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Violet has mentioned about how straws can greatly affect oceans around the world. It is an interesting topic as we use straws daily in our lives. However, countries like Singapore are encouraging people to go "strawless" nowadays to save the environment.

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Electronic Waste: Air pollution & Loading on landfill resources
Due to Singapore being being a modern high-tech country, the amount of e-waste is on the rise. As the e-waste are incinerated, toxic compounds are released which harms to environment and health of people/animals.

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Due to the high levels of consumption of electronic hardware, Singapore also disposes a lot of its old electronic hardware, generating large amounts of electronic waste (e-waste). According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), about 60,000 tonnes of such e-waste is generated every year (National Environment Agency, 2016). E-waste usually contains several metal alloys, covered or mixed with several plastics or ceramics. Large amounts of pollutants are released in landfills or recycling centres in the disposal of e-waste. For example, metals, halogenated compounds, and other substances (Gaidajis, Angelakoglou, & Aktsoglou, 2010).

Even when recycled, e-waste releases harmful substances such as greenhouse gases, due to processes such as melting circuit boards and burning cable sheathing.

When incinerated, e-waste also release many toxic compounds that pollute the air, damaging to the environment and the health of animals and humans. Furthermore, they add to the load on the limited space of landfills. In Singapore, it would deplete the precious limited space of our only landfill left - Pulau Semakau.

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Due to the high levels of consumption of electronic hardware, Singapore also disposes a lot of its old electronic hardware, generating large amounts of electronic waste (e-waste). According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), about 60,000 tonnes of such e-waste is generated every year (National Environment Agency, 2016).

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Sustainability means to be able to ensure economical growth without affecting other factors or quality of living in the society.

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The Food Bank Singapore Ltd
i am inspired to join this organisation as i believe strongly in reducing food wastage. This organisation strives to bridge the gap in the market by collecting surplus food in the market and providing it to organisations and people in need of food.

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Globally, food worth $750 billion is lost or wasted each year throughout the entire supply chain. Reducing food loss and waste could help to recover these economic losses and reduce financial burdens on the world’s most vulnerable people.

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Food worth $750 billion is lost or wasted every year. Photo by Garry Knight/Flickr

More than 150 world leaders will meet in New York this weekend to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global targets intended to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and curb climate change. The SDGs will help set the global development agenda for the next 15 years, focusing attention on the opportunities that will allow for more a sustainable future.

One such priority included is reducing global food waste. Specifically, SDG Target 12.3 will call for the world to cut per capita food waste in half by 2030. If met, this ambitious target will not only boost food security, but also improve livelihoods, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save land and water. In short, curbing food waste is both a goal in itself and a means of achieving other SDGs.

The Cost of Food Waste and Loss

Globally, food worth $750 billion is lost or wasted each year throughout the entire supply chain. Reducing food loss and waste could help to recover these economic losses and reduce financial burdens on the world's most vulnerable people. In Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the world's poorest and most food-insecure regions, the World Bank estimates that just a 1 percent reduction in post-harvest losses could lead to economic gains of $40 million each year. And out of that $40 million, most of the benefits would go directly to the smallholder farmers growing the food.

From an environmental perspective, food loss and waste are an extremely inefficient use of resources. According to a study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food loss and waste accounts for about 3.3 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. To put that in perspective, if food loss and waste were its own country it would be the world's third-largest emitter, only exceeded by China and the United States. Large amounts of water and fertilizer also go into the production of this food that never reaches human mouths. This is a big environmental cost to pay for food from which humans derive little to no use.

And from a food security perspective, reducing food loss and waste is a major opportunity to close the calorie gap between where the world is now and where it needs to be to sustainably feed the planet. The world currently faces a roughly 70 percent gap between the crop calories produced today and those that will be needed to feed a projected population of more than 9.5 billion people in 2050. Recovering some of this lost and wasted food can help close that gap while strengthening livelihoods and improving food security- without requiring any additional environmental costs.

How to Cut Food Loss and Waste

The good news is that food loss and waste-a chronically overlooked issue-is starting to get the attention it deserves, both from the public and private sectors. Just last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture announced an ambitious goal in line with the SDGs to reduce food waste in the United States by 50 percent by 2030. In just five years, the UK cut food waste by 21 percent, and Denmark achieved an impressive 25 percent reduction over the same time span. On the business side, the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), which represents more than 400 companies across 70 countries, recently adopted a resolution to reduce food waste among member facilities by half by 2025.

Here at WRI, we are working to reduce food loss and waste through the Food Loss & Waste (FLW) Protocol, along with our partners at the CGF, FAO, FUSIONS, UNEP, WBCSD, and WRAP. Working off the principle that "what gets measured gets managed," the FLW Protocol is a multi-stakeholder effort to develop a global accounting and reporting standard for quantifying food loss and waste. The Protocol's forthcoming FLW Standard will allow companies and countries to quantify their own food loss and waste in a credible and consistent manner, identifying where and how much food is being lost and wasted. Companies and countries can then use that information to identify appropriate strategies for making reductions. This will lead to economic benefits, increased food security and reduced environmental impacts.

The FLW Standard will be available early next year, just in time to help companies and countries set baselines and start measuring progress against the SDG Target 12.3. This standard, along with loss and waste-reduction efforts from farm to fork, can help shift the world toward a less wasteful, more sustainable food future.

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What's Food Loss and Waste Got to Do with Sustainable Development? A Lot, Actually.

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More than 150 world leaders will meet in New York this weekend to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global targets intended to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and curb climate change.

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Myili mentioned that alternatives to plastic may not necessarily benefit the planet, echoing the statements in this video. The creation of a single use plastic bag requires less energy and produces far lower CO₂ emissions than a reusable cotton bag, that one would need to use the cotton bag 7100 times before it has a lower impact on the environment than the plastic bag. Being environmentally friendly is a complex issue.

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Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic

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Food Bank Singapore

According to National Environment Agency (NEA), Singapore has generated approximately 809,800 tonnes of food waste in 2017 alone. Foodbank is a local organization dedicated to reduce food wastage.

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In the haste to reduce plastic consumption by creating other alternatives like bioplastics with corn and maize, the global food supply is now facing a greater crisis. In addition, bioplastics degrade and produce greenhouse gases like methane that further exacerbates the problem of global warming.
https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2017/12/13/the-truth-about-bioplastics/
https://news.ncsu.edu/2011/05/wms-barlaz-biodegradable/

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'Sustainable' bio-plastic can damage the environment

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Corn-based material emits climate change gas in landfill and adds to food crisis

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I regard sustainability as the ability to improve a situation while not risking harm to another - be it social, economic or environmental.

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In my opinion sustainability means the ability to maintain a balance without over consumption of resources

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Foo Wee Min has highlighted on the housing issue in Hong Kong. This is interesting as i went to Hong Kong during the holiday and indeed their housing is getting smaller due to the increasing population. In Hong Kong, housing expenses are especially high due to the limited places facing large demanding population.
Having experienced it myself, i felt that the government policy mentioned was indeed a non-sustainable way in the long run. Since land are limited, but population is growing.

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Often people mentioned about plastic wastage and we find ways to recycle it. For Singapore, E-waste is a pressing issue. E-waste is very toxic and people underestimate the toxicity of the e-waste that we disposed.
Government are implementing regulations to help in the reduction of e-waste (properly disposal).
However, this might not be sufficient, the key would need to be start from educating the public on how toxic e-waste can be so that public would understand that this issue not only affects them, but affects their future generations as well.

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In the 10 minutes you take to read this article, roughly 1,141kg of electrical and electronic items would have been thrown away by people and companies across Singapore.

That is the weight of around 7,610 mobile phones.

In a year, this figure balloons to around 60,000 tonnes (60 million kg) of e-waste, going by figures from the National Environment Agency (NEA).

What is worse, this figure could be the tip of the iceberg.

A study by global think-tank United Nations University estimates that about 109,000 tonnes of e-waste - 19.5kg a person - was generated here in 2014, making Singapore the second-largest generator of e-waste in the region, second only to Hong Kong (21.7kg). This puts the Republic ahead of Japan (17.3kg), South Korea (15.9kg) and Taiwan (18.6kg).

Acknowledging Singapore's growing mountain of e-waste, the Government is mulling over implementing regulations to ensure that discarded items, ranging from refrigerators and washing machines to televisions and mobile phones, are recycled and reused.

But why put e-waste under the spotlight?

HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT HAZARDS

All e-waste contains small amounts of hazardous materials, ranging from heavy metals such as lead found in TVs and mercury in batteries, to ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons found in refrigerators.

Many people simply throw these items down the chute, or leave them at rubbish bins and bin centres, so they are unlikely to come into direct contact with these harmful substances.

But such items often end up in the hands of scrap traders and rag-and-bone men, who lack the skills to recycle them safely and may unknowingly discharge chemical compounds which are harmful to both their health and the environment.

Long-term exposure to these compounds can affect the nervous system, kidneys, bones, hormonal balance and reproductive system. The chemicals are also not biodegradable and can persist in the environment for long periods of time.

There is currently no official data on how much of the e-waste discarded here gets recycled, but a consumer survey of 1,600 people by the NEA paints a grim picture. It found that just 6 per cent of household e-waste, amounting to 1,800 tonnes, is sent for recycling.

Recycler TES-AMM, one of six main e-waste recycling companies here, said that only about 5 per cent of the 60,000 tonnes of e-waste generated here goes through it.

Various other recyclers do not have the expertise to fully recycle a product, leading to valuable materials in e-waste going up in smoke when incinerated.

E-waste contains various metals, including copper, steel, aluminium and even gold, as well as plastic and glass, which can be recovered and used to manufacture new products. In fact, researchers who analysed 14 common e-products, including mobile phones, TVs and tablets, found that materials worth €2.15 billion (S$3.5 billion) could be recovered from e-waste generated in Europe.

The whole of Europe might generate 205 times more e-waste than Singapore, but millions of dollars from materials which could be extracted here each year is still a lot of money that can be earned from trash.

CHALLENGING LANDSCAPE

Standing in the way of a proper e-waste recycling infrastructure is the strong informal sector of scrap traders and rag-and-bone men here, and the lack of a proper e-waste collection system, said experts.

"The informal sector is unskilled and unorganised. (The people in it) are willing to take the hammer, break it down and eventually extract a few components or materials from here and there," said Professor Seeram Ramakrishna, chair of the Circular Economy Task Force at the National University of Singapore.

"We need to move from there to a more organised way, or else it will not be sustainable."

Prof Seeram noted that this leads to another issue, which is the lack of e-waste to make the recycling industry economically viable.

Indeed, noted Mr Venkatesha Murthy, managing director of e-waste consultancy Vans Chemistry, recycling firms "literally have to pay" to recycle large home appliances such as washing machines and refrigerators.

