regina: a guilty polluter – G4237 Environmental Pollution Blog

Covid-19 Pandemic is chocking the Planet !

March 29, 2022 / Regina Tan / 0 Comments

We are seeing light to the end of the tunnel, as the government announced easing restrictions today, marking a turning point in COVID-19 pandemic for people in Singapore as this is one of the most significant changes imposed by the government. One of the most significant change would be the option of not wearing a mask outdoors.

Getting people to mask up have saved countless life amid the Covid-19 crisis, and created a new norm of wearing a face mask when we leave home. Carting out masks from my shopping carts has been a routine for me at least once a month for the past 2 years. But did you know that the surge in the use of disposable masks could lead to a growing environmental problem that may last much longer than the pandemic itself?

Experts now estimate that each month, 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves are used and disposed of globally. With a surgical mask weighing roughly 3.5g, that would equate to 451,500 tonnes of masks a month and, when placed next to one another, cover an area roughly three times the size of Singapore.

Conservationists and non-governmental organisations are increasingly concerned that a lot of the plastic waste, especially pandemic-related waste, is ending up in landfills, waterways and oceans, adding to the millions of tonnes of plastic waste already dumped into the world’s oceans every year. Disposable masks are usually made of polypropylene, a type of plastic that cannot be broken down quickly in the environment. Most masks consist of three layers, and are made of composite materials that are difficult to separate, making them unsuitable for recycling. Most importantly, un-proper disposal of mask endangers the aquatic lives the most, with most sea creatures getting caught onto the ear hooks of the disposable mask.

Not just disposable mask, but other personal protective equipments are highly utilised in the healthcare industry as well, washing up on beaches around the globe. International coastal clean-ups run by Ocean Conservancy have recorded tens of thousands of pieces of PPE as of early November (Mungcal, 2021).

Despite the negative consequences of mask disposal onto the environment, researchers and companies are looking for ways to put masks to good use, though it is not a very profitable venture at the moment. In Britain, several hospitals have acquired a compactor made by Cardiff-based Thermal Compaction Group which melts protective gowns and surgical masks into blue slabs. Researchers in Australia want to transform single-use Covid-19 masks into road material. The material is then used to make garden chairs or tables. In the United States, the protective gear is recycled into benches. And in France, they are reborn as floor carpets for cars (Auto,2021).

However, even with the ease of restrictions imposed by the government, there seems to still be a majority appearing to be keeping them on, including myself. Seems like the detriments to the environment is going to continue increasing exponentially as the uncertainty in pandemic has created a lifestyle and routine that has us stick to wearing mask even on a daily basic, as if its a piece that completes our outfits. Most important, I feel that we need to really educate people and the general public on the ways to properly dispose those used mask, so as to minis any other indirect repercussions, especially onto the aquatic species.

References

Auto, H. (2021, May 19). Covid-19 pandemic mask mountain sets New Recycling Challenge. The Straits Times. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.straitstimes.com/world/pandemic-mask-mountain-sets-new-recycling-challenge

Mungcal, A. K. (2021). Three Million Masks every minute: How covid-19 is choking the planet. The Straits Times. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2021/01/covid19-masks/index.html?shell

Justice to Environmental Pollution of Shrimp Industry (Part 2)

