Should We Recycle?

To recycle or not to recycle? Have you ever thought of this question before?

In some countries, like Japan and Korea, recycling is part of their life. In Japan, there's special days for collection of recyclable items (containers and wrappings) and rubbish. At home, you need to separate the recyclable items from the rubbish. As the waste company doesn't come every day to collect the recyclable items, one has to make sure the items are cleaned, otherwise you'll find pests coming to your home. For the times that I stayed in Japan, I had to remember to have a few plastic bags to dispose the various items (rubbish), so that on the day of collection, I didn't have to separate them. For more details on recycling in Japan, click http://www.jcpra.or.jp/eng/index.html

In Korea, the government charges the waste that you dispose by weight! The more you dump, the more you got to pay. Therefore, Korean shoppers bring their own shopping/grocery bags to minimise the waste that they bring home. Also, they dispose of whatever packaging that comes with the products for the very same reason. You can always find unwanted cartons (big and small) outside the supermarkets in Korea. And if you have forgotten to bring your own shopping bag, you will have to pay about 20 won to purchase a plastic bag or 100 won for a paper shopping bag. To read more about recycling in Korea, click http://www.abanet.org/environ/committees/intenviron/newsletter/feb03/korea/

Even though it sounds rather troublesome, I find that it's a good habit for a worthy cause. Can you imagine the world our children (or our future generation) will eventually live in? More lands will be used as dumpsites or landfills. Lands that are supposed to have houses built on have rubbish (mainly non-biodegradable) buried in them. And the water that's from the ground? Can you imagine that one day we might not have clean water at all?

It is a huge and important issue that we need to think about. So, is recycling worth the effort? I think Singapore should and can do much more when it comes to recycling. I wonder how many plastic bags are used in the supermarkets each day.... and how many years will it take for 1 plastic bag to actually decompose (it doesn't really decompose anyway!), so, what's more about the thousands of plastic bags we use daily. Start using biodegradable and reusable shopping/grocery bags now!

Global Singapore

Have you realised that there is a sudden surge in the number of foreigners in Singapore in the recent years? Just the other day I was out with Darling, we were in the MRT when he made an observation - that we were surrounded by foreigners in that cabin.

Even as Singapore's population hits 4 million and still climbing, more foreigners are coming to make up that increase in number. What does that mean for the locals? Does it affect us in any way? Foreign workers are a great help in building our nation. They build our houses, they provide us with medical services, and now, we see them more in the retail and F&B industries. Without them, we cannot even move on with some of our daily routines! Yet, as they enter our homeland, they bring with them their culture and traditions. Some may ditch what they grew up with, while most of them bring it along with them.

In a way, I realise, that Singapore is truly becoming a global nation. In the midst of all this talk about equipping our young to be ready for globalisation in the near future, do we know that globalisation is already at our doorstep?