Due to the lack of economies of scale, the cost of recycling the items, including transport and labour costs, cannot be offset by the money earned from selling the components and materials extracted.

The problem: There is no national collection system for e-waste. Most people get deliverymen to cart large items away when they make a new purchase. The discarded items end up at bin centres.

Smaller items like laptops and mobile phones can be deposited at some 400 collection points set up by telco StarHub in places including shopping malls, schools and community clubs.

Still, just 93 tonnes of e-waste were collected at these collection points last year.

WILL LEGISLATION HELP?

One form of legislation that the Singapore Government is considering is the Extended Producer Responsibility approach undertaken in places like Sweden.

In Sweden, about 15kg of e-waste is collected per person and overall, about 52 per cent of e-waste is recycled. E-waste producers, including brand owners and manufacturers, are required by law to ensure that their products are collected and recycled.

Large retailers provide collection points at their stores and one-for-one take-back services upon the purchase of a product. They also have to pay an "environmental fee" to recycling companies to fund their services.

As a result, Swedish e-waste recycler El-Kretsen is able to collect 140,000 tonnes of e-waste a year, two-thirds of the total amount of e-waste the country generated in 2016.

Half of its earnings are from selling the materials recovered from e-waste, while the other half is made up of environmental fees.

"Political instruments can work, but also the market. The more demand for recycled material, the better the prices and hence possibilities for us to develop our processes," said Mr Marten Sundin, marketing head at El-Kretsen.

Laws will also allow the flow of e-waste to be better tracked, reducing illegal dumping and improper handling of e-waste by the informal sector.

But Vans Chemistry's Mr Venkatesha, who has more than 20 years of experience in the e-waste industry, said there is no need for a whole new collection network.

He believes the authorities can tap the existing collection networks used by public waste collectors (PWCs) in Singapore to collect general waste.

"They don't need to reinvent the engine, instead e-waste recyclers and the PWCs need to work closely, sharing the cost and responsibility," he said.

The PWCs, he pointed out, can be incorporated into the e-waste collection system such that they also stand to profit. Rag-and-bone men can also have a role, working for the recycling firms. So instead of taking the items apart and selling the components to scrap dealers, they can sell them to proper recycling firms.

"You cannot take away their bread and butter by completing cutting them out of the equation," Mr Venkatesha said.

CONSUMERS NEED TO PLAY A PART

But for Singapore to truly boost its e-waste recycling rates, the buy-in from consumers is needed.

This will require education.

NEA's consumer survey found that six in 10 Singapore residents do not know, or are unsure of, how to recycle their e-waste.

Consumers also need to vote with their wallets, said Mr Arthur Huang, founder of Miniwiz, a Taiwan-based upcycling company that has created 1,200 new materials from trash including e-waste. These materials can be used to create clothes and even sunglasses,as well as in buildings.

But without consumer demand, manufacturers will not be motivated to use recycled materials.

"In the end, it is the market that decides what product can be made. If you don't buy, those products (made from recycled materials) will never be made," he said.

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In the 10 minutes you take to read this article, roughly 1,141kg of electrical and electronic items - the weight of 7,610 mobile phones - would have been thrown away by people and companies across Singapore.. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

I am inspired by WWF for their efforts to protect the beauty of the environment and wildlife. They also organized the Earth Hour movement which help raise awareness of the environment.

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An example of an unsustainable action is food wastage in Singapore. Every year about 800000 tons of food is wasted. Reducing food waste is important as in the future there are limited resources. Food wastage can also affect economic, social and environmental aspects.
Some of these food waste like vegetable waste can be used as compost as fertilizer for plants instead of disposing them. Consumers should order or cook portions that they can finish.

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Food wastage: Time to get more businesses to do their part

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I read the article, "5,000 free meals made from 'ugly food' to raise awareness about food waste" (March 25). It was reported that there is about 791,000 tons

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Sustainability, to me, means to have better living quality with economic growth to provide more job opportunities and also protect our environment by reducing wastage and power consumption.

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Myili has highlighted an interesting point about alternative options to plastic straws. For instance, paper straws are an alternative to plastic straws but producing more paper straws means more trees would be cut down to produce them, which is also not environmentally friendly even though they are durable and reusable. Hence, when there is a high demand for such straws in the future, it may even harm our environment more than using plastic straws.

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Owen has pointed out a growing  issue which has impacted the creative talent pool locally. Fortunately, the Singapore Government has taken its first steps to change the everlasting academic driven mindset by reworking the PSLE aggregate score etc.

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Jia Wei has discussed about the lack of sustainability in education for the lesser developed country, citing one of the main reasons to be due to the lack of investments. From reading the article linked, I can agree with the point of the country having to pull a lot of resources from other parts of the economy in order to promote a subsidised higher education.

This is why I believe that globalisation has helped in heaps and bounds, as it has helped many countries improve their economies. We may see a huge improvement soon.

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Due to the heavy emphasis on the philosophy of meritocracy over the years, while successful, has dulled the creativity aspect of the newer generations of Singaporeans. Most youths are drilled to study hard and get good grades, rather than going out and try to live their dreams.

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All Singapore Stuff - Real Singapore News

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Disclaimer: This wall of text is just a personal opinion.

Recently, there have been talks about the narrow-mindedness of Singaporeans when viewing other countries. Specifically in this thread, and it made me think, why does this happen? Note, I use some Singaporeans here more liberally and should not be taken so broadly or meant to insult you. hit the back button if you think otherwise.
One thing that came across my mind is that Singaporeans lack the opportunity of choice. Everything is taken care for them from young. Let's start with the most general case: Society.

Society

Society dictates how you should behave, how you should act and how should you respond to things that does not conform to the norm of society. From PSLE to BTO, the lives of 99 \% of Singaporeans are mapped out and taught that way is the only way to survive in Singapore. Parents teach their children to study hard, get good grades, don't meddle in arts or play games, work hard get into uni, get married, buy BTO, save CPF and teach their children the same thing and then what? After hoarding all that cold hard cash, what have you gained in life? You see some elderly lose their purpose in life after they stop working, so their continue to work until they die. What is the purpose of building the retirement nest, when in fact, all these has already been decided for you without you even knowing, because theire is no other choice left to go to.

Don't get me wrong. I don't say that CPF and saving is bad. But coming back to the topic, ask yourself why do you need to save so much to survive when critics will tell you that living in Singapore is cheap and you can survive without spending a bomb? Food is cheap, public transport is cheap, and that is all you need, ever. All this is because Singaporeans cannot choose the lives they want to live or the ambitions that they want. Their only opportunity is to conform to society. Why is it so difficult you might say?
Culture

Social engineering has created a mindset that there are only four ethnic races that you need to know. Chinese, Malay, Indian and Others. The CMIO structure that is taught in schools and emphasised throughout your life. Anything that is not C,M or I is placed in a bucket called Other races. There is no distinction between a Latino or a Finn or a South African Coloured. To them, they are all from the same cultural background called Others and there are no differences among them. You are Chinese and you have to behave this way. You are Malay and you cannot serve on the Navy. You are Indian and you are... dark-skinned with other negative stereotypes that come with it (also beware that the Chinese may call the police on you if you catch one of their kids). I don't believe that makes Singaporeans Racists but can be pin pointed as the lack of exposure to other cultures outside Singapore, especially of the West. I believe the (not so liberal) media portrays westerners in better light than one would expect, but I don't want to discount that as a reason not to.

Yes, you can say that "but Americans can't tell the difference between Japanese, Koreans or Chinese either!". But are you speaking about New York City Americans, Louisiana Americans, or Utah Americans? If you generalise all Americans think the same way, then I wouldn't expect you to agree with me. However, growing up in Singapore everyone experiences the same cosmopolitan culture, same backgrounds and same foreign influences, yet the CMIO segregation is still very prevalent in our society.

But "to hold Singapore to the same standards as other major global cities like, say London and New York, that have had almost a hundred year's worth of experience in being international cosmopolitan centers, is a tad unfair. "

That is up to you to decide, do we need to wait 100 years and many bloody conflicts before we catch up to the RotW? Or can we start right now and change things and not submit to your place in society?

View of the world

As mentioned in this thread, do some Singaporeans really believe go jb get robbed? Perhaps so. The general consensus is that most of the time Singaporeans are afraid to leave the comfort of their own "safety".

Safety is something all Singaporeans take for granted. This trope is repeated time and time again. Again, in school, at home, on the media, etc. But safe from what? The alternative? What is the real alternative? or is this just because choosing another way of life in Singapore is not unheard of, but impossible. There is no rural Singapore to get away from the city life, or even a cheaper city or town to restart your life. And that is how Singaporeans view the world: One country, one stereotype. America=dangerous, western gun shooting people, expensive, Asian get discriminated, no cai png. UK=tube always break down, expensive, no *insert your favorite sg food*. Malaysia=get robbed. Other EU/NA countries=high taxes, no CPF, no HDB. Sweden/Germany/France=White people discriminate Asians. Canada=Too cold, etc...

Singaporeans will rarely get to experience the same opportunity of choice as compared to Westerners. The different lifestyles, cost of living, how they want to travel, to eat, to study, the type of work they want to do. Perhaps that is why people from the other parts of the world are so highly desired in many MNC and Singapore based companies because they have more ambitions and can make bolder statements about life and not because AMDK. Singaporeans who choose the opportunity to seek a better life in other countries either: (a) Come running back to Singapore because having to choose scares them, or (b) embraced it and get mocked by other Singaporeans, because their view point contradicts the stereotype of the countries (USA can be cheap and safe, no discrimination, etc.).

Don't take this too harshly as a critic to your own life. If you like the way it is, I do not care, whatever suits you.

This is my only choice in life, and this must be the way it is for the rest of the world.

darkthechicken
A.S.S. Contributor

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SINGAPOREANS NARROW-MINDED? BECAUSE GOVT TOOK AWAY OUR CHOICES

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Recently, there have been talks about the narrow-mindedness of Singaporeans when viewing other countries. Specifically in this thread, and it made me think, why does this happen? Note, I use some Singaporeans here more liberally and should not be taken so broadly or meant to insult you.

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Due to lack of investments in education for the less developed countries (i.e. South Africa), they are not able to sustain higher education subsidy for higher education, which is a tragedy as the children in those countries require education the most for better development in the country.

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Cape Town - A subsidised higher education system by the government with the current economic growth is not sustainable. This is according to University of Free State (UFS) Vice-Chancellor Professor Francis Petersen.

"We need a massive boost in our economy in order to sustain the South African higher education subsidy system, but I also believe we need to pull other components of the economy.

"Universities are the cornerstones of the economic growth of the country; we need better investments in universities," he said.

Petersen, born in Oudtshoorn and raised in Malmesbury, got his professorship at the age of 29 from the University of Stellenbosch where he presented research in chemical engineering and metallurgical engineering.

