field testing the heater during NUS student OCIP visits.

Keywords: Energy

AY1819G21 – “Plastic Awareness Toolkit for Primary school students”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management

Ang Jing Han, Clarice Nicole Lee Si Hui, Lim Ding Neng, Roxanne Moh Jia Yu, Tay Jun Yang

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

The plastic pollution problem is an issue that affects marine biodiversity around the world. It also has devastating impacts on land ecosystems and makes its way into the food that we consume. One of the ways to increase youth’s environmental awareness is by educating them on the severity of this problem and methods to reduce plastic waste. This research project aims to measure the efficiency of environmental education workshops for students, and test their ability to retain taught information when it is shared in an interactive workshop format.

We tailored an environmental education workshop regarding single-use plastic packaging, targeted at the Primary 3 students in Singapore. Pre- and post-workshop surveys were used to determine student attitudes and learning. The data collected from the surveys was be analysed using SPSS Anova t-tests at a significance level of 0.05. Based on our findings, we recommend that more extensive testing should be done to corroborate our results and determine if such workshops and teaching methods can be adopted by MOE for enhancing student knowledge about sustainability issues in Singapore and to positively influence student behaviour to be more sustainable.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption, Waste, Education

AY1819G20 – “EnviRental Fashion”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption, Waste Management

Koh Min, Li Jiaxin, Stephanie Toh Kay Wai, Sukrit Jaiswal, Wilkin Giam Jing Han

Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari

The textile industry is one of the top three contributors to carbon emissions in the world, with Fast Fashion being one of the major factors. The trend for sustainable fashion solutions such as rental fashion has slowly been on the rise (Hooker, 2018). However, a previous GEQ project identified that the root cause for the failure of such sharing models was ‘the disparity between awareness and actions’ attributed to a lack of financial incentive (GEQ G11, 2016). Our project aims to measure the level of awareness among university students about the impact of fast fashion and investigate their receptivity towards rental fashion as a potential solution, when coupled with an inbuilt financial incentive.

We conducted a survey among NUS students (excluding RVRC), to assess their awareness of the environmental impact of fashion, and found that most respondants significantly underestimate the environmental impacts of fast fashion. We then volunteered at the EcoBank Bazaar national event to conduct a focus group analysis and identified key factors that impact receptivity towards sustainable fashion solutions such as clothes swapping and rental. Lastly, we interviewed leading sustainable fashion companies in Singapore such as The Fashion Pulpit and ClosetShare, who shared insights on the business challenges in the nascent rental fashion industry. Using the key indicators of our research, we piloted a formal clothes rental solution at RVRC. Our pilot test findings are concurrent with our research – that in addition to sustainability awareness, financial incentive is a key determinant of success for such fashion solutions.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption, Waste, Fashion

 

AY1819G19- “Investigating the viability of E-scooter as a sustainable complement for campus shuttle bus”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Energy

Bian Xiaoyan, Chen Su, Ding Ning, Zhang Yiping

Academic Advisor: Mr. N Sivasothi

Effective and sustainable last mile solutions in a transport systems can lead to reductions in carbon emissions by encouraging private car users to adopt public transport. In NUS, the shuttle bus system is a last mile solution which was supplemented by an e-scooter trial called GrabWheels. Our project examined the viability of GrabWheels as a safe, sustainable complement to the campus shuttle bus. We compared unit CO2 emission, efficiency and capacity of shuttle buses and E-scooters and made observations of the threat E-scooters posed to pedestrians, along two popular routes in campus. While E-scooters produce significantly less carbon dioxide than shuttle buses, they are only more efficient during non-peak hours. Parking space was inadequate at some stations, leading to pathway blockages. Most significantly, most pedestrian pathways are not wide enough to accommodate E-scooters alongside pedestrians. We conclude that while E-scooter have the potential to be an effective and sustainable complement, the problems posed in safety and parking areas need to be addressed.

