Background
This proposal has
been developed in response to a call for a proposal made by the Singapore
Institute of Technology (SIT) to recommend solutions to improve the new campus,
SIT Punggol. The team decided to work on plastic waste management in SIT
Punggol, focusing on the beverages’ packaging waste.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) (2019), plastic production
around the world saw a dramatic increase from 15 million tonnes in 1964 to 311
million tonnes in 2014. The article also mentioned that the number is expected
to double again over the next 20 years. As these statistics demonstrate,
single-use plastics are a popular choice amongst consumers. As plastic production keeps
increasing, the possibility of plastic waste will also increase.
As 8 billion metric ton of plastic waste is being produced in the world
(Parker, 2018), it is crucial on how effectively it can be managed as plastic
is a type of material that is difficult to biodegrade, which will result in it
lasting a long time in this world. According to Wright (2018), plastics can
take up to 450 years to degrade, depending on the exact type that was used to
make it. As such, if the plastic waste is not properly disposed of will cause a
variety of problems. One of such problems would be water pollution. When
plastics break down into microplastic, it enters the food cycle of sea
creatures causing harm to the marine biodiversity. Also, when plastics
breakdown, it releases toxic chemicals into the environment and can make their
way into our food and water resources (Grabowski, 2018).
Sriring (2018) published an article about a pilot whale that died due to
80 pieces of rubbish pieces found in its stomach has garnered global attention.
According to the UN Environment Programme (2017), every year about 4.8 to 12.7
million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the ocean. Singapore contributes to
plastic pollution in the ocean through its high usage of plastics in the
country. According to a study by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC)
(2018), Singaporeans use at least 1.76 billion plastics such as bottles, bags
and other disposable items yearly, in which only less than 20% are recycled.
Also, SEC mentioned that the plastic waste is discarded, burnt or transported
to landfills.
This is an issue to a
city like Singapore as the majority of Singapore’s non-recyclable waste is
incinerated and shipped to a man-made island nearby, called Semakau island.
Geddie (2018) reported that Semakau Island, Singapore’s only landfill, is
expected to be filled up by 2035. Originally, Semakau island was expected to
last till 2045. However, due to the amount of waste generated that has
increased over the years, the projected lifespan of the landfill was shortened.
Thus, we should play a part and contribute more to protect the environment.
Initiatives must be taken to reduce plastic production and consumption to
provide a better future for the next generation.
Developed cities such
as South Korea had imposed certain types of disposable plastic ban (Armstrong,
2019). One such example, from the same article, is plastics that are only used
for “wet” items such as fish and meat. Singapore can similarly protect the
environment by reducing unnecessary plastic consumption in the form of bottles
and beverage packaging.
The role of
preventing more plastics from being produced also lies in the daily activities
of a person. One of the main culprits for the extensive amount of plastic used
can be attributed to F&B businesses. To address the issue of plastic waste
in Singapore, SIT can play a part by ensuring that F&B operators will take
measures to reduce plastic packaging.
As SIT Punggol is
designed to be an integrated campus where it “integrates applied research and
innovation”, the team has decided to use the upcoming SIT Punggol as a testbed
before recommending this proposal to other beverages stalls in Singapore. As it
is surrounded by the Punggol community and business park, this will allow for
integration which would generate opportunities for students and industry
professionals to work on projects together that can contribute back to the
community (SIT, 2019).
1.1 Current situations in Singapore
Incineration of trash
was introduced to Singapore in 1978 in the form of Waste-to-energy (WTE)
plants. Currently, incineration helps prolong the lifespan of the landfill by
reducing the amount of volume of waste. According to the Ministry of the
Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), incineration of plastic can reduce the
total volume from 100% to 10%. But it is not a viable long term solution as the
burning of plastic will release fumes that are hazardous to the environment.
Without incineration of this non-biodegradable material, it would stay around
for generations.
In 2007, the National
Environment Agency (NEA) had started the Singapore Packing Agreement (SPA). In
this voluntary agreement, NEA and operators worked together to reduce
“packaging wastage” from innovative design, efficient manufacturing and
encouraged “reuse or recycling of packaging materials”. According to NEA
(2019), under the second SPA’s duration, businesses have reduced the total
amount of 54,000 tonnes of packaging waste.
ZeroWaste SG (2018)
has also published a guide to encourage food and beverage (F&B) operators
to reduce plastic usage. In this guide, auditors issued a rating for popular
F&B operators based on efforts in reducing plastic usage, persuade
consumers to adopt a Bring Your Own (BYO) culture and suggest other things for
them to contribute more. The results published in this guide show that the majority
of F&B operators are open to the concept of a BYO culture.