He did his first stint in academics in the chemical engineering department at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), formerly known as Cape Tech, where he was promoted to the head of department. He then left the university to work in the private sector for companies such as Mintek and Anglo American Platinum.

"As a young boy, I was very imaginative, always looking at different ways of trying things. My parents never pushed me to academics, but they taught me values such as hard work and commitment," he said.

Petersen described exposure to hardships when he was the executive vice-president at Mintek and he was involved in the restructuring of the company. "I had to implement retrenchments where I learnt to balance hardcore business outcomes with the humanitarian type of flair," he said.

Petersen was an adviser to ministers of science and technology such as Naledi Pandor and Derek Hanekom.

He also served on the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as chairman before returning to academics at the University of Cape Town, where he became deputy vice-chancellor and was in the forefront in engaging with students on the #RhodesMustFall movement.

UFS Vice-Chancellor Professor Francis Petersen. Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency

"I was at the coalface of engagements. This gave me a massive amount of experience and a high level of resilience. I supported the issue students had but not their actions in achieving outcomes," he said.

"Look at South Africa there are still people with no access to primary healthcare, water, sanitation - basic things needed for humanity. Weighing those with free education is a no-brainer."

He said that over the past 10 years university vice-chancellors had criticised the underfunding of the system. This had forced students and parents to fund it.

Collaborative work from stakeholders such as the government, private sector, industry and research councils would yield successful students, thus improving the economy.

"If those sectors can realise valuable contributions, they can, working together interchangeably, give us a chance to move our economic growth to above 5%. My passion is to see all sectors operating as one, realising the different things they do, but building a system of innovation."

Petersen said his focus was on integrating UFS. Within his first nine months in office, he has established a strategic plan aimed at looking at teaching and learning, research and university policies and practices.

"We forget about incidents of racial discrimination too quickly as universities, but people, staff and students are not over it. We need to build urgency in decisions made so that students don't get frustrated," he said.
[email protected] Cape Argus

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Free higher education is not sustainable, says UFS VC | Cape Argus

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Cape Town - A subsidised higher education system by the government with the current economic growth is not sustainable. This is according to University of Free State (UFS) Vice-Chancellor Professor Francis Petersen. "We need a massive boost in our economy in order to sustain the South African higher education subsidy system, but I also believe we need to pull other components of the economy.

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People's Association (PAssionArts)

PAssionArts was established with the intention of nurturing "a collective identity to community arts in Singapore" and "to make arts & culture more accessible to the people". I would like to join them to help people find joy in their lives.

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UNESCO aims to promote quality and sustainable education at all levels worldwide by redefining education. It empowers people to change the way they think and their behaviours needed for sustainable development.

UNESCO is responsible for coordination of Global Action Programme (GAP) of education for sustainable development. World leaders are adopting this programme, which I believe is the correct model for enhancing education.

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Sustainability is the continuous development of the new generation of the population, in all areas of development, not just in academics, but in arts, sports, etc as well.

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Sustainability is the development of worldwide education for all children without forgoing economic development.

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Ryan Tay mentioned that people use plastic for convenience sake and not being aware how the environment is being affected by the use of excessive plastic and i agree with his point. In order to solve a sustainability issue, awareness should be created regarding the problem first.

The article attached states that raising the awareness of the topic to learners seems most successful when the sustainable issues are motivated by and embedded within the context of their primary area of study. Through embedding and linking with material which the learners expect, they can begin to appreciate the importance and relevance of this topic to their own studies and lives.

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Abstract
Information Technology (IT) is a key feature of the modern world and a core skill in education. However, the growing use of technology is at an increasing environmental cost. Estimates for a typical Western economy - such as the United Kingdom - are that the IT industry is currently producing approximately two to four percent of the national carbon footprint. To put this in perspective, this is equivalent to the airline industry. The converse side to this is the way in which IT can be the catalyst and tool to allow other areas of activity to reduce their environmental costs (see The Climate Group (2008), SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, The Climate Group, 2008 http://www.smart2020.org/ [Accessed ]. ). However, where such non-IT impact is reduced then the result is to increase the relative influence of IT itself. Furthermore, the absolute impact will rise as the global digital divide lessens, allowing more people across the world to get ready access to computing devices.

1. Introduction

Within education generally and in particular within Higher Education, the pervasive nature of IT can provide opportunities for educators to illustrate the fundamental and vital issues related to sustainability within their teaching across many subjects. In this paper we consider how to develop this awareness of sustainability with respect to IT - whether in specialist computing courses or as part of other subjects where IT plays a key role. Educators face a number of challenges when considering the incorporation of such material into their teaching, but these are partly balanced by external drivers which can encourage and support the introduction of this material. One of the major drivers for incorporating sustainability - and one recognised by education institutions - is the recognition and promulgation of sustainability by the United Nations, national governments and in turn government national educational departments. The endorsement of education ( United Nations (2009), Division for Sustainable Development, United Nations, 2009 http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/index.shtml [Accessed ]. ) for Sustainable Development provides a framework within which those educators with an interest and concern about these issues can operate.

2. Issues in teaching Sustainable Development topics

Learners' expectations can be a challenge; whilst some learners may expect to encounter some aspect of the environment - for example those taking a biology or geography course - learners in other disciplines do not necessarily expect this, and may be unreceptive or even hostile to the inclusion of material which they consider superfluous. Empirical evidence shows that learners on technical courses - such as computing - are often initially disapproving about the inclusion of ethical and social content within their learning.

Institutional barriers include a variety of issues, such as the curriculum design and approvals process which can limit the opportunities for educators to develop content, as well as the antagonism of colleagues who may be concerned about dilution of subject content, or those who are not convinced by the arguments of the need for sustainability and perceive such content as indoctrination of learners.

Professional bodies and industry itself can now offer opportunities for motivating and developing content. Professional bodies - in particularly those responsible for accreditation - are often a driver for the inclusion of ethical and legal content, and many professional bodies are now recognising the need for professional practitioners to have an awareness of green and more general sustainability concepts. Furthermore, the impact of these issues on the practices of commerce mean that industry itself is recognising the value of graduates who have an appreciation of the issues - and as such provides a growing support for these topics, including the provision of materials that are useful in teaching. By linking this learning content into the professional development of learners, they can be made aware of the importance and relevance of this material to themselves and their futures.

The complexity of the systems and decision making is another difficulty faced by educators in that the decisions and choices regarding sustainability are not simple and that clear facts and data on the aspects are not readily available. For example, one may ask the apparently simple question "is it more sustainable to use electronic notes rather than paper hand outs?" Hand outs have a specific cost in terms of resources to manufacture, whilst use of them is low cost. Conversely, electronic notes seem to have minimal resource implications, but in fact require a wide and varied cost- from the computers to produce them, the servers that host them, to the power usage in reading them. Furthermore, if learners then print the notes, the total resource used may be much greater. These kinds of problems illustrate the problems met by educators and provide examples to use with learners. Moreover, they provide a basis for discussions across a wide range of subjects - from engineers who may need to model the power requirements, to computer scientists who may be asked to identify the server requirements and compute cycles involved, to biologists and earth scientists who can begin to answer the question of the amount of carbon dioxide consumed or captured by paper based solutions. Social scientists and humanities learners may need to consider the social and wider issues of acceptability and politics experts can begin to identify how policy needs to encourage and potentially enforce the best approach.

Motivating the topic and synthesis of content within the main focus of study in Higher Education seems to offer the best route to make learners aware of the issues. A module - or even a one off session - on the topic of sustainability which makes this material stand out may appeal to some learners, but may fail to engage with the majority. Conversely, raising the awareness of this topic to learners seems most successful when the sustainable issues are motivated by and embedded within the context of their primary area of study. Through embedding and linking with material which the learners expect, they can begin to appreciate the importance and relevance of this topic to their own studies and lives.

Within IT for example, good examples of the environmental impact can be found - such as the huge costs of continuous upgrading of hardware. Software itself has a cost - this includes the potential need to upgrade or replace machinery in order to run the latest version of operating systems or applications, as well as the actual running costs of the software (processor intensive programs increase power usage). The financial and social costs to individuals, institutions and nations of these examples provides an opening for educators to explore numerous topics, and to develop this awareness in learners. Such explorations may include considering different approaches - such as developing less resource intensive systems or perhaps open source solutions. The legalities around digital rights management and software piracy are tied in to consideration of the global society. Another example is the modern reliance on the Internet as a permanent resource of information, which has a carbon footprint which may be used to help learners in becoming aware of the costs of modern life and to begin to consider ways in which this can be made more sustainable. Teaching resources - such as photos of piles of obsolete keyboards, or of children in third world countries recovering wiring and chips from pc motherboards which organisations such as Greenpeace provide ( Greenpeace (2009), Photos, Greenpeace, 2009 http://www.greenpeace.org/international/photosvideos/photos/ [Accessed ]. ) - can bring home to learners the wider global impact of the use of computing equipment and the industry's continual demand for upgrades and updates. This material also links in with professional development and awareness - for example, within computing material can be linked with the IT industry codes of practice for data centres and other guides which have a growing emphasis on sustainability.

Power consumption is a good example of the problems that can arise when the implications of decisions and new technologies are not thought through. An example from the U.K. is that of digital television and the apparently separate issue of the standby function in digital devices. On the one hand, the government has been encouraging people to switch devices off, even going so far as to consider banning the incorporation of standby functions in future devices. This has been supported by ad campaigns to remind the public to be considerate with their use of standby functions. On the other hand, the switch from analogue to digital television has had the converse impact: manufacturers have not been forced to address the need for digital decoding to be a standard feature of devices until very recently. This means that many people are using separate decoding devices alongside traditional analogue televisions etc. - thus multiplying the number of digital devices which are always powered (whether on or in standby). This illustration can bring home to learners the need to consider the implications of decisions, and to also consider better planning and design processes which take account of this.

Another feature of embedding sustainability in the curriculum is the opportunity to motivate the consideration of practical legal and ethical issues. Learners can find such topics somewhat abstract, but in bringing up questions about the need to upgrade versus the global cost they can begin to appreciate the tensions between ethical and strictly commercial views. Furthermore, the implications of legal requirements, such as the European Union's disposal of waste electronic products (WEEE), can be considered in light of the actual implementation - again photos of piles of obsolete European computer hardware in third World countries demonstrates that the effect is just to move the problem rather than to reduce it. There are numerous links between computing and sustainability ( (2007), An approach for embedding Sustainable Development in the curriculum in the Information and Computer Sciences, Gordon 2007 http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/supp_learning/esd/casestudies.shtml [Accessed ]. ), and these are relevant to fields beyond computing. Some examples of this link directly with the social aspects of sustainability, for example the changing nature of communication and global perspectives. The Internet allows new platforms for eco-activism, and can increase the feeling of being part of a global community - something that can be encouraged by the use of Web 2.0 and social networking tools. But this is balanced against the role of the Internet as a global marketplace and the increasing pressure of consumerism with the consequential environmental and social impact. Another key area is the enormous growth of computer games as a pastime, which has seen increasing concerns about possible negative consequences, such as the impact on physical and mental health, but which are themselves being addressed with newer technologies and approaches to gaming.

