June-July 2020

Cutting Down on Plastic Disposables

Drawing Parallels from COVID-19 to waste

By Jess Ong, Zero Waste SG

Who we are, and what we focus on

Zero Waste SG (ZWSG) was formally established in 2015 as a not-for-profit and non-governmental organisation dedicated to help Singapore eliminate the concept of waste, and accelerate the shift towards zero waste and the circular economy. However, its roots goes way back to 2008 where ZWSG was just a website started by Eugene Tay, who wanted to provide tips and resources on waste minimisation and recycling to the general public.

Today, ZWSG has grown to become a recognised charity that has reached over 55,000 people and engaged more than 220 companies through its campaigns and services. ZWSG’s programmes and campaigns covers four main areas, namely: Food waste, plastic disposables, household recycling and organisational waste. Its more recent and notable campaigns are Let’s Recycle Together, BYO (Bring Your Own) Singapore and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) Singapore, where we worked together with the government and companies to reach the general public.

Envision Lite Issue 1-1
ZWSG and their key partners at the BYOB launch event

Increasing Household Recycling Rates

We launched the Let’s Recycle Together campaign in March 2017, which aimed to encourage more HDB residents to recycle using the existing blue recycling bins in their estate, and to educate them on recycling correctly. This ground-up campaign complements the National Recycling Programme by the National Environment Agency (NEA), where the Public Waste Collectors licensed by NEA are required to provide the blue recycling bins and recycling collection for all HDB estates and landed properties in Singapore.

Envision Lite Issue 1-3
Envision Lite Issue 1-2
Zero Waste SG's Founder, Mr Eugene Tay, and manager, Ms Pek Hai Lin, at their BYOB pre-launch media event together with MP Louis Ng

To find out more about other companies who are supporting the reduction of single-use disposables through incentives, charging, and active customer and staff education and engagement, visit www.byosingapore.com

Stay tuned for the forthcoming ENVISION Issue 18 for the full version of this article!