Keywords: Energy & Climate, E-scooters, Shuttle bus

AY1819G18 – “Raising the awareness of recycling of food through food enzyme solution preparation”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Waste Management

Andrew Yeo Jung Yeat, Chloe Lau Jia Yee, Eng Wee Long, Kong Qi Herng, Tan Jia Le Damien

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

The issue of food waste is detrimental to the environment and “if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world” (Royte, 2016). Furthermore, an estimated 40% of the food losses occur at the final consumer level consumed (Gustavsson, Cederberg, Sonesson, Otterdijk, & Meybeck, 2011). This issue can thus be mitigated through the collective effort of individual consumers. As consumers do not realize the level of food waste generated (De Coverly, McDonagh, O’Malley, & Patterson, 2008), it is therefore imperative to raise awareness on this issue and inculcate a culture of recycling food waste. Our project explored households’ awareness of food wastage and their methods of managing food waste through our survey on consumers (of various ages). 85% of the respondents discard their fruit peels instead of recycling them. In response to this, we conducted workshops to teach consumers how to produce a food enzyme solution. We reached out to RVRC residents and the members of the public and educated them on the uses of food enzymes and the method of developing a food enzyme solution. Results from the workshops showed that than 97% of our participants (n=76) were willing to recycle their fruit peels. The participants also became more cognizant of the existing food wastage issues. Moreover, respondents were willing to share what they learned from our workshops with their family and friends. Thus, this suggests the success of our outreach as participants are spreading the idea of garbage enzyme through word of mouth. In conclusion, we have successfully met our project objective of encouraging households to use garbage enzyme as a substitute for commercial cleaning agents, thereby demonstrating the possibility of up-scaling garbage enzyme making and thereby further spreading this idea to more people.

Keywords: Food waste; upcycling; waste management

AY1819G17 – “Reducing fruit peels food waste disposal through a college-wide initiative”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Waste Management

Nair Tania Santosh, Rachel Mark Yuen Yee, Sunaga Ryuto, Yap Hui Xuan Rachel

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

We live in a society based on linear metabolism that has led us to deplete our resources at an unsustainable rate. Singapore has designated the year 2019 towards becoming a zero-waste country and a circular metabolism system can aid in this. Even in RVRC, a residential college based on sustainable living concepts, residents are still attuned to living in abundance with a throw-away mentality. Hence, this project aims to investigate the feasibility of producing fruit detergents created from fruit waste in RVRC, to implement the circular metabolism system.

The project followed a two-way data collection involving surveys and physical data collection. These allowed for the analysis of the amount of fruit waste generated in RVRC, and how feasible it is to substitute commercial detergents with fruit detergents. 50 participants partook in pre- and post- fruit enzyme exposure surveys to understand user engagement with the enzyme. A week-long study of the fruit wastage in the college dining hall was also conducted to estimate the quantity of fruit waste required to produce sufficient detergent for the RC.

The amount of waste collected from the dining hall per week is about 7.8 kg. By collecting the fruit waste for a month, we are able to make sufficient fruit detergent that sustains 600 residents for one semester. As such, the results have shown that there is potential in making a sustainable system that produces fruit detergent from the fruit waste in RVRC to substitute currently used detergents for all the residents.

Keywords: Food waste; circular metabolism; upcycling; Waste management

AY1819G16 – “Using audio cues to reduce shower times”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Water

Ke Yi Min, Tan Liang Chieh, Benjamin, Tan Yoke Ting, Yang Xinyi, Yong Zi Ping

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

The United Nations announces that the world is fast heading towards catastrophe on account of water scarcity due to insufficient water to satisfy growing water demands (United Nations, n.d.). In 2017, Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) reported that Singapore is expected to face tremendous water stress by 2040, with the current daily domestic consumption of 143 litres per capita. With the availability of potable water at a twist of a tap, it is no surprise that Singaporeans would hardly give any thought to conserve water. (Straits Times, 2016) Showering accounts for the biggest water guzzler in the household, accounting for 29% (MEWR, 2017), yet it is not notable that a minute less in the shower can save nine litres of water. (PUB, 2017). As such, the goal of the project is to reduce shower water consumption in Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) by incorporating audio cues placed in shower cubicle. It is hypothesized that audio cue is capable of inducing behavioural changes during showering which is similar to how background music affects shoppers’ behaviour. Water consumption is measured by means of a water meter and data will be collected over three weeks; a week with water meters only, a week with audio cues and water meter, and the third week without audio to investigate whether audio has indeed altered users’ behaviour at the shower.