Whilst the use of examples in teaching material - such as some of those identified above - offers one route to make learners aware of these topics, educators are well aware that the most effective form of learning is through action and active engagement. Whilst the debate over the cause of global warming and the ethical position of the off shoring of waste are to some extent individual matters, we can use learning activities to demonstrate the measurable benefits that individuals and companies can accrue through embracing sustainable policies. One example learning activity is to model the financial cost of individual/domestic or commercial IT and ICT equipment. This could be used within the context of an IT module or more generally across a range of disciplines and a wide range of educational levels. The complexity of the model and the detail involved can be amended as appropriate.

3. Example learning activity

An example learning activity is to provide learners with a simple model of the power usage of a collection of typical devices. For typical learners in H.E., this could be a computer, hi-fi, television, cooker, washer, and set top box. Depending on the level of the learners, they can be provided with a sample spreadsheet or software which has the necessary calculations and data built in, or they can be asked to find the data (e.g. the power usage of the devices) and/or the calculations for power usage (i.e. how to calculate the KW Hours per device). Within the context of a computing or related degree, students may be expected to produce an application that would do this, and could use Web Services or other mechanisms to automatically capture the latest data. By calculating the daily usage, based on so many hours switched on, x say, the number of hours on standby, y say, and the number of hours turned off, z=24-(x+y), they can calculate the daily power usage of a device and thereby the annual power usage. Making use of the Internet they can find the cost per KW Hour of electricity in their area, and hence the daily and annual cost of powering the device. With the model in place, they can see the immediate effects of altering the amount of time on standby in terms of power usage and actual monetary benefit. Finally, by finding the carbon footprint per KW Hour, they can calculate the environmental cost of that device and how they can best minimise this.

This activity can be linked in to the numerous carbon footprint calculators; the task could be simplified to simply be that of using one of these calculators or expanded so that the task is to create an online carbon calculator. The benefit of the approach as described is that it brings home the financial cost of ignoring sustainability - something which is necessary with some learners, and which reflects the imperatives that drive the commercial environment. One interesting outcome from this is that learners can become aware that due to the growing dependency on computing hardware, for many learners the environmental cost of their annual use of ICT is actually equivalent to that of their other domestic devices. For details of other ways to integrate sustainability into the curriculum, see some of the case studies available through the HEA ICS Subject Centre.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, through embedding sustainability issues within course content, learners can be informed of and develop their understanding of this fundamental topic. This can be included under Professional issues or as part of technology, where the issue of the impact of technology itself can be developed. The growing awareness of professional bodies and industry of sustainability means that learners can begin to appreciate the potential impact in terms of their future careers and lives - regardless of whether they personally accept all of the arguments themselves. The social and environmental impact of IT and the opportunities it offers to improve things can be enabled through the education of the next generation of scientists, policy makers and engineers to ensure that future IT and related systems take more account of sustainability and help to provide for a better future.

5. References

(2007), An approach for embedding Sustainable Development in the curriculum in the Information and Computer Sciences, http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/supp_learning/esd/casestudies.shtml [Accessed ].

HEA ICS Subject Centre (nd), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Case Studies, http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/supp_learning/esd/casestudies.shtml [Accessed ].

The Climate Group (2008), SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age, http://www.smart2020.org/ [Accessed ].

Greenpeace (2009), Photos, http://www.greenpeace.org/international/photosvideos/photos/ [Accessed ].

United Nations (2009), Division for Sustainable Development, http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/index.shtml [Accessed ].

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Abstract Information Technology (IT) is a key feature of the modern world and a core skill in education. However, the growing use of technology is at an increasing environmental cost. Estimates for a typical Western economy - such as the United Kingdom - are that the IT industry is currently producing approximately two to four percent of the national carbon footprint.

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Food Bank is a non-profit organization that collects unused or unwanted foods which are still safe and fit to eat but may have lost their commercial value. The food Bank Singapore then provides these food items with a new lease of life and distribute to needy families.

I find what this organization doing is really meaningful. Making sure edible food products does not go to waste and distributing to people who really in need of it not only tackles the concern of food wastage but it is also serves as a benefit to the needy people who are not able to afford the food.

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An example would be some agriculture practices pose threats to the ecosystems around the world. The area that the argriculture practices are held provides habitats for both the animals and plants. They poses serious threats like global warming, erosions and loss of habitat when the practices are not held correctly.

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Unsustainable refers to anything we cannot continue at its current rate, i.e., we cannot keep it going. We use the term for debts, economic development, agricultural practices, and things we do that cause environmental damage. If something is unsustainable, we cannot prolong it or continue with it.

Put simply; unsustainable things are those that we cannot sustain. 'To sustain ' something means to be able to continue it or maintain it for a decent period.

We also use the term when describing a remark that the speaker cannot defend or uphold. For example, if I say to you "That remark is unsustainable," I mean that you cannot defend or uphold it.

The Macmillan Dictionary has the following two definitions of the term:

"1. Not capable of continuing at the same rate or level."

"2. Unsustainable farming methods, industries, etc. damage the environment because they use up more energy, wood, coal etc than can be replaced naturally."

Unsustainable debt

If you borrow money, you have to pay it back. Typically, if a bank grants you a loan, you pay it back over a period in monthly installments.

What happens if your installments are so great that you cannot get by? In other words, you cannot pay your rent or mortgage, your supermarket bills, gas, electricity, water, etc. You will eventually default, i.e., be unable to pay your monthly installments.

If you default because you cannot manage financially, it is because your debt is unsustainable, i.e., you cannot service that debt.

In this context, we use the term for private individuals, companies, governments, and even the whole world.

Many countries' debts have reached critical levels. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and other agencies have been telling China for years that its credit growth is unsustainable.

Unsustainable energy sources

We need energy to maintain our current standard of living. We need energy to keep our homes warm or cool and to travel in our vehicles and airplanes. Without energy, society would return to the dark ages.

There are two types of energy sources: 1. Sources that we can renew or replenish, i.e. sustainable energy sources. 2. Sources that will eventually run out, i.e., unsustainable energy sources.

Sustainable energy sources

We can continue using these types of energy sources forever because they never run out.

We use wind to generate electricity. Wind is not a finite resource, i.e., we do not eventually use it all up. Therefore, wind is a sustainable energy source.

The following sources are also renewable: water, waste, crops, sunlight, the Earth's internal heat, and wood.

In theory, the Earth's internal heat will eventually run out in billions of years' time. However, as far as humans are concerned, with our 80-year life expectancy, it is an infinite resource.

Unsustainable energy sources

We have been using fossil fuels for hundreds of years. Oil, butane gas (gas), and coal are fossil fuels.

We will not be able to continue using fossil fuels forever. We won't because one day they will run out, i.e., they are exhaustible. There is a finite amount of fossil fuel energy sources on Earth.

When our coal, oil, and gas reserves run out, we won't be able to replace them with more fossil fuels. Therefore, fossil fuels are unsustainable energy sources.

Unsustainable agricultural practices

These are farming practices that we will not be able to keep up forever. We won't be able to keep them up because of the damage they cause.

Scientists say that some agricultural and aquaculture practices present serious threats to animal and plant species. They also present a threat to ecosystems across the world.

Aquaculture or aquafarming includes fish farming, and the farming of algae, aquatic plants, mollusks, and crustaceans.

All areas that humans farm provide vital habitats for many animals and plants.

When we manage agricultural operations in a sustainable way, we help preserve and restore these vital habitats. These 'sustainable agricultural practices' help improve soil health, water quality, and protect watersheds.

However, when the practices are unsustainable, they present serious threats to species and ecosystems.

Below is a list of some of the negative consequences of unsustainable agricultural practices:

Video - American unsustainable debt

In 2014, Janet Yellen, who was then head of the Federal Reserve, warned that America's debt was becoming unsustainable. Since then, US debt has grown.

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What is unsustainable? Definition and example

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Unsustainable refers to anything we cannot continue at its current rate, i.e., we cannot keep it going. We use the term for debts, economic development, agricultural practices, and things we do that cause environmental damage. If something is unsustainable, we cannot prolong it or continue with it.

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Lonely Whale (Strawless Ocean Campaign)

Plastic straws are not needs required in life. At the rate that humans are using them, by 2050, there will be more straws than fish in the coean.

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Recently many companies have banned the use of plastic straws thinking that it is a sustainable development to prevent environmental problems such as plastic pollution. However they fail to realize that this development is serving more harm than benefit. As mentioned in the article attached:

1) cutting down on plastic straws neglect the problems faced by people with disabilities due to them having to carry reusable straws around as a result of it.

2) While plastic is not good for the environment, alternative options like paper and compostable straws arent good for our planet as well.

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An example of "non sustainable" actions would be the use of plastic straws around the world which is causing environmental harms especially to the marine life. Plastics straws are used everyday and most of them end up in the oceans. Plastic cannot be dissolve or biodegraded, instead, they can only be broken down into micro plastics which pollutes the water and poses great threats to the marine life

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Sustainability to me means striking a balance between the financial, human and environmental aspects to create value to the society and world.

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Fair Trade
They make sure that their people receive their salary and practices good environmental practices.

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Sustainability to me means to be able to able to keep up with the growing demands and needs of  the human population without harming earth natural environment

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To me, sustainability is to ensure we will find alternatives ways to reduce the natural resources usage and pollution to protect the ecosystems from harms.

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Unpackt (Packaging-free grocery store in Singapore)
I think this is a good initiative to start off with reducing plastic waste. I would like to make a difference by encouraging others to bring their own bags and containers for their groceries.

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In Singapore, there is a high amount of usage of disposable plastic products, such as plastic bags for groceries and plastic containers for takeaway food. Many Singaporeans use plastic as it is convenient and does not require any washing since it will be disposed after usage, but in the long run, it is not sustainable and many are unaware of the fact that Singapore's landfill on Semakau Island is filling up fast with huge amounts of disposable plastics.

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A generation ago, Singaporeans brought home takeaway food from hawker stalls in , the Malay word for tiffin carrier, and groceries they bought from wet markets were wrapped in newspaper and palm leaves, and carried home in bamboo shopping baskets.

Today, containers made from natural materials have been replaced by disposable plastics. While plastic bags get most of the bad press - the average Singaporean uses 13 plastic bags a day, according to data from Straits Times- they make up only a fifth of a plastic waste stream that has increased seven-fold since the 1970s, and weighed 800 million kg last year.

