AGS has collaborated with IRIS to create a new awareness campaign for the issue of recycling!

These new SeaBins act as a strong visual reminder that the items you throw away never really disappear… those items have to go somewhere – and it's often into our oceans!

So head to Square2 shopping centre until 3rd October to see the SeaBins … and scroll down for more general info on the SeaBins, the overall recycling topic and how you can help!

SEA BINS

The SeaBins are double-layered glass bins – part aquarium and part rubbish bin!

The outer layer acts as a symbol of our oceans and as the rubbish piles up inside the inner layer, we are given a strong visual reminder that our rubbish is literally clogging up our precious ocean environment.

So what's the answer?

If you see our SeaBins out on the streets of Singapore, apart from recognising the issue yourself – how about passing on the message by pointing them out to friends?…. or sending out an email or facebook alert so others keep an eye and pass on the message?

Then of course there are the three golden rules of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!

• REDUCE how much unnecessary waste you create … for example stop using plastic bags at supermarkets, buy carrying a reusable shopping bag – like the one available at the AGS eShop! CLICK HERE
• REUSE items such as plastic bottles to store stuff rather than just throwing things away when you assume their past their prime!
• RECYCLE: if you really don't have any use for an item anymore then make sure you recycle whenever possible… and if you live somewhere without easy access to a recycling facility then speak up and let your local agencies know that recycling is important to you and the community needs to have the option to do their part!

The Recycling Issue

YOU can make a huge difference toward saving the Earth by recycling your unwanted stuff?

Many old or used products are disposed of in an environmentally unfriendly way.

Items that are made from materials such as aluminium, plastic water bottles, and certain kinds of paper can be separated from your regular rubbish and put in an appropriate recycling bin.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Plastic was invented after World War ii, which means that it has only been around for about 60 years! That’s hardly any time at all compared to the damage it is causing our planet.
• The energy saved by recycling one aluminium can could run a television for three hours!
• Recycling one tonne of newspapers saves more than 10 trees!
• Paper makes up the largest single item in the trash, as much as 37 percent.
• Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times.
• The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can light a 100-watt bulb for four hours!
• Used plastic soda and juice bottles are used to make all kinds of products: carpets, insulating materials in clothes and sleeping bags, strapping, scouring pads, auto parts, paint brushes, bottles and even tennis balls!
• It’s a sad fact, but over ONE MILLION animals die because of plastic every year!

The Marine Environment

Our oceans and marine life really suffer from the rubbish we throw away!

In 1999, Captain Moore discovered “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” – an area of this great ocean filled with rubbish, spread over 1.5 million square kilometres!

Scientists think that the rubbish on the surface there weighs up to 3.5 million tonnes. That’s as heavy as over 19,000 blue whales – the largest animal that has ever existed on our planet! And because most of the rubbish is plastic, it can’t be seen by satellites.

20 percent is rubbish that has been dumped by ships, but the rest of it has been washed off of the land. The fact that 90 percent of this rubbish is plastic is a big, big problem, since plastic doesn’t biodegrade … it stays as plastic forever!

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

• A plastic bag floating in the ocean looks just like a jellyfish – the favourite food of many sea turtles … imagine how you would feel if you accidentally ate a plastic bag!
• The albatross is a large and magnificent sea bird, but it is fast becoming endangered because parent birds confuse plastics and bottle caps as food to feed to their chicks.
• Most of the plastic in the great Pacific garbage Patch stays in the upper part of the water column, but in some places, smaller bits can be found as deep as 90 metres
• Plastic seriously affects at least 267 species worldwide, and most of them don’t even live near the great Pacific garbage Patch.

Why recycle?

1. RECYCLING SAVES RESOURCES

• When we recycle, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the need to consume natural resources. Otherwise, new products are made by extracting fresh, raw material from the Earth. For example, we know that paper comes from trees and many trees are being cut down just to produce paper. By recycling it, we can help reduce the number of trees that are cut down.
• Recycling helps conserve essential, scarce raw materials and protects natural habitats.

2. RECYCLING SAVES ENERGY

• Compared with producing new products from raw materials, using recycled materials in the manufacturing process uses less energy. For example, it takes a lot less energy to recycle paper than to make new paper from trees.
• Energy is also required to extract, refine, transport and process raw materials compared with providing industry-ready materials. This savings of energy also leads to decrease in pollution.

3. RECYCLING HELPS PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT AND MITIGATE GLOBAL WARMING

• Recycling reduces extracting (mining, quarrying and logging),refining and processing raw materials, all of which significantly pollute our air and water.
• As recycling saves energy, it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions and water pollutants.

4. RECYCLING REDUCES THE NEED FOR LANDFILLS AND INCINERATORS

• When we recycle, recyclable materials are reprocessed into new products, and as a result the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites is reduced – along with the need for incinerators.

What can you do to help?

The saying “reduce, reuse and recycle” is a great motto!

Things you can do to help:

Bring your own plastic bags when you go shopping.

Say no when someone offers you a plastic bag when you buy something small you can carry, like a can or a bar of chocolate.

Use your old plastic bags again and again.

If you throw a plastic bag away, make sure it gets recycled! There are plenty of recycling bins around.

Find out about the existing recycling programmes in your area and your school. Find out the types of items that are acceptable and unacceptable for recycling. For example, some housing estates, schools and offices recycle glass, plastic and paper. Sort your trash for recycling.

Give your old toys a new lease on life by donating them to thrift stores like The Salvation Army or local churches and temples.

Think of craft ideas to reuse your old stuff and turn them into new useful products! For example, what would you do with an old pair of unwanted jeans? What can you make with used bottles?

If you visit a beach, pick up any rubbish (as long as it’s safe) and throw it away properly.

Support recycling by buying recycled products. There are various recycled products available – these include recycled paper, notebooks and even recycled furniture!

Tell your friends, your colleagues, your family – in fact, tell everyone! – about this problem and how they can help! Encourage your friends to recycle! Share with them how recycling benefits and saves the Earth.