March 21, 2022 / Regina Tan / 0 Comments

Shrimp is one of Thailand’s most agro-food exports, garnered as the world’s largest exporter in 2011. Shrimps cultivations is traditionally confined to narrow bands of coastal area, where large volume of sea water could be easily be filled upon closure. As Thailand possesses over 2700km of coastline and has an ideal tropical climate perfect for shrimp farming, this propelled Thailand into becoming a global leader of shrimp. Furthermore Thailand has access to “aquaculture technologies, low agricultural wages and the availability of government tax incentives” were all vital in developing shrimp farming in Thailand (Phornprapha, 2019).Thai shrimps are mainly exported to the US, EU, Japan and other markets (ILO, 2015), with 32 per cent of total shrimp imports in the US. The shrimp industry directly employs 700,000 workers, of which 80% of whom are migrant workers. Most of these migrants are from Myanmar, with smaller percentage from Cambodia and Lao PDR (ILO, 2015). The dynamic labour force are involved in varying aspects of the Shrimp supply chain, including shrimp farms, shrimp market, pre-processing, secondary processing, and exported for sales (Fig 1). However, Thai shrimp industry have been under scrutiny for bringing about exploitative actant with unsustainable production processes in the supply chain. On top of that, the industry has a hidden cost: human trafficking and labour exploitation are indigenous in the largely unregulated pre-processing stage of shrimp production (EJF, 2013). This cost is a reflection to the reputation of the sector as one with undesirable working conditions, desensitising the locals and thus creating an insufficient supply of Thai workers in this industry. It is thus, important as we explore the uncovered truths behind this dominant export driven industry in Thailand to illuminate the growth of Thai shrimp industry at the expense of human exploitation.

Fig 1: Illustration of Thai Shrimp industry supply chain

The shrimp industry is growingly swiftly and revolutionising, exploring different methods of productions, shifting away from the traditional wild shrimp farming. Instead, the Thai shrimp industry established a production approach of shrimp farming, with 90 per cent of shrimp produced in Thailand coming from farms today. (CSR Asia 2013: 5). This alternative aquaculture provides a temporary relief to the earth natural resource, where the ocean is already under too much pressure to be the sole resource. The continuous extraction and over-reliance would result in decades of overfishing and environmental factors that are having a negative impact on many seafood populations.

Shrimp farming in Thailand is embedding in a supply chain system that involves shrimps being raised in farms, that are fed on domestically manufactured shrimp feed produced from fishmeal factories, that purchase small, left over fish from fishing vessels. Farmed shrimps rely on technological advancements, using ultra-intensive systems that produces greater yields, coupled with much higher levels of inputs, including antibiotics, feed and pesticides, than lower intensity systems. In order to gain higher profits, Thai shrimp industry adopted an intensification of shrimp farming to meet the increasing global demand. This increase in production leads to the development focus that drives Thai shrimp industry to go beyond their means by commodifying nature at the expense of exploiting the environment. With more land clearance for growth and intensification of shrimp farms, it has resulted in mangrove destruction, water pollution as pesticides are used in shrimp farming process, heavily pouting and contaminating the waters. This excessive, uncontrolled growth of Thai shrimp farming, lead to an outbreak of EMS (Early Mortality Sydrome), casing a sharp reductions in production. This illustrates how the attempt to expand in production has the ability to result in an unintended consequence that still suffers the effects of EMS until today, with Thailand still recovering in terms of production and export volume (ILO, 2015). Thus shrimp aquaculture in particular has a very grim reputation, with cases of harvesting disease-ridden crustaceans from antibiotic-filled swamps amid the dead mangroves (Clark, 2019). On top of that, these aquaculture produces pollutants that endangers the surrounding environment and threatening the existence of its special species.

Produce from shrimp farms are then traded in the vast Samut Sakhon seafood market, where it is sold on to pre-processing factories for first round of shrimp production. The nature of pre-processing factories are often considered dangerous, dirt and difficult (Adams, 2015), with workers often being underpaid. These dire working conditions apparent in the Thai shrimp industry have desensitised many, to the extent that some migrants are robbed to motivate them to work on fishing boats, selling their lives to the sea with almost no opportunity of returning. These workers are being reduced to mere “commodities”, being bought, sold, transported and resold. The capitalist economic context attached to the human bodies, justify Castree notion of nature as the human body, a process of theoretical abstraction that one can separate the body out as a physical thing from the identities and personalities of the people who “inhabit” it (Castree, 2003). On top of that, the industry supports child labour, mainly in small businesses and in areas with minimal training required. These children are ages between 5 and 17, with a percentage of them working in conditions classified as hazardous (ILO 2013: 6). These working conditions are especially harmful to the children, with repeated injuries, irregulated break times, many work nights shifts during wee hours and most of the children do not attend school (Tang 2013:33).