Keywords: Water; Water saving’ Shower times

AY1819G15 – “Thorny issues”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Responsible Consumption

Goh Rui Zhi, Jin Jiayu, Joshua Woon Zhi Xian, Nigelle Leo Yuwen, Zhao Caiheng

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

Durians are huge delicacies in South East Asia, with Thailand and Malaysia being the biggest exporters of the fruit. Durians are also starting to gain attention in other Asia countries such as China. Due to this rising prominence, the demand is booming. Thailand, the world’s leading exporter of fresh durian, exports 402,661 metric tons of durian in 2016 alone. (UNCTS, 2016). This directly generates tremendous amounts of waste as on average, 70% of the durian fruit is inedible and thrown away (Cheok, 2016). When durian waste is incinerated or left to decompose, large amounts of methane gas is produced, directly contributing to global warming. Our project explores ways to mitigate such ongoing environmental damage, focusing on finding alternative uses for durian husks to end the life cycle loop of the fruit. We analysed the current life cycle assessments of durians and studied the chemical properties of the fruit, with the possibility of upcycling these contents to substitute disposable packaging in mind. Using NUS campus as a platform for our case study, we conducted a quantitative survey to examine 1) student’s perception and awareness towards the current issue of durian wastage and 2) their receptiveness towards biodegradable products made from durian husks. Our results highlighted a significant lack in awareness of the environmental damage caused by the above problem among consumers of durian. The respondents were also supportive of the idea of biodegradable packaging made from upcycling high fibrous fruits to substitute current plastic ones. Creating such a substitute will directly reduce the environmental impacts and simultaneously educate the public of the critical issue of food wastage.

Keywords: Food waste; Responsible consumption; Circular economy; Upcycling

AY1819G14 – “Reducing food waste in RV dining hall ”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Responsible Consumption

Chen Xinrui, Jiang Yuxin, Ma Yufei, Yang Ruiyuan, Zeng Chen

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

Food waste is a growing concern worldwide, which poses a threat to the world economically, environmentally and socially (Costello, Birisci, McGarvey, 2016). As RVRC is a residential college which aims to build sustainable life, the food waste in the RVRC dining hall needs to be controlled. Our project asked the food flavor and the amount of food which RVRC’s dining hall provides so that we can find the main reasons why they waste food. Then we explored some suitable ways to reduce the wastage. First, we conducted a survey amongst residents to ascertain reasons for food waste and assess the feasibility of various solutions. Our results show that the main reasons for wasting food are the flavor is not suitable and the food amount is too much. More than half of students want to have the flavor of each dish to be presented on the label so that they can make a better choice. Also, nearly 50% of students will not choose the original size of food if the dining hall provides different size of food. We recommend the RVRC dining hall to write the flavor of food on the labels of each dish. Also, the dining hall can provide food as small, original and large size to give more choice for the student. Students can choose the food amount and flavor better and reduce food waste.

Keywords: Responsible consumption; food waste; Dining hall

AY1819G13 – “Tiny pods”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Responsible Consumption

Benjamin Png Hao Ze, Cheung Jun Yan Julian, Evelyne Juliet, Liew Zhengyi, Zhang Chao

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

The recent coffee capsule wave has created multiple environmental concerns due to the intricate design of these capsules which have been proven to be hard to recycle. Our project seeks to educate and inculcate a more environmentally conscious consumer market by instilling a focus on extending the life of these single-serve products. Initial surveys were conducted to determine Singapore’s consumer preferences, market trends, and perceptions. The results highlighted a lack of industrial recycling programs and consumers’ disregard for the environmental impact such products cause. Based on these results, products were created that takes advantage of the pods material composition, shape, and structure. The final stage solution comprises of a workshop that leverages on direct education to participants and hands-on activities that will cement our ideas. Through this methodology, the proposed project is able to impart concepts of environmental awareness and alternative actions that can be taken by consumers to reduce the amount of waste created. Of the participants involved in the workshop, 96% (n = 24) have indicated a change in perceptions and attitudes towards their coffee pod consumption. This approach has thus been successful in meeting our objective of inciting attitude changes within households.

