Rubbish, Rubbish, Everywhere! What Are We Going To Do?
by Cecille Son-Nazareno, YCEF Scientist-in-Residence (October 2012)
Broken umbrella? Don't bother tossing it in the bin...the whole are is one big rubbish bin!
Talking with Y8s and Y9s about the rubbish problem brought about some interesting insights. For instance, there is a reason why the slogan follows this order, "REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE". We must reduce the amount of rubbish we generate. That is the first priority. We can reduce by reusing items. Although recycling is good, it still uses a certain amount of energy -- that is why it is the last of the three.
REDUCING the amount of rubbish is a PERSONAL CHOICE because it entails PERSONAL COMMITMENT. For instance, why is it that some people bring a refillable water bottle while others just swipe their octopus card on the drink machine for a bottle of water? I asked students this question and all classes came with the same answer.
Inconvenient!
Too heavy!
Water bottles or expensive!
Okay, let's talk about "inconvenient" and "heavy". Didn't I say PERSONAL COMMITMENT? It's takes a little more effort to carry a water bottle around or to fetch our water bottles from wherever.
How about "too expensive"? A small bottle of Bonaqua costs HK$5. A good BPA free water bottle costs around HK$40 (I bought my Rubbermaid water bottle from Japan Home Center for HK$38!). I have refilled my water bottle at least thrice a day since I purchased it last September. Even if I had to pay for the water, I think I will still be ahead. According the the Water Services Department of Hong Kong, the one person uses and average of 130 liters of water a day. A site which helps people relocated to Hong Kong, Compass Real Estate, pegs the average water bill at HK$300/quarter. How much does a liter of water cost then? Do the math!
We also talked about Hong Kong inventor MING CHEUNG. He invented a machine that can convert any type of plastic into marine diesel fuel. Hong Kong has one of the worlds busiest ports. Many ships = pollution = poor air quality. The marine fuel produced by Cheung's machine is of better quality than the fuel being used by most ships. If Cheung can produce more of his diesel, then our air quality should improved. One of his problems, though, is that he has to import plastic wasted from abroad since he cannot get enough plastic from Hong Kong. Why is this so? Where is the plastic waste in Hong Kong delivered to? The landfill where it shouldn't be?
Talking with Y8s and Y9s about the rubbish problem brought about some interesting insights. For instance, there is a reason why the slogan follows this order, "REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE". We must reduce the amount of rubbish we generate. That is the first priority. We can reduce by reusing items. Although recycling is good, it still uses a certain amount of energy -- that is why it is the last of the three.
REDUCING the amount of rubbish is a PERSONAL CHOICE because it entails PERSONAL COMMITMENT. For instance, why is it that some people bring a refillable water bottle while others just swipe their octopus card on the drink machine for a bottle of water? I asked students this question and all classes came with the same answer.
Inconvenient!
Too heavy!
Water bottles or expensive!
Okay, let's talk about "inconvenient" and "heavy". Didn't I say PERSONAL COMMITMENT? It's takes a little more effort to carry a water bottle around or to fetch our water bottles from wherever.
How about "too expensive"? A small bottle of Bonaqua costs HK$5. A good BPA free water bottle costs around HK$40 (I bought my Rubbermaid water bottle from Japan Home Center for HK$38!). I have refilled my water bottle at least thrice a day since I purchased it last September. Even if I had to pay for the water, I think I will still be ahead. According the the Water Services Department of Hong Kong, the one person uses and average of 130 liters of water a day. A site which helps people relocated to Hong Kong, Compass Real Estate, pegs the average water bill at HK$300/quarter. How much does a liter of water cost then? Do the math!
We also talked about Hong Kong inventor MING CHEUNG. He invented a machine that can convert any type of plastic into marine diesel fuel. Hong Kong has one of the worlds busiest ports. Many ships = pollution = poor air quality. The marine fuel produced by Cheung's machine is of better quality than the fuel being used by most ships. If Cheung can produce more of his diesel, then our air quality should improved. One of his problems, though, is that he has to import plastic wasted from abroad since he cannot get enough plastic from Hong Kong. Why is this so? Where is the plastic waste in Hong Kong delivered to? The landfill where it shouldn't be?
Ming Cheung
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Lastly, we talked about different ways waste material can be reused. You can check out another article I wrote, REDUCE. REUSE. RECYCLE. and see examples of how waste materials can be converted into something useful again. We ended the class by actually creating something useful from plastic bottles! Take a look!
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