"Using plastic is still a relatively new way to shop," says Khee Shihui, who writes about her daily struggle to reduce her plastic consumption with the name ' ' ( means in Chinese) on Instagram. "People seem to have forgotten the old way of doing things."

In just a few decades, residents in the city-statehave developed a serious addiction to disposable plastics, and the clock is ticking to 2035, when the country's only landfill site, Semakau Island, is projected to be full . The root of the problem is that people "feel disconnected" from the petroleum-derived products they consume, says Khee.

Just as quickly as plastic trash is thrown away and removed by Singapore's efficient cleaning system, it vanishes from the consumer consciousness. Disposable plastic is now part of the culture, "and we don't stop to think about alternatives," she says.

"

Some people think plastic is better for the environment because no water-a scarce resource in Singapore-is required to wash it. Others think everything can be recycled so it does not harm the environment.

Dawn Chen, founder, Your Sustainable Store

Dawn Chen, founder of Your Sustainable Store, which sells sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic, says that ignorance and convenient excuses mask the problem.

" Some people think plastic is better for the environment because no water - a scarce resource in Singapore - is required to wash it. Others think everything can be recycled so it does not harm the environment," she says.

Retailers are set up to feed Singapore's obsession with convenience. Eco-Business visited bakery chain BreadTalk last month and observed one customer use nine plastic bags to buy six buns. Each bun was individually bagged, and three more larger bags used to carry them all.

Assuming every customer uses a similar amount of plastic per purchase, this store alone woulduse 5,400 disposable plastic bags every day, or about 2 million bags a year. Breadtalk has more than 1,000 bakery outlets across the region serving products in the same way.

BreadTalk did not respond to questions about how much plastic the company uses, but told Eco-Business that since 2016 it started encouraging cashiers to "proactively" ask customers if they need extra plastic bags to carry their purchases, and will combine items into one plastic bag "where it does not compromise the product quality."

Delivering trash: Would you like some food with your plastic?

While some traditional retailers such as KFC have taken measures to reduce their plastic footprint - in June, KFC became the first fast food chain in Singapore to remove plastic straws and lids from its restaurants,a move that will save17.8 metric tonnes of single-use plastic a year - the fastest growing contributer to Singapore's waste burden is t he online food delivery sector, which is predicted to triple by 2020 .

Homegrown online supermarket RedMart is among the largest players and, like BreadTalk, the firm individually bags different types of items such as meat, fruit, seafood, and vegetables to avoid "cross contamination" during storage and transit, and each delivery is made in plastic tote bags or cardboard boxes.

Though RedMart does offer to take back and recycle plastic bags and delivery boxes for its customers, the company got through 160 tonnes of plastic bags -about the weight of a blue whale- in 2017, according to data shared with Eco-Business.

RedMart a year ago switched to oxo-biodegradable bags , which the company claims require 50 per cent less material to make than regular bags. Tula Goodwin, a British expat and director of a public relations firm, is not alone in having threatened to take her business elsewhere unless RedMart changed how it packages goods. "They now use biodegradable bags, which seems to make more sense to me," she says. "Everybody has to take a degree of responsibility."

Breadtalk also introduced biodegradable bags in 2008, but there are many varieties of biodegradeable plastic, and theymay not be greener than the regular kind , as it only degrades at high temperatures, and when it does, forms microplastic particles that are wreaking havoc on the world's oceans.

Also, since Singapore incinerates most of its waste (only 6 per cent of the country's plastic waste was recycled last year-in recycling plants in Malaysia), biodegradable plastic "may not be better for the environment", the National Environment Agency (NEA) concluded in a lifecycle study of carrier bags and packaging released in March .

RedMart plans to trial reusable bags, but admits that much will depend on customers to "make the returns flow work". The company is also exploring alternatives to plastic cable ties, tape, and shrink wrap as part of its commitment to the Singapore Packaging Agreement , a cross-industry pact to curb packaging waste - which accounts for one third of domestic waste in Singapore.

By 2020, businesses will have to report the type and amount of packaging they put into the market to the NEA, and outline their plans for reducing it. In December last year, food delivery platform Foodpanda made a headstart by making disposable cutlery optional.

The Berlin-headquartered multinational, which launched in Singapore six years ago, says that about 10 per cent of orders have opted out of receiving plastic cutlery from 30 participating restaurants. The company admits that "there is still a long way to go," but estimates that the initiative has saved 60,000 sets of cutlery a month from the incinerator.

"

Almost all of our customers are just indifferent. I have had great difficulty motivating our staff to actively participate in the campaign. Sad to say, we have not saved any bags at all.

Chang Nam Yuen, managing director, Rehab Mart Homecare

Bring your own

Green groups have long campaigned for the introduction of a levy or ban on plastic bags, which have proved successful at reducing plastic pollution in 40 countries, including Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and India. A survey by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) found that 74 per cent of Singaporeans would support such a measure.

Major retailers NTUC FairPrice, Dairy Farm Group, Prime Supermarket and Sheng Siong discussed introducing a plastic bag charge last year , but concluded that customers would complain and take their custom elsewhere.

How easy is it to lead a plastic-lite lifestyle in Singapore?
Eco-Business interviewed consumers for their views on leading a plastic-lite lifestyle in Singapore.
"It's easy to dramatically reduce single-use plastic if you have a routine. It's about figuring out step by step what can be bought without it. That takes time. Some eateries will serve food and drinks in disposables even if I'm dining in. Or some shops are not ok with me bringing my own container. If I'm buying something from a shop, I have to be very diligent about saying "I don't need a bag".
Ng Xin Yi, experience designer
"Most retailers are a bit confused about replacing the plastic bags they would use with my one reusable one. But I offer to pack it myself so it makes their jobs easier. When it comes to straws, retailers often forget I've asked for no straw. It's such a natural impulse to add a straw to a drink, and this needs to change."
Holly Chapman, project administrator
"Not using plastic requires a lot of preparation as I need to carry cutlery with me and shopping bags. Some people don't want to put in the effort or don't think that plastic consumption is a problem. Others are not aware that there are alternatives."
Nina Braum-Bharti, grade 5 student
"Everything seems to come wrapped in acres of plastic, and recycling is not enforced in any way. Every recycling bin seems to contain everything BUT what it's supposed to! I always refuse the plastic bags when offered. This is often met with confusion, derision, or sometimes even a laugh."
Tula Goodwin, PR agency director
"It's not easy in supermarkets as fruit and vegetables are heavily wrapped in plastic.
Take aways are more difficult as retailers provide plastic by default. The worst example is the take away kopi, with the plastic carrier on top of the take-away cup-an ecological aberration."
Patrick d'Huart, regional manager
The government has also resisted calls to legislate. "Imposing a charge or ban on disposable plastic bags and substituting them with other types of disposable bags is unlikely to improve environmental outcomes," Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, said in parliament in March.

So the focus has been bottom-up. Non-profit Zero Waste SG is running a campaign to encourage consumers to bring their own cutlery and utensils to food outlets in exchange fordiscounts and freebies.

Between September and December 2017, 2.6 million pieces of disposable plastic were saved as a result of the campaign.

Foreward Coffee was to take part in BYO campaign. Located on the campus of theNational University of Singapore, the coffee store gives students who bring their own cupsa 10 per cent discount one of the first of 430 outlets .

Peer pressure has helped. " Friends jeer at friends who 'forget' to bring their own cup," shares Lim Wei Jie, Foreward Coffee's co-founder. "Sometimes customers apologise if they don't bring their own cup."

Sales have grown for reusable KeepCups and metal straws, which the coffeeshop started selling in January. But Foreward Coffee is lucky to have customers-students and professors-who are generally environmentally conscious, admits Lim.

Not so for healthcare chain Rehab Mart Homecare, which says its attempt to encourage its customers to bring their own bags has been a "total failure" due to the indifference of both staff and customers.

" Sad to say, we have not saved any bags at all ," laments managing director Chang Nam Yuen. Only legislation can do the job of reducing single-use plastic consumption, Chang believes.

"No country in the world has ever succeeded in reducing plastic bag use without introducing laws. I don't see how Singapore can succeed by just using public education. We have tried for more than a decade already," he says.

Salad chain SaladStop! went a step further by introducing a 10 cent charge for plastic bags, which it donates to animal welfare charity Acres. In March this year, SaladStop! sold 13,149 plastic bags and immediately saw a 30 per cent reduction in monthly plastic consumption.

But the store has received complaints from some customers who do not see the point of paying extra for an already highly-priced purchase. One SaladStop! customer wrote: "Charging 10 cents for a takeaway bag is just cheap. If you need additional revenue just raise the price 10 cents. Do you think we walk around with a bag in our pocket in anticipation of going to Salad Stop? I'll rethink the next time I'm deciding what to buy."

But factoring in the cost of cleaning up used plastic might be a way to reduce consumption, says Matt Stanelos, Singpore director, waste business line for waste management firm Veolia. "Single-use plastic items are generally cheap and convenient at the initial purchase point-externality costs such as cleaning them up post consumption excluded," he says.

"The most effective way to reduce their consumption would be to make an alternative that is cheaper or more convenient, or to price the externality costs in at the purchase point."

The hygiene factor

Though the BYO campaign is taking off in pockets around the country, some large food and beverage retailers are opposed to the idea, observes Khee, who takes a 750ml cup for cold drinks, another for coffee, two sets of dining utensils, a hankerchief and a lunch box with her everywhere she goes.

Is incineration the answer?

Singapore's four waste-to-energy incineration plants may generate electricit y -made from oil, plastic generates a lot of heat when burned-but b urning plastic . NEA says these pollutants are produces harmful pollutants such as dioxins captured by filters before they're released into the atmosphere.

As Singapore's only landfill site is expected to be filled by 2035 or earlier, reducing waste is a matter of urgency. At the moment, citizens are not required to separate their waste at source, which acts as a disincentive for recycling, argues Elaine Tan, CEO of WWF Singapore. But a s Semakau fills up, reusing and recycling plastic will become "increasingly attractive alternatives" to incineration, says Matt Stanelos of Veolia.

China's decision to stop importing other countries' waste at the end of last year may also present Singapore with an opportunity to increase the efficiency of its recycling efforts, and drive innovation in the sector, he says.

Some worry that BYO customers will blame the store if they fall ill, while others fret that BYO will lead to disagreements over portion size, Khee says. "The instinct from cashiers is to refuse something that they fear might get them into trouble," she adds.

The biggest barrier to cutting single-use plastic in Singapore seems to be the notion that to do so will compromise cleanliness-a big deal in spotless Singapore, where plastic bags are seen as necessary to hygienically dispose of wet waste down high-rise building garbage chutes.

None of the major retailers, however, seem worried by the reputational risk of being associated with plastic profligacy. This is because the majority of their customers are "still too happy with our plastic," says Madhumitha Ardhanari, a strategist with sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future.

