Hello!! So actually I wanted to talk about noise pollution but I realised I wanted to talk about something that is slightly out of syllabus and something I found interesting! To be very honest, I did not know this was a form of pollution. Or more specifically, they have their own category. What I am referring to is E-waste!

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), E waste refers to ‘electrical and electronic equipment of any kind that has been discarded’ (E-Waste Management, 2020). This would include anything from a television to even an electronic toy! With the advancement of technology, there has been a constant rise in the production and usage of electronic devices, ultimately, this ends up as waste! Usually, these electronic devices and waste contains harmful pollutants such as ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, arsenic and even mercury (Akram et al., 2019). If not disposed of properly, some of these harmful pollutants can enter our environment and pollute our air, water and soil!

Source: (NEA, 2019)

In the video above released by NEA, it briefly introduces the amount of e-waste that Singapore generates yearly! They reported it to be about 60,000 tonnes which is equivalent to the weight of 220 Airbus airplanes!!

New Singapore Airlines A380 takes to the skies (Airbus, 2017)

It also introduces a recycling plant in Singapore that helps to manage E-waste in Singapore! This recycling plant is called Cimelia is waste-managing company and one of it’s aims is to restore the environment through technology and solutions (Cimelia Resource Recovery, 2010). Some of the services that they carry out includes E-waste management and base metal recycling from the E-waste (Cimelia Resource Recovery, 2010).

There are other ways that Singapore has attempted to manage E-waste. One of the ways is the restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS) in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) which started taking effect in 2017 which restricts the levels of six hazardous substances in selected EEE (Hazardous Substances, 2020). This is to ensure that there is a lesser amount of heavy metals Singapore’s waste stream (E-Waste Management, 2020). If you are interested you can head to the link here: https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/pollution-control/chemical-safety/hazardous-substances

So this brings me to the end of today’s blogpost! I hope you have learnt some information about E-waste and how Singapore has been tackling this problem!

References:

Akram, R., Natasha, Fahad, S., Hashmi, M., Wahid, A., Adnan, M., Mubeen, M., Khan, N., Rehmani, M., Awais, M., Abbas, M., Shahzad, K., Ahmad, S., Hammad, H. and Nasim, W., 2019. Trends of electronic waste pollution and its impact on the global environment and ecosystem. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, [online] 26(17), pp.16923-16938. Available at: <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-019-04998-2> [Accessed 31 October 2020].

Cimeliaglobal.com. 2010. Cimelia Resource Recovery. [online] Available at: <http://www.cimeliaglobal.com/solutions.html> [Accessed 31 October 2020].

Nea.gov.sg. 2020. E-Waste Management. [online] Available at: <https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/waste-management/3r-programmes-and-resources/e-waste-management> [Accessed 31 October 2020].

Nea.gov.sg. 2020. Hazardous Substances. [online] Available at: <https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/pollution-control/chemical-safety/hazardous-substances> [Accessed 31 October 2020].

Youtube Video on E Waste Recycling in Singapore:

NEA, 2019. E Waste Recycling In Singapore.

Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0MGp3_BF3A&ab_channel=Stories> [Accessed 31 October 2020].

New Singapore Airlines A380 takes to the skies:

Airbus, 2017. New Singapore Airlines A380 Takes To The Skies. [image] Available at: <https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2017/12/new-singapore-airlines-a380-takes-to-the-skies-.html> [Accessed 31 October 2020].

Featured Image:

The Atlantic, 2016. The Global Cost Of Electronic Waste. [image] Available at: <https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/the-global-cost-of-electronic-waste/502019/> [Accessed 31 October 2020].