The consequences of consistent and rising demand for inexpensive shrimps has resulted in a capitalist focus transforming bits of nature and ecosystem by driving Thai shrimp industry to becoming one that is profit maximising, simultaneously exploiting both the environment and labour. We got to be more aware and acknowledge that there is a need to change this growing demand. Shrimp is just one of the many examples of food security related issues, which has direct impact to environmental pollution. Thus, as consumers, we have to be aware of the what consuming, not just at surface level, but the whole process that goes behind getting the food to where it is for us today at the final step of purchasing it.

References

Adams, F. H. (2015). Migrant child labour in the Thai shrimp industry – child … Retrieved March 25, 2021, from http://www.terredeshommes.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/shrimp-study-eng-3MB.pdf

Castree, N. (2003). Commodifying what nature? Progress in Human Geography, 27(3), 273-297. doi:10.1191/0309132503ph428oa

Clark, M. (2019, October 15). What are we supposed to think about shrimp? Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/dining/shrimp-sourcing-united-states.html

CSR Asia: Opportunities for Inclusive Business. A Case Study of the Shrimp Value Chain. (2013, March 16). Retrieved March 25, 2021, from http://www.csr-asia.com/report/FINAL_Shrimp_industry_report

ILO. Migrant and child labor in THAILAND’S shrimp and other seafood Supply chains: Labor conditions and the decision to study or work. (2015, September 15). Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.ilo.org/asia/publications/WCMS_402971/lang–en/index.htm

Tang, K. T. (2013). Community partnerships for the Prevention of the Worst Forms of Child Labor among Migrant Children in Samut Sakhon, Thailand. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144152624.pdf

Justice in Environmental Pollution of Shrimp Industry ?

March 13, 2022 / Regina Tan / 0 Comments

On a bright Sunday Morning, I followed my mother to the nearby wet market, to buy some fresh ingredients for dinner. As usually, she would always visit the seafood stall first, so that she can secure the freshest product in the house. She wanted to cook drunken prawns and a hearty vegetable dish with shrimps, and thus dived right onto those when we went to the stall. As we were paying, the uncle at the seafood store was telling us how these shrimps are one of the hot sellers that goes by really quick and seems to be a commodity amongst all the seafood. He mentioned that he orders twice the amount of shrimps as compared to his other seafoods. This got me thinking, how high are the shrimp demand, and how are they being sourced to deal with this ever-growing demand ? I decided to find out more about the shrimp market and how that has affected our environment.

Shrimp is one of the most popular seafood products in the world, being the most consumed seafood in the United States, with an average American consuming nearly 2kg per year; double from the next most popular product, canned tuna (National, 2012). Driving this surging numbers in consumption is a method of intensive production that began expanding in the 1970s, creating a revolution to the global shrimp industry. Due to this expansion of production process, the price of this previously expensive delicacy as shrimps has become a mass-produced product. The devaluation of shrimp, with reduction of prices has created an exploitative relationship by consumers, where wealthy consumers are able to purchase more shrimps for less. This further provoking the valuation of shrimps to the market forces of demand and supply, thus fluctuating the prices of shrimps even more. These shrimps are grown and extracted by the labour of the periphery countries for core countries, concentrating in the US, Japan, and Europe. These regions account for more than two-thirds of the global shrimp trade (ILO, 2015). The shrimp industry draws exploitative resources from periphery to feed the growing demand of the core. This perfectly exemplifying the world system theory that shows the global dynamics of capitalist expansion, where uneven economic flows were structured by imbalances of trade and power from the core. On top of that, the age of globalization has also impacted the shrimp supply chain, spreading the appetite sushi culture abroad. Besides the sushi culture, globalization has also shaped our consumption patterns, creating a diet known as Pescatarian, where only fish and seafood are considered as their main source of protein.