The ideal situation
would be for stores selling beverages under the Singapore Food Agency (SFA),
should not use plastic cups for their drinks. The SFA should include
regulations for the shops to omit plastic for their cups, straws, and
carriers.
1.2 Problem statement
The amount of plastic
waste contributed by beverages consumption is high due to the extensive amount
of usage of single-use plastics. This poses plastic pollution threat to the
ocean which would, in turn, contribute to climate change.
1.3 Purpose statement
The purpose of this
proposal is to provide feasible solutions to reduce plastic usage from beverage
stalls in Singapore. This is to ensure that Singapore’s plastic waste situation
can be alleviated. In addition, the upcoming Punggol campus can adopt this
system to test for the feasibility of the idea island-wide.
2. Proposed
solutions
The team took
reference from the data generated from the survey (Refer to Appendix C)
and researched the current happenings in other countries and found that some of
the solutions can also be applied in the context of Singapore, making use of
the upcoming SIT Punggol as a trial before recommending to implement the
solution islandwide. With the help of SFA to administer guidelines, this
solution could be executed to encourage the reduced use of plastic packaging
for beverages.
2.1 Dispenser-Type Beverages
PepsiCo (2019) has launched a new
“hydration platform” in the form of a smart dispenser. (Refer to Appendix A)
The consumer will bring their own bottle/container to the smart dispenser,
then the dispenser will scan the consumer’s unique QR code and dispense
according to the consumer’s choice. As the smart dispenser system uses QR code,
it will remember the consumer’s preferences. It will also automatically track the
daily consumption of fluids by the number of refills and the reduced
“environmental impacts” by using the system.
Unlike PepsiCo where they adopt a smart
system for dispensing drinks, there is another type of dispenser in the market
that utilizes a similar idea as PepsiCo but it is more applicable for
traditional hand made drinks. In one of NUS’s canteens, there are dispensers
for common drinks like hot coffee and tea. (Refer to Appendix B) The
drinks operator will make the drink in bulk, then they will put it in the
dispenser and consumers will fill their cups with their preferred drinks after
paying for it. The use of such dispensers for beverages in stores can help to
reduce stress on Singapore’s plastic problem by encouraging consumers to use
their own containers and reduce the need for unnecessary packaging.
2.2 Rental cups
Currently, beverage stalls normally
provide a plastic cup when a consumer makes a purchase. This ‘rental cups’
method is a new service introduced in Singapore by a company ‘Revolv’ with the
aim to cut out single-use plastics for takeaways. How this system works is when
a customer buys a cup of coffee to go, he/she will pay a deposit amount on top
of the price of the beverage. Customers will get their deposit back when they return
the cup at another participating outlet, and no washing is required.
Mahmud (2019) stated that “A new
service recently launched in Singapore wants to replace single-use plastic in
takeaways with reusable cups and containers that customers can rent technically
for free.” With such service availability, consumers do not need to bring their
own cup and are still reducing the use of plastic.
2.3 Using sustainable material as
alternative
2.3.1 Glass (for bottles)
Glass bottles could be an alternative
material for bottled drinks.
Based on one of the group member’s
experience, the restaurant she worked at previously reused all the chilli
bottles instead of throwing them away and replacing them with new ones. Every night,
there will be a staff assigned to wash the chilli bottles that were almost
empty and would then refill with a new batch of chilli from the can.
2.3.2 Stainless steel (for straws)
F&B businesses have started to
phase out plastic straws in the effort to reduce plastic waste. Fast food
companies such as Burger King and KFC have stopped providing customers with
plastic straws unless there is a request for it. The usefulness of the straw
would only last as long as the drink, after which it will be treated as trash.
Hence, reusable straws will ensure that people are able to consume their drinks
without causing pollution. One such material that can be used to make these
reusable straws are stainless steel.
3. Benefits proposed
solutions
3.1 Dispenser for Beverages
The use of dispensers allows people to
store their preferred choice of beverage in their own bottles or cups. This
reduces the need for plastic bottles to be manufactured which will eliminate
the additional cost and in turn, increase the savings for businesses.
Beverages that are normally bottled can
be replaced by the dispenser. This will not only cut down the plastic bottle
usage but also to help the consumer to pick up a habit of bringing their own
cup or bottle all the time. Such dispensers allow better efficiency because
customers will no longer require another person to get the drinks for
them.
3.2 Rental Cups/containers
Rental cups/containers allow customers
to patronize stores that only provide disposables takeaway without producing
packaging wastage. This is good as the savings on the packaging can be utilized
elsewhere. Also, the reduced hassle for consumers to bring their own
cups/containers will encourage consumers to participate.