Keywords: Responsible consumption; Coffee capsules; Waste management

AY1819G12 – “Tackling meso-plastics on Singapore’s shores”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Natural Environment and Ecosystem

Aeron Sim Shih Win, Chan Wan Ting, Karnati Sai Abhishek, Liu Yanru, Ong Tiong Ho Sean

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

Coastal cleanups are a highly effective way to remove marine debris and they play an important role in protecting our marine ecosystem. Meso-plastics (debris ranging from 5mm – 25mm) are of particular concern as they are readily ingested by marine life, travel and accumulate up the food chain, and eventually end up in humans. Furthermore, it breaks down into microplastic (<5mm ) with time which has more detrimental impacts. Hence, it is important that this group of marine debris is removed effectively. However, the act of removing meso-sized trash is an inconvenient and labour intensive process. It is also often not cleared by contractors nor collected by cleanup volunteers. Thus, our group aims to explore the use of tools for coastal cleanup participants and organizations to increase the effectiveness of removing meso-plastics which would otherwise be a labour intensive process. To test this out, we used a basket to pick meso-plastics during coastal cleanup sessions. Our prototype basket effectively helped us collect 800 pieces of meso-plastics within a fixed area and time frame of 20 minutes as compared to 150 pieces of meso-plastics collected by the traditional hand-picking method under the same conditions. The results show that our prototype works and the utilization of our tools greatly eases the process of removing marine debris. As a result, we hope to make our prototype part of the preparation package for all coastal cleanup organizations in Singapore to make the removal of meso-plastics more effective.

Keywords: Biodiversity; Marine life; Waste management; Coastal cleanup;

AY1819G11 – “Prototyping an efficient water saving heater”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Water

Pan Boyi, Tan Shuyao, Ye Chenchen, Zhang Xinran, Zhao Yiming

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

The importance for Singapore to address the problem of water scarcity is hard to be overstated with Singapore’s restricted natural water sources and high-level water consumption, especially domestic water consumption during showering. An awareness survey within RVRC residents and experiments on water heaters in RVRC show that 722 liters of water were estimated to go down the drain without being used in RVRC every day. Our project aims to eliminate cold water waste while waiting for the water to get warm before showering. Our solution is to design an affordable and user-friendly water recirculation structure for the instant water heaters. Due to the lack of necessary certifications from PUB, only a prototype is built to test the theory. The result turns out that when the showering water is under 25℃, the water will be pumped back to the water heater to be reheated. When the water is above 45℃, the user can turn on the showering water-tap and hot water will flow out. Users can control the process with two switches. The whole cost for the system is 60 SGD. A post-survey investigating the public attitude towards the design shows that over 78.5% of respondents are willing to adopt this system. Overall, the system can eliminate cold water waiting time, and it is easy to use and affordable compared to existing households water circulating system.

Keywords: Water saving; water; showers

AY1819G10 – “TASTY: engaging youths on food wastage issues through games”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food, Responsible Consumption

Guan Qin, Lim Wei Qian Willy, Loh Kwan Teng Sophia, Tasya Graciela, Tay Jia Hui Rheia

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

We aim to raise awareness of the importance of food security and wastage in Singapore among the younger generation. Food issues are significant, but relatively unknown and deemed less important in Singapore, given that Singaporeans have easy access to food all the time (Koh, 2018). As such, the main target audience was university youths, who have the highest potential to effect important changes in the future. With that in mind, an educational role-playing card game was developed, which would provide players with information on happenings related to food security and wastage that could endanger Singapore’s food source as well as tips on ways to contribute to sustainability in this aspect. After testing the game on 104 participants, 77% of the participants have gained more knowledge on the issues of food security and wastage, 64% indicated a greater interest and concern for this topic, and 78% felt that the game was engaging and fun. The game has successfully met the objective of raising awareness of the importance of food security and wastage in Singapore among the younger generation. In the long run, this game could signal the start of games as a novel way of educating students about food wastage and security.

Keywords: Educational games; food security; consumption; food waste

AY1819G09 – “Enhancing wildlife co-existence in campus”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Built Environment and Green Infrastructure, Natural Environment and Ecosystem

Clarissa Laurent Yee Qi Xuan, Desmond Lim Zong Wei, Phua Jun Yuan Ryan, Sherman Dang Xi Heng, Tan Zhi Wen Ivan

Academic Advisor: Mr. Lim Cheng Puay

Many human-wildlife interactions in Singapore usually shows public ignorance in proper behavior and action when encountering wildlife. This conflict exemplifies a deeper problem of a lack of proper environmental education: people meet animals with improper behavior because of a lack of awareness of what they are, and how to deal with them.