These combination of factors have fuelled consumers demand to an unprecedented increase, that is much more than can be naturally replenished – a real plundering of the world’s shrimp supply. Shrimps that were caught almost exclusively from wild stocks in the ocean, have taken place on an increasing scale in recent years, endangering natural stocks in many regions (Adams, 2015). The industry has expanded sophisticatedly, with the establishment of shrimp farms as an alternative to meet the rising global demand (Adams, 2015). The shrimp industry perfectly encapsulates the phenomenon of commodification, usefully connotes a process or state that is irreducible to the thing/s being commodified but which nonetheless affects them – and which may, reciprocally, be affected by them (Kopytoff, 1986). Where the shrimps as commodity are being extracted, in order to meet the growing demand of the population. This process of commodification is at the expense of nature, where the increasing scale of production of shrimps in naturally, have endangered natural stocks in many regions, affecting the environment and nature. Shrimp fishing also produces bycatch that can account for up to 80 per cent of net content, with a large numbers of seabirds and turtles fall prey to the industry. This, in turn may bring about undesirable consequences, such as extinction of certain species of fisheries in the oceans that were caught in the process of shrimp production as bycatch, further degrading the environment in the process of commodification.

It is really scary to see how our consumption patterns has such a huge impact onto the environment and the capabilities to bring about even more harm than ever, and once again a reminder to be of a conscious consumer.

References

Adams, F. H. (2015). Migrant child labour in the Thai shrimp industry – child … Retrieved March 25, 2021, from http://www.terredeshommes.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/shrimp-study-eng-3MB.pdf

Kopytoff, I. 1986: The cultural biography of things. In Appadurai, A., editor, The social life

of things, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 64–91.

National Marine Fisheries Institute (2012), ‘U.S. Per-Capita Consumption By Species in

Pounds’ http://www.aboutseafood.com/about/about-seafood/top-10- consumed-seafoods

Cars are driving our environment crazy

March 7, 2022 / Regina Tan / 0 Comments

Every Monday, i would make my way to Bukit Batok Driving Centre for my driving lessons, in hope to getting a licence soon. Although getting a licence does not guarantee being able to drive on the road, especially in Singapore where our cost of owning a car is rocket high.

Cars in Singapore are noted as the highest in the world despite significant price reductions. For instance, the average cost of compact cars has decreased from approximately S$144,292 in 2012 to S$98,920 in 2018. This is influenced by the reduction in the cost of Certificate of Entitlements (COE). Despite an overall price drop in prices Singapore “remains the most expensive place in the world to buy and run a car”, according to a 2019 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Figure 1: Car prices across various countries

Based on the same car, Singapore car prices in 2019 are up to 6 times more expensive than; Australia (US$18,365), up to 5.5 times more than China (US$20,725) and 5 times more expensive than America (US$21,845). Whilst prices in London for the same car work out at around US$23,00. One of the differentiating factor to the pricing difference is the cost of COE, where in certain years, the cost of COE is equivalent to the cost of a car. The implementation of COE is done by the Singapore government in order to curb the cars on the road, as a pledge to take a step closer ensuring lesser carbon emissions.

Nearly a million vehicles ply Singapore’s roads today, releasing around 6.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2)-equivalent each year, over a tenth of the city-state’s total emissions. Less than 0.5 per cent of these are electric vehicles (EVs). But momentum is building for a green transport revolution. By 2040, Singapore aims to have driven all vehicles running on fossil fuels through an internal combustion engine (ICEs) off the road. Given the 10-year validity of COE, this means from 2030, all new cars will have to run on cleaner energy. They will have to be either electric, hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell ones. And diesel cars and taxis – which emit the, even more, pollutive PM2.5 – will not be sold from 2025(Ning, 2021).