3.3 Using sustainable material
Glass bottles can be reused and
recycled, this creates an ecosystem where glass can be used multiple times and
provide convenience to users at the same time. Opting for glass as a
replacement would be feasible as there are many benefits it brings. According
to the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) (2015), glass bottles and containers are
100% recyclable and can be continuously reused without the loss of purity or
value and for each ton of recycled glass, over a ton of natural resources are
saved. GPI also mentioned that up to 95% of the raw materials are replaced with
recycled glass and manufactures will be able to benefits from recycling such as
decreases raw material emissions and use, extends the life of plant equipment,
such as furnaces, and saves energy.
Steel is a metal that can be used to
make cups and straws respectively. The material is known to be durable and can
last a long time in terms of wear and tear. Thus, the use of steel straws can
reduce the need for manufacturing plastic for beverages in the long term.
4. Limitations of
proposed solutions
Apart from benefits,
the solutions we provided has drawbacks as well. This way, our stakeholders
will be able to weigh the pros and cons of each solution and decide which
solution to put into practice.
4.1 Dispenser for Beverages
It is only limited to homemade drinks
such as milo and coffee. This might also lead to an uneven mixture over a
period of time and difficulties in maintaining the temperature. A consumer
might abuse it by taking more than what they paid for. The last challenge that
will be faced is what will occur when the dispenser is empty.
As compared to noncarbonated drinks,
carbonated drinks require a carbon dioxide tank (CO2 tank) to produce the
carbonated effect. Additional human resources will then be required to replace the CO2
tank.
4.2 Rental Cups
The system of having cups and
containers for rent requires huge logistic work. Furthermore, it relies heavily
on users to follow the practices. Customers might not be able to return the
item on time and in good condition. As this system is currently not implemented
widely, users might not be able to have access to the system. This makes it
inconvenient for visitors to make a trip to return the item. Also, the system
might be prone to abuse as people might not treat the items with care and will
result in problems such as damaged cups and not returning the cups on time.
4.3 Sustainable material as an
alternative
While glass is superior in terms of its
carbon footprint, there are some disadvantages that make plastic more
preferable than glass. Weight and fragility are some drawbacks. Glass generally
weighs heavier than plastic which means more trips are required when
transporting packaged goods which would lead to a great impact on the
environment. Also, glass has the tendency of breaking easily. This means if a
glass bottle is knocked over, it would leave a mess behind and it would be
dangerous due to the small fragments.
Given that stainless steel is a good
conductor of heat, the straws made from stainless steel cannot be used for hot
drinks. Since straws are long in nature, when washing, it will be hard to reach
the inner side of the middle straw segment thus leading to hygiene issues.
5. Evaluation
After much
deliberation on the benefits and limitations of all three solutions, the team
has decided that having a system where consumers can use their personal bottle
to collect their drinks from the dispenser will be the most suitable option to
counter the high use of plastic packaging.
With the
implementation of this system, the amount of plastic packaging required for
pre-packed drinks and instant takeaway beverages will be reduced as consumers
will have to use their own bottles. This system, compared to the use of
alternate materials, will be more suitable because it does not require a huge
amount of investment and the campus can be set up as an ideal testbed for this
system.
The system, however,
has its limitations. Customers who do not have a bottle in hand might not be
able to proceed in making their purchase. Hence, we have thought of the
integration of a rental cup system, similar to Revolv’s, which will allow
people to have a choice of renting a cup. This would allow people to enjoy
their drinks while eliminating the need for businesses to supply disposable
cups in the event if the consumers do not have their bottles with them and
reusable cups are also not available.
6. Methodology
This section
illustrates the methods used by the team to gather information for the report.
6.1 Primary Research
The team conducted a survey to find out
what are people’s thoughts of owning a reusable straw or cup.
Through this survey, the team was able
to get first-hand data on the percentage of people who own reusable straw or
cup and the reasons why they do not own them. Also, we were able to find out
the reasons behind people’s unwillingness to bring out their own reusable straw
or cup although they do own one.
The data collected is useful for us to
come up with a solution that would cater to the opinions provided.
6.2 Secondary Research
Each of the team members did research
to retrieve statistics of the amount of plastic waste over the past few years,
benefits, and solutions to limitations. The majority of the research was
extracted from trustable news articles or journals. Through the research
process, the team has also gained an initial insight into the research
problem.
7. Conclusion
The team believes
that with a dispenser integrated with the rental cup system, the need for
plastic for packaging will decrease. This is because it removes the unnecessary
packaging step from the traditional manufacturing chain in beverage production.
With the Punggol campus built by 2021, it can be used as a testbed in line with
the goals of the Zero waste master plan.
After which, SFA
could implement this protocol for beverage stalls at other educational
institutes. In the long run, perhaps SFA can introduce it across the beverage
industry to combat the plastic waste issue in Singapore.
8. References
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