This could change as consumers become more aware of the environmental damage wrought by single-use plastic-and its potential health impacts, she says.

"The moment the link is made that water quality and the nutritional quality of foods is possibly impacted by plastics, I think companies that are freely giving out plastic will be in trouble," says Ardhanari.

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Singapore's battle with disposable plastic addiction

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A generation ago, Singaporeans brought home takeaway food from hawker stalls in , the Malay word for tiffin carrier, and groceries they bought from wet markets were wrapped in newspaper and palm leaves, and carried home in bamboo shopping baskets. Today, containers made from natural materials have been replaced by disposable plastics.

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Food waste recycling trial by NEA.
As through this trial, all the food waste produced would serve another pupose and the end products such as water or compost could be reused. Thus, reducing the amount of food waste that is being sent to the incinerator.

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To me, sustainability would be the ability to produce the needs of the global human population without causing an alarming amount of pollution and causing great harm to the environment.

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In Singapore we are over-reliant on the use of platics bags. And would not hesistate to ask for extra plastic bag for our own use without thinking of the conquences that these plastic waste would cause after we are done with our uses and just chuck it aside or it goes striaght to the bin. So next time when you goes groceries shopping just take the amount of plastic bags you need or even better, use no plastic bags at all and use a recyclable bag. After using the plastic bags, the most you can do would be to dipose it into the blue recycling bin and not into the green trash bin. So please recycle!

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Singapore goes through 1.76 billion plastic items a year, recycles less than 20%

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Consumers here take 820 million plastic bags yearly from supermarkets - of which two-thirds were used for the disposal of waste, a survey by the Singapore Environment Council found. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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Sustainability to me would be something like using renewable sources to get the things we wanted instead of tapping into the limited resources that we have to achieve our aim.

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World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
They have the mission to conserve nature and reduce pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth. I would also want to make an effort to conserve our wildlife diversity so as to allow our future generations to also get the chance to witness the wonders of the wildlife in our world.

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The meat and dairy industry could be an example of humanity being "non-sustainable". The meat diet requires considerably more land,water and energy than a non-meat diet. It also creates more wastes and environmental issues such as global warming, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity.

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Sustainability to me would be the ability for us to achieve the continuation of global development in every aspects with minimal to no environmental, economical and social issues and drawbacks.

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Greenpeace

They have many campaigns to address environmental problems and also recognizing efforts by companies to improve environmental situations. One example is Lego ending their partnership with Shell.

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FReSH: Food Reform for Sustainability and Health
This organisation aims to achieve a sustainable food and health system while reducing the environmental impact, creating a better life for many who are without easy access to food.

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Changi Airport
I am inspired by the organisation as it is successful as a aviation hub, while incorporating measures to ensure sustainability. It uses natural light as much as possible. For example, in Terminal 3, the roof allows the access of sunlight to brighten up the area during daytime.

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An example would be the unsustainable global food system. This is as while there are 800 million people who are malnourished, there are over 2 billion overweight people (which in turn increases healthcare cost as well as chronic diseases), with a third of food produced thrown away. This can only be fixed if there is a complete overturn of how the system is being run, as the factors to be considered would be how to provide a healthier diet on a worldwide scale, as well as to reduce the waste of food to reduce the environmental impact at the same time.

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World business council for sustainable development

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Geneva, 10 July 2018: It includes an understanding of consumers and future trends, diving into opportunity areas for the private sector to drive transformational change accordingly. And the role of innovation, proactive self-regulation and engagement. Not only is one third of food produced lost or wasted and 40% of agricultural soil degraded, 800 million people are also undernourished while food insecurity generates civil unrest. In addition, two billion adults are overweight, leading to increased health care costs and a rise in noncommunicable diseases in both the developing and the developed world. Fixing this broken system will require a full-scale transformation. We need to provide healthy, enjoyable diets for all while contributing to socioeconomic development and minimizing (and eventually eliminating) environmental impacts and waste. And while we acknowledge that business has played a key role in these systems both on the positive and the negative side, businesses are joining forces to transform them.

In order to identify best practices to address the consumption challenges listed above and to improve the value chain, a joint program has been established between EAT and WBCSD: Food Reform for Sustainability and Health (FReSH). It is designed to accelerate transformational change in global food system, ensure healthy, enjoyable diets for all, and provide foods that are produced responsibly within planetary boundaries. Besides the societal and environmental urgency, improving food systems also provides a significant global business opportunity: A worldwide food and agriculture system in line with the Global Goals has an estimated value potential of over USD$ 2.3 trillion at current prices.

Led by the workstream leaders from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Kellogg's and Sonae, this report assesses people's food behaviors, their preferences, and how they select food, showing that while several patterns can be categorized, there is no clear and objective way to project the behavior at any given moment. Several influencers are furthermore identified, which play a critical role - sometimes from a very early point in our lives.

While those influencers are very important to understand how to drive transformational change, this report also assesses barriers - namely affordability, accessibility, and food safety - that prevent a shift towards a more healthy and sustainable diet.

Looking into the future, seven major trends foreseen by our member companies are summarized, which will guide food consumption in the near future. Based on those findings and the identified trends, this report proposes three opportunity areas for the private sector to accelerate businesses' contribution towards a positive change of the food system: (i) innovation (ii) proactive self-regulation and (iii) shaping demand by engaging with people in the right way and gives examples of current initiatives and projects moving in that direction.

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world business council for sustainable development

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Our global food system is unsustainable, unequal, destabilizing and unhealthy

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Geneva, 10 July 2018: It includes an understanding of consumers and future trends, diving into opportunity areas for the private sector to drive transformational change accordingly. And the role of innovation, proactive self-regulation and engagement. Not only is one third of food produced lost or wasted and 40% of agricultural soil degraded, 800 million people are also undernourished while food insecurity generates civil unrest.

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One example linked here is Our Tampines Hub, where the some of the hawkers are required to keep their stalls open 24 hours, even if there are no customers. In November 2016 when the hawker centre opened, 36 stalls were open 24 hours compared to now where only 16 stalls are open 24 hours. Although the situation has improved it is still not sustainable as the hawkers still have to operate and be able to provide services 24 hours for the convenience of customers, even when there might be none.

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Our Tampines Hub hawkers keep stalls open though place is near deserted after midnight

It is 3am at Hawker Centre @ Our Tampines Hub.

About 20 of the 42 stalls at this 24-hour centre are open, serving assorted dishes including economy bee hoon, roast meat, chicken rice and satay.

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Does it pay to have 24-hour hawker centres?

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It is 3am at Hawker Centre @ Our Tampines Hub. About 20 of the 42 stalls at this 24-hour centre are open, serving assorted dishes including economy bee hoon, roast meat, chicken rice and satay. TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE Thank you for reading The Straits Times You have reached one of our Premium stories.

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Oceana

This organisation is devoted to protect the oceans. It helped to establish a number of laws and regulations over the sea. Save the oceans, feed the world.

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Sustainability to me would be to be able to achieve a society where there is equity of treatment. This is as different working classes would require different amounts of assistance (the poorer would require more). This will then give a more equal platform for the coming generations and hence create an affordable and sustainable environment where more people in the future will be able to contribute to the economy due to the equal chance of high education.

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To me, sustainability is being able to account for the upcoming changes in the society be it from an economic or environmental view. This means having support systems in place to counter any issues that might arise in the future.

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One example is Iran's petrol consumption.

Iran is the biggest petrol importer in the Middle East, having about 70 million litres consumed daily. In Iran, one litre of petrol is cheaper than one bottle of drinking water. Every year the government pays a large sum of money for imported petrol as well as petrol subsidies. About 17.5% of GDP (gross domestic production) is allocated to energy subsidies every year. More than 25% of GDP is allocated to total subsidies in Iranian economics.Thus people consume it in an inefficient manner and petrol smuggling is a very popular job especially near boundaries. From the environmental point of view this level of petrol consumption caused high levels of air pollution especially in big cities and because of that Tehran (capital of Iran) is one of the most air polluted cities in the world. Given the situation that petrol has become one of the scarce resources all around the world, Iran is over-exploiting and wasting such natural resource.

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To me, sustainability is the ability of one entire society to cater to the needs of all living lives in this world wisely, while keeping the resources required for future. In the nature perspective, we must not disrupt the natural system and must make sure all the living creatures co-exist peacefully in the world. For the society, all resources should be put into good use to provide a safe living, working and studying environment for everybody.

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Housing in Hong Kong
Houses in Hong Kong are becoming more and more expensive. The duration to get a house after application is very long. Due to the increasing population, the apartments are becoming smaller and smaller. However this is not a permanent solution as Hong Kong now has limited space to build accommodation for the people despite the government's efforts to accommodate everyone.

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Greenpeace

I'm inspired to join Greenpeace as it uses creative yet non-violent confrontations to expose the global environment issues we are facing. This will force us to come up with solutions which are essential to a green and healthy future.

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Semakau Landfill
In Singapore every year, our solid waste and ashes goes to the landfill,  where it will be projected to run out of space in 2035, as every year, 200,000 tonnes of solid waste goes into the landfill. Once the landfill is completely filled, Singapore have no other ways to dispose the waste.
In addition, Singapore incinerates waste, which effectively reduces the volume of waste by 90% but at the same time it produces dioxins which are harmful to health.
Such waste disposal method is not sustainable in the long run.

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In looking to combat the problems of soil and water pollution that plague the hundreds of thousands of landfills that dot the globe, we now turn to Singapore's very own Semakau Landfill to draw some important lessons (and criticisms too!) on how to run a environmentally sound landfill.
What is it!

Semakau Landfill, the worlds 1st man-made offshore landfill was opened in 1999 at the cost of SGD$610 million and is currently Singapore's only available landfill.

The festering mounds of pungent garbage that usually emanate from landfills, especially lesser developed and poorly maintained ones, are not to be found in Singapore.

Instead, Semakau Landfill (as pictured below) is home to more than 700 types of plants, animals and several endangered species.

Having been transformed into an eco-park, mangroves and coral reefs ring the island and many nature-related recreational activities are held here including bird watching and stargazing - activities that you wouldn't normally do at a dumping ground.
All these have earned it the title of being a 'nature haven'.

But how does Singapore do it?

Firstly, by locating it offshore, 8 miles south of Singapore, the risk for soil pollution is greatly decreased - at least with regard to mainland Singapore.
But then...what about water pollution given that the landfill was constructed out of seaspace?

Well, through the use of prudent and innovative engineering solutions, the waste is effectively contained within the landfill area.

The perimeter of the landfill is lined with impermeable membrane, marine clay and rock layers.

This keeps the surrounding waters pollution free and any leachate that would otherwise pollute the overlying soil is treated in a dedicated leachate treatment plant.

As such, the landfill that we come to know today is clean, ordour free and aesthetically pleasing!