The push towards green vehicles will curb the vehicle pollutants that harm our health and contain greenhouse gases and causes climate change. Burning gasoline and diesel fuel creates harmful byproducts like nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, benzene, and formaldehyde. In addition, vehicles emit carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. Thus, in order to reduce the air pollution brought about by cars, the local government have been constantly looking into ways, with adoption of Coe and in the recent years kick starting the economy for electric vehicles (EV) and introduce Tesla to out markets. It has shown significant progress and development by the local government in keeping the environment safe and free from such pollutants. However, the implementation of green vehicles are still rather limiting in Singapore ,and I truly wonder if it would be possible for us to be able to remove all ICEs by 240 entirely. The lack of charging infrastructure is a top concern, as the Deloitte Global Automotive Consumer Study shows. Currently, there are over 1,800 public EV charging stations offered by providers such as BlueSG, Greenlots and SPGroup in HDB carparks, petrol stations, shopping malls and office buildings. On top of that, there often lies a barrier to adopting use of EV, especially n relation to the safe of an EV. With questions surrounding the possibilities of EV getting caught on fire while charging personal mobility devices and fuel simultaneously. On top of that operational concern, many doubt how much greener EVs are given that the electricity that powers them is, in Singapore’s case, still generated mostly from natural gas rather than renewable sources. Another major concern revolving around adopting EV is the cost of it, with Hyundai Ioniq Electric which costs $167,888, $45,889 more than its Hybrid variant . EVs are expensive due to the costs incurred to make them, and a huge portion of it comes from the batteries – almost a third of the cost of a typical EV car. EV batteries are made with expensive metals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium and manganese, all of which contribute to the cost. Thus, when revising as a whole, there seems to still be a barrier for EVs to be fully adopted by the singapore market, and there needs to be shift in perspective in order to attain the goal set up by the government in promoting a more conscious emission levels.

References

Ning, T. S. (2021, August 21). Green vehicles add power to the fight against climate change. The Straits Times. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/green-vehicles-add-power-to-the-fight-against-climate-change

https://www.sgcarmart.com/news/review.php?AID=1577

A Classic Fashion statement: Wigs and Hair extensions

February 20, 2022 / Regina Tan / 0 Comments

I was just watching a recent hype Korean show, where it introduces various dance crews. that has been active in Korean and are often hidden behind the stage and dancing in the background as they let the K-POP idols shine. As I was watching the first few episodes, i noticed that one of the members always brings a wig whenever there is a dance battle of with the other dance crew. It got me thinking, then perhaps the K-POP idol who often appear on stage with different hairstyles of various colours and lengths might also be utilising hair wigs and extensions. This got me reminded to when I just graduated from secondary school, and was still naive as a child, where my mother would not allow me to get my hair dyed. I actually went down to bugis street, second level which had lots of salon or shops that specialises in hair extensions for schooling teenagers like us. Thats as far as a rebel I went, and not wanting to disobey her weird but sill get a coloured hair. Oh those were such good old, child-like days.

Figure 1: Picture of her Wig in episode 1

Figure 2: Picture of her Wig in episode 3

Just as i thought that the wig and hair extensions trends were dying, the global wig and hair-extension market estimated to be worth over $10billion by 2023 (Newswire, 2019), it’s no surprise that the demand for synthetic hair has risen exponentially in recent years. The considerably lower price point and versatility, on top of the time efficiency have made it an obvious choice for many. Environmentally, however, synthetic hair plays a rather sinister role: It’s essentially composed of ultra-fine strands of plastic, and the petrochemical-derived materials such as polyester, acrylic, and PVC are not biodegradable. This means that they ultimately end up in landfills and contribute further to our global waste problem. Synthetic, means combining chemicals to make a product that mimics a natural thing. Although it is impossible to determine how the fake hair is manufactured, investigation has revealed that the fake hair is made from 10-15 chemicals. The chemicals are used to synthesis plastic strands of hair, which consist predominantly of acrylics, polyester, silicone, PVC, Polyethylene Terephthalate and Polyacrylonitrile (Wilson, 2019), resulting in disposal of large amounts of waste material and environment problems. Synthetic materials make up a lot of waste in landfill, and research is underway to promote reuse or longevity and recycling of wigs. At present, the same not being sort, for the disposal of fake dreads. There is no way of guaranteeing the quality of Synthetic hair and so same, in not being able to determine how long the fake hair will look and feel good in dreads. However, according to the resources of my research, fake hair deteriorates quickly, 6-12 months, and needs to be replaced to continue the required effect; in the case of dreads, that’s a fuller volume and length. It’s also interesting to learn, that Synthetic hair matts and tangles easily with natural hair, in the context of dreads, this means that fake hair will have to be cut off. Therefore, the continuing disposal of fake dreads, undermines the productive research and action in contribution, to the immediate need to protect and preserve our environment. On top of that, the majority of Synthetic hair is dyed with Synthetic dye. The Synthetic dye contains components that are carcinogenic, which can penetrate skin easily. For those with sensitive skin, this can become uncomfortable and at worst, painful.

