Reader's Response - Draft 2
The article “Parliament: S'pore looks to create Newoil by transforming waste plastic into alternative fuel” by Liu (2020) highlights Singapore’s approach to manage the rising amount of waste generated every year and discusses how recycling can help Singapore to move closer to a zero-waste nation and a low-carbon economy. Liu states that packaging waste is one of the biggest waste streams in Singapore, such that National Environment Agency (NEA) will start a deposit refund scheme to encourage recycling. Usually, plastic can be recycled by mechanical and chemical recycling. The amount of packaging used per year should be recorded by the producers and retailers for the sake of the only landfill. Besides plastic waste, Liu claims that there will be three new facilities to process more than 50,000 tonnes of e-waste annually. Liu highlights the Resource Sustainability Act will be launched that requires food enterprises to segregate the waste. NEA also introduces Newsand, which is incinerated waste and used as construction material. Liu also states that Singapore intends to transform plastic to form Newoil to replace fossil fuel petroleum in the form of pyrolysis oil. If successful, economic and job opportunities can be created for Singaporeans.
Although the title of the article is about
Newoil, it focuses mainly on Singapore’s methods of recycling to tackle the
three key waste streams: e-waste, food, and packaging. While the process of
pyrolysis oil made from plastic can be new to the industry, the development of Newoil
will bring benefits to Singapore.
Firstly, the new recycling technology of
Newoil will assist in reducing carbon emissions. As mentioned by Liu (2020),
plastic can be recycled by mechanical and chemical recycling. However, there
are some certain types of plastic waste, such as contaminated plastics, not
suitable for mechanical recycling. This is because one piece of contaminated
plastic waste can contaminate the whole bin of plastic and end up in landfills,
leading to a low recycling rate of plastic (Tan, 2018). Thus, they can be
processed to form wax or oils via pyrolysis (Fivga & Dimitriou, 2018).
According to Cefic (2020), it is proven that pyrolysis can reduce carbon
emission as compared to incineration, thus it can replace sending waste to
Semakau Landfill for incineration to lengthen the lifespan of the only landfill
in Singapore.
Secondly, the development of Newoil will close
the plastic waste loop. In conventional mechanical recycling, plastics will be
melted and remolded to form lower-grade plastic products. However, this means
that the number of times that a piece of plastic can be recycled is limited as
the more a piece of plastic is recycled, the lower its properties and performance. Chemical
recycling or pyrolysis can break down the plastics into monomers, thus, the
monomers can be recovered and transformed into other chemicals or products with
higher values (Ketchell, 2021). It is vital to have closed-loop recycling as it
can help lessen the production of more plastic that might reduce the harm to
the environment and expand the lifespan of Semakau Landfill (Ravenhall, 2019).
Also, exploring more advanced technology in closing the plastic waste loop can
create more economic and job opportunities for Singaporeans (NEA, 2020).
Although the development of Newoil can bring lots of benefits, the process of transforming pyrolysis oil from plastic waste still costs higher compared to conventional crude oil (Fivga & Dimitriou, 2018). This is because the development of recycling technology is still quite new. More studies and research on the pyrolysis of plastics are required to be done to set industrial standards or commercialised guidelines. The cost of maintaining the facilities undergoing pyrolysis is also high (Baranski, 2021). In my opinion, the development of Newoil can still be beneficial to bring Singapore closer to a zero-waste nation and a low-carbon economy due to its potential in reducing plastic waste.
In a nutshell, while the development of Newoil
might be new in Singapore, there are many benefits in terms of environmental
impact that bring advantages to Singapore. Therefore, the development of Newoil
is encouraged to help in preserving the environment as well as the growing
economy. However, “no solution to the world’s plastic crisis is as simple as it
looks” (Baker-Munton, 2019). This is because any kind of recycling method can
be costly to maintain and difficult to handle, for instance, the waste must be
managed before it can be recycled to form a new product. Thus, we need to
apply 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) in our daily life to live more sustainably.
Reference
Baker-Munton, C. (2018,
July 30th). Waste To Energy: Money to burn. Globe. https://southeastasiaglobe.com/money-to-burn/
Baranski, A. (2021, May
25th). Plastic Pyrolysis Pros and Cons: Converting Plastics Into
Energy. Profolus. https://www.profolus.com/topics/plastic-pyrolysis-pros-and-cons-converting-plastics-into-energy/
Cefic. (2020, October
1st). Chemical Recycling: Greenhouse gas emission reduction potential
of an emerging waste management route. https://cefic.org/app/uploads/2020/12/CEFIC_Quantis_report_final.pdf
Fivga, A., Dimitriou, I.
(2018, April 15). Pyrolysis of plastic waste for production of heavy fuel substitute:
A techno-economic assessment. Energy, 149, 865-874. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.02.094
Ketchell, M. (2021,
March 26th). Plastic pollution: how chemical recycling technology could
help fix it. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/plastic-pollution-how-chemical-recycling-technology-could-help-fix-it-156346
Liu, V. (2020, March
4th). Parliament: S'pore looks to create Newoil by transforming waste plastic
into alternative fuel. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/parliament-singapore-looks-to-transform-waste-plastic-into-oil
National Environment
Agency (NEA). (2020, October 16th). NEA and Shell TO Jointly Explore
New Chemical Recycling Value Chain To Turn Plastic Waste Into Chemicals. https://www.nea.gov.sg/media/news/news/index/nea-and-shell-to-jointly-explore-new-chemical-recycling-value-chain-to-turn-plastic-waste-into-chemicals
Ravenhall, L. (2019, May
10th). What is closed loop recycling? The Waste Management &
Recycling Blog. https://www.forgerecycling.co.uk/blog/what-is-closed-loop-recycling/
Tan, K. E. (2018,
November 12nd). One piece of contaminated plastic can taint the whole recycling
bin. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-on-the-web/one-piece-of-contaminated-plastic-can-taint-the-whole-recycling-bin
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