However, this is not to say that the Semakau Landfill is a complete success story

Every year, about 200,000 tonnes of solid waste and ash are received at this landfill. At the rate in which waste is being sent there, it is projected to run out of space by 2035.

Moreover, the usage of incinerators to breakdown waste has been a source of international resistance and critique.

Incineration is a popular and unquestioned method in Singapore as it is one of the most cost effective ways of waste disposal - reducing the volume of waste by up to 90%!

Moreover it helps generate power - about 2-3% of the total power generated in Singapore.

However, incineration results in the production of dioxins which is known to increase rates of cancer growth and other health problems

Additionally, incineration has been touted to go against the green goal of resource conservation as incineration does not make the waste disappear but instead transforms the problem into a formidable pollution problem as evidenced in the previous blog post,

My Thoughts
Thus, even with all the successes the Semakau Landfill enjoys, it is important to realise that it is not a sustainable method of treating our waste. At the cost of preventing soil and water pollution and to meet Singapore's increasing pressures on waste disposal, incineration is a highly useful method - yet it is not without its own negative consequences. However, there are solutions that do not necessarily involve such a trade off. Encouraging greater recycling through legislation is one of the strongest solutions. Currently, recycling in Singapore is not legislated as compared to places in Europe and this is a major factor for our growing waste. Other smaller and softer measures include getting people to bring their own shopping bags and the recycling of organic (food) scraps.
References:
Lewis, L. (2013). Singapore's rubbish dump turned nature haven. Retrieved 2 April 2015 from http://perceptivetravel.com/blog/2013/04/15/singapores-rubbish-dump-turned-nature-haven/

Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. (2015). Managing our waste - Landfill. Retrieved 2 April 2015 from http://app.mewr.gov.sg/web/Contents/Contents.aspx?ContId=1538

Murdoch, G. (2008). Trash and burn: Singapore's waste problem. Retrieved 2 April 2015 from http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/05/22/us-waste-singapore-idUSSP9046620080522

Waste Management World. (2015). Semakau Landfill. Retreived 2 April 2015 from http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/2009/03/semakau-landfill.html

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Landfills - The Good and Bad of Semakau Landfill

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In looking to combat the problems of soil and water pollution that plague the hundreds of thousands of landfills that dot the globe, we now turn to Singapore's very own Semakau Landfill to draw some important lessons (and criticisms too!) on how to run a environmentally sound landfill. What is it!

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Food Bank Singapore
I am inspired to join the Food Bank as they strive to salvage excess cooked food from various F&B establishments, which they reheat and pack the excess food collected and give them to the needy families.

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Sustainability is the ability to produce the things the people, animals and plants need without disrupting the natural system. It is also about educating the younger generations about the problems we are facing today, so that they will be seeking for ways to reduce carbon emissions from a young age.

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For me, sustainability is the ability to improve quality of lives while maintaining a fair and equal society.

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World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

I am inspired by WWF by their mission to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.

To me, animals are not any less important than human. As Albert Schweitzer quote, animal protection is education to humanity.

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To me, Sustainability is the ability to maintain or improve state of system indefinitely without incurring high opportunity cost. It is to achieve a balance between supply and demand, on what is produced and consumed.

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Ren Ci (仁慈)
Ren Ci is a community healthcare institute who serves everyone regardless of the background, by providing affordable healthcare especially to seniors of the community who need them the most.

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Charging of Hawkers 20 cents for each tray returned
In hopes of reducing the manpower required to clean tables and trays at hawker centres, by providing customers of hawker centres incentives for returning their tray. The incentive provides customers a 20 cent incentive when they return their tray. However in doing so the hawkers are charges 20 cents per customer who returned their tray. Hawkers already have high amounts of expenses and this method would result in an unsustainable method of keeping tables and trays of hawker centres.

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Petition lodged by hawkers paying the price for tray returns at Jurong West Hawker Centre

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SINGAPORE - Feeling the pinch from paying hundreds of dollars a month for customers to return their trays, some hawkers at Jurong West Hawker Centre have petitioned the National Environment Agency (NEA) for the operator to remove the fee of 20 cents for each returned tray. The pe

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Sustainability, for me, is the ability to provide benefits to everyone in the long term without imposing restrictions or obstruct the lifestyles of anyone.

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Commuting is unsustainable in Dublin.
2 of the many reasons:

1. Property prices in Dublin are sky-high

2. Dublin is world’s 10th most congested city

Due to the 1st point, the Irish are opting to live out of Dublin, for better mortgage but with Dublin's salary. This leads to the 2nd point of congestion where commuters are spending as long as 5 hours in their car per day. This is unsustainable because of energy consumption, traffic congestion and deterioration in the quality of life for those concerned.

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It is 5.45am on Tuesday and still dark out. There are just four people sitting in the waiting area of Colbert Station in Limerick ahead of the departure of the first trains to Galway and Dublin. At 6am a member of staff lifts the shutter on the coffee counter as more people shuffle into the station.

Maurice Foley, a management consultant, arrives minutes later for his daily commute to Dublin. He makes a beeline for the front carriage of the train to Limerick Junction, knowing from 15 years of travelling this route that it will leave him in the right spot to board the last carriage, the quiet carriage, of the connecting 5.50am Cork-Dublin train and will still be covered by the platform's rain shelter.

"It is one of the bleakest spots on the Earth, particular in the winter," says Foley (37), pointing out that the rain often blows in horizontally at that time of year.

Boarding the nonstop train to Dublin at 6.45am, the Limerick man knows his commute down to each minute. He wakes up at 5.30am, leaves his house in Limerick at 6am and makes it to the station at 6.07am or 6.08am in time for the 6.15am train to Limerick Junction. There, he has the benefit of being a member of a group of commuters whose daily routines for years have made them friends.

"I got married in 2014 and 10 of my commuting friends and their wives came to the wedding. That might give you a sense of how close a group we are," he says.

This group is part of Ireland's commuting class, a large and growing section of the population that, for many of them, have had to - or chosen to - commute long distances. For some, they are commuting to avoid the pressures of increasing mortgages and rents and the general higher cost of living in or near Dublin. For others, it was because there were better career prospects or they were in a specialised line of work that forced them to travel, or simply because they did not want to uproot their families.

Public transport and population migration figures show that more of the country is on the move as the economy surges back from financial crisis and recession. The cost amounts to several thousand euro a year in tickets or petrol but, more significantly, sacrificing valuable time with family and friends.

It is trade-offs," explains Foley, the father of a 10-month-old child. "I have a Dublin salary with a Limerick mortgage

For the Limerick commuter group, career, family and quality of life explain why they live about 200km from where they work and why they spend more than five hours a day travelling.

"It is trade-offs," explains Foley, the father of a 10-month-old child. "I have a Dublin salary with a Limerick mortgage so we are able to afford just me working and my wife as a stay-at-home mom. I am not sure that that would be possible if I lived in Dublin."

The annual rail ticket costs €5,000, which can be offset against tax. The ticket costs €1,800 in 2005, he says, and the group has not seen a commensurate increase in the quality of the service since then.

Limerick-to-Dublin rail commuter John Maguire, from Monaleen, Limerick, in Limerick Junction, where he catches the 6.45am train to Dublin. Photograph Liam Burke Press 22

At Limerick Junction, Foley meets John Maguire, who works in the academic sector, and several other members of their group on the long platform. Maguire has been travelling this route for nine years.

Physical separation

Describing himself as "a bit of a home bird", Maguire says his wife initially found a job in their home town in Limerick and he a job in Dublin. Newly married, he tried for a time living part of the week in Dublin and driving up and down on Fridays but it took a toll on him. Now he has two children and physical separation between his family life in Limerick and work life in Dublin.

People look at me as if I am mad but I want to live in Limerick.

"People look at me as if I am mad but I want to live in Limerick. I lived in Dublin for three or four years. I had a great time. I loved the city, it is a great place to live. But we both kind of felt that we didn't want to raise a family there. We just wanted to be home with the kids," he says.

At the junction, one member of their group who boarded earlier, at Mallow in Co Cork, has saved them all seats. Five of them sitting together have, combined, 50 years of taking the train to Dublin. In that half-century worth of travel, they have witnessed it all: a couple having sex in a toilet, train staff being abused, thefts from the food and drinks trolley, confrontations with other passengers.

"She was a psycho," says software engineer Derek Noonan (42) of a passenger he accidentally spilt a cup of tea over. "'You ruined my pants!' she screamed." An offer to pay for dry cleaning failed to stop her mouthing off for the rest of the journey.

"There was more of them than there was of us," says Foley of another run-in the group had. "They were a big and large family - let's just leave it at that," says Kieran Brennan (46), a software developer.

Do you commute long distances? Share your story by sending an email to to commuters@irishtimes.com with your name, a contact number and a short description of your commute

Jim Lovett (51), who runs a facilities company, has been taking the train from Co Cork for 17 years. He used to take the 5am "mail train" that stopped at every station to be in Dublin for 9am meetings. He remembers the days of the dining car and being able to order a "proper breakfast".

"They used to have a chef, frying things," says Brennan.

'Cowgate'

There was that time the train hit a cow - "Cowgate", they call it - and it took eight hours for a journey that should be just over two hours. There was "The Big Freeze" several years ago when the water in the toilets froze and signals failed. It led to a long delay and even forced passengers to urinate out a train door.

Foley recalls at least three or four trains being delayed by suicides on the tracks.

I have seen couples break up on the train. I have seen couples find out they have been cheating on each other... When people are on the phone, they think they are in their own vacuum of silence,"

Close proximity with passengers leads to colourful eavesdropping. The group is good at spotting those recently released from prison or heading up to Dublin for a court appearance. They have overheard sensitive conversations and seen confidential corporate reports laid out on communal tables.

"I have seen couples break up on the train. I have seen couples find out they have been cheating on each other... When people are on the phone, they think they are in their own vacuum of silence," says Foley, adding that on his own business calls he tends to speak in code.

"It's hardly the world's most unbreakable code," says Noonan, ribbing his friend.

There is plenty of banter in the group. One of their long-running "threads" is based around how useless their careers would be in a post-apocalyptic world and what new roles they would take on, discussing significant tasks such as "who is charge of procreation?" and "how do we get the human race back up and running again?" It all helps keep their spirits up.

The five men, all married, attest to the importance of having a strong support structure at home, be it a very understanding wife, relatives or friends. Lovett recalls his wife falling very ill one time during his commute and he had to continue on his nonstop journey to Dublin in order to travel back to Cork.

"When the kids were sick when you were younger, you'd get that call," says Brennan. "If there is an emergency at home, you could be three hours away. There is absolutely nothing you can do."

There are a lot of downsides to it," says Maguire. "Oonagh [his wife] is like a single parent from Monday to Friday.

He recalls having to give up coaching one of his children's teams as they got older because they added midweek training. "That was a huge thing," he says. "You just have to accept it."