To an outsider, the solution might seem simple: Who needs wigs, anyway? But for some of the people who wear them, wigs are everything — for cancer patients, and for many women in the natural hair community who choose to wear protective styles.

References

Newswire, P. R. (2019). Global hair wigs and extension market to generate revenues of $10 billion during3 – market research by Arizton. Business Insider. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/global-hair-wigs-and-extension-market-to-generate-revenues-of-10-billion-during-2018-2023-market-research-by-arizton-1027930572

Wilson, N., Thomson, A., Moore-Millar, K. et al. Capturing the life cycle of false hair products to identify opportunities for remanufacture. Jnl Remanufactur 9, 235–256 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13243-019-0067-0

Hoping for a more conscious Chinese New Year

February 15, 2022 / Regina Tan / 0 Comments

What’s not to love about Chinese New Year ? The good food, good company with distant relatives and friends, the blessings from elderly. Of course, the past few years Chinese New Year has been different from usual, with limiting visitation and social gatherings, which dampens the mood for the festive period. Nonetheless, the spare time for the limited gatherings got me to spare a thought for the impact our actions have on ourselves and the environment.

It ain’t Chinese New Year without red packets. But according to Greeners Action (a Hong Kong based charitable environmental group), since 2014 more than 16 thousand trees are used each year to exchange 320 million red envelopes over Chinese New Year. This figure only accounts for Hong Kong and will increase significantly if we were to count in Singapore as well in this red hot mass. Perhaps, we could save the trees by reusing the ang paos you received last year. Alternatively, we can practice more consciousness by looking to custom make ang paos from recycled or FSC paper. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) promotes the practice of sustainable forestry worldwide. It ensures all paper is sourced in an environmentally-friendly and socially responsible way. Local banks like OCBC and DBS are supporting a more green Chinese New Year, by collecting red packets to be recycled, so we have a home for those leftover red packets to prevent a hot red mess over this period.

This festive season is more often than not, revolves around food. However, the rate at which we are consuming is beyond indulgent. According to the National Environmental Agency (NEA), Singapore food waste accounted to 640,000 tonnes in 2018. Especially during Chinese New Year, food waste increases by up to 20 per cent. These food waste goes into either a landfill to decompose or to an incinerator, where landfills emit methane over time. Methane accounts for 23 times worse than carbon dioxide, polluting the air to a more detrimental extent. While incineration requires large volumes of energy to produce a net-energy gain that is low or non-existence. Additionally, most of our goodies and snacks we buy over the festive period, are stored in plastic containers, which are likely to be disposed after consuming the goodies in it. what’s left behind ,is the unwanted plastic containers that is being treated as waste, contributing the plastic pollution that is hard and takes long to decompose. Or perhaps, we could just be more conscious of our consumption and consume less.

Interestingly enough, over the festive period, I came across a Instagram account (Project bECOme) that aims to cut food packaging waste by promoting a circular business model. Under the programme, a small but growing group of businesses are offering refunds to customers who return them their containers after use, maximising the use of each container. Some also offer discounts if you bring your own container — an even more straightforward way to reduce waste.

hello fellow polluter !

January 18, 2022 / Regina Tan / 1 Comment

Little did you know, but we all play a part to the earth we live on ! This is a little space for me to jot down my thoughts and reflection of how my personal actions contributes to polluting the environment, one way or another !