At Ridge View Residential College (RVRC), which is located near a secondary forest, opportunities for human-wildlife conflict abound, making this problem more pertinent. Hence, our project aims to ​elevate the awareness of RVRC residents on what to do when an animal enters their living space​ and establish a college-wide ​Standard Operating Procedure for this.

Our initial survey findings highlighted that more than 75% of the respondents were not aware of how to safely manage an encounter with an animal visitor in their living area. Over 90% of respondents also indicated that they were interested in learning about the biodiversity in Kent Ridge and the protocols they should observe in these situations. Thus, we recommend providing an Animal Response Toolkit (ART) for RVRC, as the foundation for a new standard operating procedure. We propose holding workshops in conjunction with the ART, to better educate them on this knowledge. The workshops will be held in partnership with Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES). 2 such workshops had been conducted with promising outcomes.

Keywords: Ecosystems; Human-wildlife conflict; Workshops; Biodiversity; Natural Heritage; Built environment

AY1819G08- “Waste to Soap”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Food, Responsible Consumption

Gan Jia En, Kheng Yau Dong, Wang Heqiao, Tan Desheng

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

Cooking Oil is an essential ingredient that is commonly used in food production globally, which in turn leads to a substantial consumption of cooking oil around the world. For instance, in 2016, 25 kg of edible vegetable oil was consumed per capita in China (Research and Markets, 2018). Due to the significant consumption of cooking oil, a substantial amount of used cooking oil (UCO) will be produced. Thus, our project aims to explore the idea of recycling of UCO by using it to produce soaps. Using UCO from RVRC Dining Hall, we have produced cold-process bar soap and liquid soap in a soap workroom of a local company known as Sugar and Spice. Followed by this is an interview with the dining hall cleaners to enquire about the commonly found stains on the dining hall table. We gathered that the common stains are usually drinks and sauces. We then decided to test out the UCO soaps on different type of sauces instead of drinks as sauces are more oily and hence is more difficult to be cleaned. From our evaluation, it was observed that the liquid soap and bar soap were reasonably effective in cleaning the stains. In particular, the cleaning effect of the liquid soap was comparable to a commercial kitchen cleaner which served as the control. We recommend that further research should be done to investigate the feasibility of producing the UCO soaps in a larger scale to augment its benefits towards the environment.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Food waste, Food

AY1819G07- “Coin it!”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Ashley Tan Xin Yi (Deng Xinyi), Lucian Wee Yang Xian, Cheow Yu Shan Cherilyn, Heng Jie Kai Joven, Kim Nahyun

Academic Advisor: Dr. Florence Ng

Receipt wastage in dining halls across NUS is a wastage of resources and is not in line with NUS stated goal of sustainability. Furthermore, the presence of BPA in receipts could pose health risks to students through dermal exposure (Konieczna, Rutkowska, & Rachoń, 2015; Arbor, 2018). Therefore, our project aims to reduce receipt usage. We first explored student awareness of the potential health risks and environmental impacts arising from the use of thermal paper receipts in dining halls. With residential college members as our survey group, we conducted a quantitative survey to investigate the level of student awareness. Our results showed that student awareness of the health and environmental impacts was high. Students were also open to the replacement of the current receipt system with a more environmentally friendly alternative. With these results in mind, our group proposed that the current receipt dispenser be replaced with a token dispenser. These tokens will replace the receipts as meal credits. They will be made of plastic and will be reused across semesters, ensuring their environmental impact is minimal (Cooper, 2012). The token dispenser will be programmed using an Arduino mini computer and will be fabricated using a 3D printer. We then conducted a trial testing the performance of our machine. With the feedback from the trial, we were able to further improve our design, increasing its feasibility. Thus, we recommend that NUS could consider replacing the current receipt system with the coin dispenser.

