Food Yesterday, Plastics Today: Chapter 1

Plastics. You have used it everyday of your life.

But are you aware of plastic pollution? 

Did you know that plastic bags are mistaken to be jellyfishes by turtles and consumed, remaining in their digestive tracts (Fig. 1) (Bugoni, Krause, & Petry, 2001)? When plastics photo-degrade into microplastics, they also deposit permanently on beaches (Kusui & Noda, 2003).

Fig.1: A turtle ingesting plastic (source: http://www.dropbydrop.eu/36808)

Environmental impacts like this have advocated the switch to biodegradable plastics. This plastics can decompose in a timely fashion unlike their predecessors which remain in the environment for centuries! (exaggerated accounts claim that they will outlive humans)

In today’s post, I will be discussing on 1 type of biodegradable plastics called bioplastics.

Bioplastics are manufactured from renewable resources. One example of a bioplastic is polylactic acid (PLA), a ‘biodegradable, aliphatic polyester’ (Drumright, Gruber, & Henton, 2000). NatureWorks LLC is a bioplastic company in USA which uses sugar sources to make their own PLA called Ingeo (Fig. 2) (FROM PLANTS TO PLASTICS, 2014). 

Fig.2: The manufacture of INGEO
(source: http://www.natureworksllc.com/The-Ingeo-Journey/Eco-Profile-and-LCA/How-Ingeo-is-Made )

Ingeo is sold to manufacturers of plastic products (Fig. 3).

Fig.3: Ingeo pellets (source: http://science.kqed.org/quest/audio/bioplastic-boom/)

A Singaporean bioplastic company is OliveGreen. Using corn, yam and polypropylene (PP), pallets are formed (OliveGreen, 2014). The pallets are then processed into Origo which OliveGreen makes into their own Cornware (Fig. 4). While structurally similar to Ingeo, do bear in mind that Origo is not a PLA.

Fig. 4: Corn to pallets to Origo to Cornware Cup
(source: http://www.olivegreen.com.sg/process.php)

Adept at satisfying our daily needs, the global market is slowly accepting such eco-friendly ideals. 

However, critics have expressed that food should be prioritised on ebbing global starvation. Increasing demand on existing supplies will drive up food prices, stressing poorer countries (Runge & Senauer, 2007). Yet other researchers believe that logistics are the underlying cause of global hunger (Carus & Piotrowski, 2006).

My belief lies heavily towards the latter as WHO reported that 1.4 billion people were overweight in 2008 (WorldHealthOrganization, 2014). Clearly, many humans are overeating while many more are starving.

In my next post, I will discuss the second biodegradable plastic.

Stay tuned.

Literature Cited

Bugoni, L., Krause, L., & Petry, M. V. (2001, December). Marine Debris and Human Impacts on Sea Turtles in Southern Brazil. (C. Sheppard, Ed.) Marine Pollution Bulletin, 42(12), 223.

Carus, M., & Piotrowski, S. (2006). Land Use for Bioplastics. bioplastics MAGAZINE, 4, 46-49.

Drumright, R. E., Gruber, P. R., & Henton, D. E. (2000, December). Polylactic acid technology. (P. Gregory, Ed.) Advanced Materials, 12(23), 1841-1846.

FROM PLANTS TO PLASTICS. (2014, May 30). (Copyright 2014 NatureWorks LLC) Retrieved August 27, 2014, from NatureWorks LLC (ingeo: ingenious materials from plants not oil): http://www.natureworksllc.com/The-Ingeo-Journey/Eco-Profile-and-LCA/How-Ingeo-is-Made

Kusui, T., & Noda, M. (2003, January-June). International survey on the distribution of stranded and buried litter on beaches along the Sea of Japan. (C. Sheppard, Ed.) Marine Polllution Bulletin, 47(1-6), 272.

Runge, C. F., & Senauer, B. (2007, May-June). How Biofuels Could Starve The Poor. Foreign Affairs, 86(3), 41-53.

The process: how Origo is made. (2014, June 5). (Copyright Olive Green Marketing Pte. Ltd.) Retrieved August 27, 2014, from Olive Green (From nature...to your table): http://www.olivegreen.com.sg/process.php
WorldHealthOrganization. (2014, August ). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved from World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

Pee & Save? Pee 2 Save?

Hey everyone, this is my first post for Change-Up. And you guessed it! It is related to peeing.

As a BES* student that happens to live near Singapore’s first eco-mall (CitySquare Mall), I can partake in eco-friendly activities regularly; like walking instead of taking a bus when going to catch a movie #MARVEL.

The green highlight of this post is the waterless urinals implemented in every male restroom of the mall as flushing is not required (Fig. 1)!

Fig 1: Waterless urinals in City Square Mall
(source: http://merlionwayfarergoesgreen.blogspot.sg/2013/06/city-square-mall-singapores-first-eco.html)

While there is no slogan outside the mall stating ‘Pee Here to Save Water’, this statement is accurate. With additional water conservation methods like recycling condensed water from the air-conditioning systems, the mall saved 10 Olympic swimming pools worth of water in its first year of operation (Marusiak, 2011)!

Check out this video, by Uridan Waterless System (Denmark), showing how a typical waterless urinal works:

The concept of eradicating the flush arose due to impending global water shortage. During the World Toilet Summit and Expo held by the World Toilet Organisation (ridiculous as it sounds, check this out: http://worldtoilet.org/) in Macau 2008, ecologists and designers debated on this idea because flushes are ‘egregious instruments of waste in this time of acutely finite resources’ (Fig. 2) (Duncan, 2008).

Fig 2: World Toilet Summit & Expo (source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gtzecosan/)

Why then do we see so little of this urinals?

Considering their shameful accidents (matching Justin Bieber), we can be thankful that Jurong East Mall declined this profitable option. Renovating existing malls with waterless urinals is futile if they lack compatible plumbing systems. However, there is no excuse for future infrastructures not to adopt waterless urinals. By 2061, Malaysia will stop selling us water (Long, 2001) 

With our remaining 3 national taps, will Singapore be ready? 

Our water sustainability has always been managed with efficient practices (Tortajada, 2007). I believe that a policy for implementing waterless urinals to new public spaces will go a long way in reducing our future demand for water. PUB needs to promote this alternative to aoivd a future with water shortage.

So why are we waiting?

Literature Cited

Duncan, D. (2008, November 6). Is it time to kill off the flush toilet? (R. Stengel, Ed.) Retrieved from TIME: http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1857113,00.html

Long, J. (2001, December). Desecuritizing the Water Issue in Singapore-Malaysia relations. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 23(3), 504-532. Retrieved August 19, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/25798564?uid=3738992&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104539029807

Marusiak, J. (2011, September 17). Green building experts shop for ideas at Singapore's first eco-mall. International Green Building Conference 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2014, from Eco-Business: http://www.eco-business.com/news/green-building-experts-shop-for-ideas-at-singapores-first-eco-mall/

Tortajada, C. (2007, January 22). Water Management in Singapore. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 22(2). Retrieved August 19, 2014, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07900620600691944#.U_LSw_mSzIM