Keywords: Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption, Receipt waste

AY1819G06 – “Waste not, want not, reducing food waste with kids”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Calvin Ng Khai Boon, Lee Wen Jie, Ong Ming Chung, Syed Muhammad Reza Bin Nagib, Tan Yong Bin

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

The issue of food waste in Singapore is prevalent and increasingly severe. This city-state generated 791,000 tonnes of food waste, equivalent to the weight of over 3,500 MRT trains (National Environment Agency [NEA], 2018). Outreach initiatives have been implemented to not only raise awareness of the environmental and societal impact of food waste but also to educate the public on responsible food consumption. However, currently, these initiatives have mainly targeted children in the primary school level and above but not pre-school children. Existing literature states that children aged 0 to 6 years old have the brain capacity to absorb information quickly. Hence, good habits are best introduced at a young age to ensure maximum time for their formation and retention. Thus, our project aims to educate children in pre-schools regarding the food waste issue and to inculcate responsible food consumption habits. We conducted a 2-hour food waste education workshop, split into two 1-hour sessions, targeted at pre-school children. To measure the effectiveness of the workshop, we conducted two surveys and Food Poster. Our pre-survey after the first workshop indicates that an average of 10 out of 12 students understood the lesson. Our post-survey after the second workshop indicates the same results hence indicating their memory retained the lesson. Our Food poster collected data of the students’ meal behaviour for 2 weeks. The students did not waste food in any of their meals. We also interviewed the teachers, who state that the children are now motivated to not waste food.

Keywords: Food, Responsible Consumption, Behavioural Change, Educational Workshop, Pre-schooler

 

AY1819G05 – “Cut the Cutlery”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Culture and Lifestyle Trends, Responsible Consumption

Alvin Phua Wei Da, Arushi Gupta, Lim Yiming, Lim Zheng Xiang, Patwardhan Arica Jitendra

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

Plastic waste in Singapore has been increasing in recent years, with disposable plastics being one of the main types of plastic waste (NEA 2019).2 One of the sources that accumulates plastic waste is the use of disposable cutlery when consuming delivered food. Despite their possession of reusable cutlery, most consumers lack the consciousness to decline disposable cutlery when ordering food. As such, our group aims to investigate how we may get NUS students to use reusable cutlery instead, adopting a three-pronged approach to do so. We collaborated with Al Amaans, one of the most popular supper stores among NUS students, and requested for them to verify if students on the line require disposable cutlery when receiving orders. The other two approaches include the development of  infographics which comprise social norm messages, and creating an additional step on supper order forms for students who opt to use disposable cutlery. Based on data gathered over the past three weeks, there has been a small but increasing proportion of students who reject disposable cutlery. These results offer an optimistic sign that the use of these prompts, reminders and messages may aid in encouraging such behavioural changes amongst NUS students.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption, Disposable Cutlery, Takeaway, Behavioural Change, Plastic Waste

 

AY1819G04 – “Upcycling Waste to Toys”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption

Bill Chee, Bong Jia Hui, Emily Ellisha Ng Qi Li, Low Sheng Wei Ernest, Yeap Yong Ern Joel

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

Children’s toys are a large contributor to the plastic waste problem in Singapore. They are mostly made out of unrecyclable plastic, and consumed at a high rate. This is amplified by the fact that the toy market in Singapore is growing. Our project seeks to abate the environmental impact of toys by encouraging parents to make their own upcycled toys for their infants using household waste instead of purchasing commercial off-the-shelf toys. To achieve this, we created a guidebook and a DIY kit to help parents. We then test the receptiveness of parents to this idea through interviews, which are analysed with qualitative coding. We also measure the interest of infants in the toys that are created from waste materials using non-participant observation. Our results indicate that infants are generally indifferent to the upcycled toys in comparison to commercial toys. Parents also have a positive response to the DIY kit and guidebook, and suggested that they are willing to give upcycling a shot. This evinces that upcycled toys are a suitable substitute for commercial toys, and parents are ready to make their own upcycled toys. From our project, we hope to ultimately motivate parents to upcycle their household waste to toys by demonstrating to them the ease and benefits of doing so.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption, Upcycling, Toys, Infants, Parents, Motivation

AY1819G03 – “Orange Peels”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Food

Amira Binti Mohamad Rafi, Badrul Amin B Mahmud, Choi Min Suk, Chua Ser Gee Vanessa, Goh Qi Rong

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

Food waste is Singapore’s fifth largest waste category and made up 11% of the 7.3 million tons of waste generated in Singapore in 2012. Pulau Semakau, Singapore’s only landfill, is expected to be completely filled by 2035 and this has created an urgent need to find a value-added use for waste products. Our group is focused on reusing fruit waste – in particular, fruit peels, which are usually discarded while the flesh of the fruit is consumed. By combining various citrus peels that contain pectin with fruits that contain oleic acid, we tried to create a biodegradable superabsorbent polymer (SAP) that, when placed in soil, enables plants to go without watering for several days. Adapting from a previous experiment (Nirghin 2016), lemon, lime, and orange were used as sources of pectin, while durian and avocado were sources of oleic acid. The effectiveness of the SAPs was assessed in three different ways: by measuring plant growth, soil moisture, as well as water absorption capabilities. We found that all our fruit peel SAPs were effective at increasing the water retention of soil. The challenge however was mould growth on the SAPs, which led us to conclude that the SAP method would only work in locations with low humidity such as an air-conditioned room. Our findings could prove useful among the gardening community in Singapore, who can create their own biodegradable SAP that aids in plant growth, while helping to reduce waste in Singapore by reusing fruit peels, which would otherwise be discarded.

Keywords: Food, Fruit Waste, Superabsorbent Polymer, Citrus, Gardening

AY1819G02 – “Try Cool – Changing consumer perceptions in laundry settings”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Energy

Chan Shi Jun, Kathlynn Wong Jin Tine, Kwok Kuin Ek Jeremy, Lee Jun Hong, Zhang Zilong

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

Clothes cleaning consumes both water and energy, which amongst other negative environmental impacts, could lead to global warming and climate change. Yet, our preliminary survey shows that even in tropical Singapore, respondents are unaware of excess energy consumption at higher temperatures, and primarily select hot or warm laundry wash temperatures. As studies have approximated a linear correlation between electricity consumption and wash water temperature, selecting a lower wash temperature would reduce energy consumption. However, there are limited studies on consumer’s laundry habits and their preference for either a low temperature or high-temperature laundry wash program. Given that approximately 0.015kWh of energy, equivalent of 25 minutes of fan usage, can be saved just by switching from a hot laundry wash to a cold one, our project aims to promote energy savings through a two-pronged approach. Firstly, educational posters will be put up around RVRC to educate residents on the best suited wash temperature for their textile type and the benefits of washing at a lower temperature. Secondly, we would experiment with a laundry sharing program as a viable way to cut laundry energy use. The success of our approaches would be based on pre and post surveys and an observational study on the actual proportion of resident who adopt lower temperature for laundry. This project contributes data on the potential energy savings of different laundry wash temperatures, highlights excessive energy usage in the laundry process and encourage consumers to change their laundry habits and use reduced temperatures.

Keywords: Energy and Climate, Laundry, Washer Temperature, Dryer

AY1819G01 – “Microplastics, Macroproblems!”

rvrnjy Abstracts, AY 2018/19, Responsible Consumption

Georgia Kelly Lau, Joanna Sara Susan Purba, Keziah Anamaya Sitinjak, Marcus, Victor Varian

Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin

Microplastic pollution is a problem that threatens not just marine ecosystem, but also human health (Sharma & Chatterjee, 2017). Approximately 0.1 milligrams of microplastic particles are released by each gram of synthetic textile in each washing cycle (Hernandez, Nowack, & Mitrano, 2017). With this in mind, we investigated potential mitigation methods in reducing the concentration of microplastics in laundry discharge. We start by identifying potential factors that contribute to amount of microplastics in laundry discharge, namely type of laundry detergent and the “wear and tear” factor. Our experimental results verified the presence of plastic microfibers released by RVRC launderettes during washing of synthetic textiles. We hypothesised that using liquid detergent will cause less microplastic shedding compared to powder detergents and older clothes will shed more microplastic as time progresses. Hence, we propose using liquid detergents for laundry and wash synthetic clothings with the appropriate washing guideline to improve their longevity.

Keywords: Responsible Consumption, Microplastic, Laundry, Detergents, Wear and Tear