"There are a lot of downsides to it," says Maguire. "Oonagh [his wife] is like a single parent from Monday to Friday. Most times I come home and my children are in bed. Most of the responsibility for all the family stuff falls on Oonagh's shoulder because she is around."

Recovering

Commuting requires constant management and devoting weekends exclusively, or at least as much as possible, to family time, switching off laptops and mobile phones, and recovering from the week's travel.

"Oonagh checks in with me periodically, asking me, 'are you happy to keep doing it?" says Maguire. "I say, 'Limerick is my home and this is where we live. The kids have a life here.'"

Others ask themselves similar questions at regular intervals.

"Twice a year I question my sanity," says Foley. "I just go, 'what am I doing?' It lasts about half an hour and then I get back on the train. You do have to watch it. I am sure that it does take a toll but I don't know anybody who has an ideal situation."

There are more jobs than places to live, says Foley of the chronic housing shortage in Dublin.

The group has seen a noticeable increase in the number of regular people commuting. The economic recovery has concentrated the number of new jobs in and around Dublin. New technology, be it new-generation mobile phones, remote access to work computers or video conference calls, along with flexible working hours, means that employees no longer have to be chained to desks nine to five.

"There are more jobs than places to live," says Foley of the chronic housing shortage in Dublin.

Share your story

We want to hear your commuting story, how far you travel to work each day and why, and the toll it takes on you and your relationships with your family and friends.

Please send 300 words plus a photograph of yourself to commuters@irishtimes.com and don't forget to include your phone number.

The Government's failure to encourage greater economic activity outside Dublin is a source of anger for the travelling group. Talk of the potential for Limerick being the country's "second city" with the port at Foynes, Shannon Airport nearby and a tunnel under the river Shannon excites these commuters but they point out the absence of a motorway joining Limerick and Cork as a major gap in the network.

"We have the backbone of an infrastructure if they just joined it up," says Foley, as the train speeds past green fields in the midlands.

"It is scandalous," says Noonan of the misguided Government policy. "Dublin is a pressure cooker. It is going nuts again. Look at property, look at rent."

"We have to break this inevitable crawl to Dublin," says Brennan.

Rental crisis

In a week when a report from property website Daft showed rents at an all-time high and housing supply at an all-time low, the prospect of Ireland's commuter class growing even more rapidly is very real. The numbers travelling to and from work has risen sharply with the economic recovery.

Census 2016 showed that more people were commuting to work, taking longer to reach their workplaces and leaving home earlier in the morning than in 2011, the peak of the economic crisis. In 2016 there were 1.88 million people commuting to work, an increase of 10.7 per cent on 2011. The average time taken to reach work was 28.2 minutes in 2016, up from 26.6 minutes, while 81 per cent of journey times were under 60 minutes. Some 365,369 workers left home before 7am, an increase from 272,864 in 2011.

The biggest population increases were in towns and villages across the Dublin commuter belt. Saggart in south Dublin was the fastest-growing town, rising by almost 46 per cent since 2011. Among the larger towns of more than 10,000 people, Maynooth grew the fastest, increasing 16.6 per cent since 2011, followed by Ashbourne (11.7 per cent), Portlaoise (9.5 per cent) and Balbriggan (8.8 per cent).

The 2011 census showed that almost one in 10 workers spent one hour or more commuting to work. The CSO is due to publish more Census 2016 statistics on commuting at the end of this month, but town-by-town statistics released last month show big increases in the number of people taking an hour or more to commute to work, school or college from Dublin's commuter-belt towns in the past five years.

The number was up 46 per cent for people living in Maynooth, 44 per cent for Wicklow, 35 per cent for Naas, 34 per cent for Ashbourne, 33 per cent for Newbridge and 32 per cent for Kildare. The numbers in Limerick taking an hour or more to reach their work, school or college was 23 per cent higher. The overall percentage increase in the number of people commuting to work, school or college over the five years was the mid- to high-teens in many commuter-belt towns, while the number of people having to leave earlier in the morning - between 8.01am and 8.30am - had also significantly increased.

There is "concentrated employment" but "deconcentrated residences" and that is not good for people's quality of life

Ronan Lyons, an economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft report, says that, despite the recent construction boom, there are still too few apartments in Dublin for its growing population, making Ireland into more a "sprawl country". There is "concentrated employment" but "deconcentrated residences" and that is not good for people's quality of life, he says. He envisions an increase in both commuting and cramming in existing housing.

"There is so little availability out there that you have to come up with something to make it work and if it is effectively trading petrol and time for rent then that is the choice that people are left with. It reduces their costs in terms of housing and childcare but it cuts at their quality of life," he says.

Childcare costs

This is certainly the case for Christine Mooney and her husband, Jasper Kwak. Childcare costs drove them out of Dublin in 2009 after they had their first child.

Now they live in Clara, Co Offaly, and try to make the most of the many hours they spend commuting to their jobs in Dublin in their 2010 Renault Megane. Jasper (40) likes to listen to new albums; Christine enjoys the radio and audio books. She tends to sleep on the way home. Christine (39) works week on, week off. When she works, she drops her husband at Celbridge where he is picked up by a colleague heading to their office in Citywest. She then travels on to her job in Dún Laoghaire.

They have been commuting this route for more than seven years. Their car has more than 400,000km on the clock from the 260-km return trip to her job in Dún Laoghaire. When they both work, they drop their three children - aged one, six and eight - with her mother near her home in Moate, Co Westmeath, at 6.40am and sometimes do not pick them up until 7.30pm. The nature of their commute means that she could not work full-time, she says.

"We don't really have another option," says Jasper. "There's no State-provided creche or any kind of support where you can bring your kids

"We don't really have another option," says Jasper. "There's no State-provided creche or any kind of support where you can bring your kids so the only option we had is doing it this way. I haven't really thought too much about the alternative because there isn't one. I don't want to beat myself up."

No other option

He believes the Government offers little support to people forced into long-distance commutes. Fuel is taxed very heavily and tolls make travelling by road unattractive, but with no proper public transport option and no affordable childcare the couple do not have any other choice.

Christine says she can spend up to five hours a day in the car on the days she is working. Even rain on the M50 ring-road around Dublin can add an extra half-hour to an hour on to her journey.

For her, however, the quality of rural life in Co Offaly for her children, a home on lots of land, small class sizes, cheaper rent, being close to family and her love for her job make the commute worthwhile.

"We will be doing the commute as long as we have the health to do it," she says.

It is really, really stressful. It is like doing a job and a half. You work for seven and eight hours and you drive for four hours,"

Victor Ogunpola (46), who moved here from Nigeria 14 years ago, leaves his home in Longford town at 5.30am and reaches his workplace in Citywest between 6.50am and 7am giving him up to an hour of free time before he starts work.

Victor Ogunpola (46), an accountant who commutes from Longford to Dublin every day

He likes to beat the heavy traffic and the stress that comes with driving through it. He is usually home by 8pm. The commute would take him even longer by public transport.

"It is really, really stressful. It is like doing a job and a half. You work for seven and eight hours and you drive for four hours," says the father of three.

Traffic volumes

Traffic figures provided by the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) show that the main routes into Dublin - some of the country's busiest roads - are at, or close to reaching, choking point.

A 2014 study estimated that demand on the M50 between the junctions with the Galway and Limerick/Cork roads would rise to 143,000 vehicles by 2023. The average daily traffic has already reached 141,324 this year, an increase of 27 per cent since 2013. The number of unique daily journeys where a driver travels between two interchanges has reached 400,000, indicating that the M50 is being used even more for short journeys.

Traffic volumes have also risen by 27 per cent on M7 to Limerick/Cork over the past four years, while there have been increases of 16 to 20 per cent on the M1 to Belfast and the M3 towards Cavan, explaining the heavy flows on to the M50. The five-car crash that backed up the M50 on Tuesday morning's commute - outside school time, when traffic volumes are traditionally much lower - showed shows the extent of the problem.

Mara Burke (36) travels the M7 motorway to Citywest outside Dublin from her home in Stradbally near Portlaoise. On a good day she will leave home at 6.20am and it will take her an hour and 10 minutes.

On a bad day, particularly on Monday mornings and Friday evenings, the journey takes another 20 minutes. She spends the time in her car listening to YouTube tutorials to prepare for her accountancy exams.

"The Government should encourage companies with incentives to leave Dublin and come to other areas of the country because everything is concentrated in Dublin. More people are commuting because there are no jobs in Portlaoise," the Brazilian-born woman says.

The increases in traffic are not unique to the arteries around Dublin. Sinead King (33), a teacher, has noticed "way more cars" on the road on her commute from Carna in south Connemara to Galway - a commute she has done for the last six years in an effort to save money to buy a house in the city by living rent-free at home. She used to leave at 6.45-6.55am; now she departs at 6.30-6.35am due to the traffic.

She travels the coast road via Spiddal even though the traffic on it is a lot heavier because she wants to avoid the main road between Galway and Clifden. That N59 route is "so poor" and "holds an awful lot of water in the wet weather", she says. Signs erected by locals berate the Government over the state of the N59. "An insult to the people of Connemara," says one. She has travelled the coastal route so much she knows whether she is late or not if she is in front of or behind a particular bus.

King, as like other commuters, finds the first weeks back commuting after the summer the most tiring. "You just become accustomed to it. You have that peace and that headspace. You go on autopilot once you get into the car and you know the journey that is ahead of you," she says.

Commuter traffic

Public transport into Dublin has also seen an uptick in commuter traffic. The number of people passing over the 33 bridges across the Royal and Grand canals into the city - the so-called "canal cordon" - between 7am and 10am every morning rose to 202,000 in 2016, an increase of 10 per cent from five years earlier.

Over that time, there was a 13 per cent increase in the numbers taking public transport with 98,273, or 48 per cent, of all commuters into the city choosing to travel into city that way. Car journeys were down 7 per cent while cyclists and walkers were up 76 per cent and 47 per cent respectively.

Iarnród Éireann says passenger numbers on the Dublin-Drogheda line, the busiest commuter line into the city, are up 15.3 per cent since 2014.

More than five million passengers travel on that line every year. Passenger numbers on the Dublin-Wicklow train have increased 11.3 per cent in the past three years, Dublin-Kildare by 18.3 per cent and Dublin-Maynooth by 27 per cent. The Dart, the country's busiest rail route overall carrying 19 million passengers last year, has seen traveller numbers increase by 27.7 per cent in the past three years.

Courtney Cullen on the train back to Wicklow town from Tara Street in Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

"The trains are very busy so you would be lucky to get a bit of work done when you have got a signal," says Courtney Cullen, a tax manager who commutes from Wicklow town to her office in Dublin city centre on the train.

She leaves home at 6.20am every day to make it to her desk at 8am. She refuses to get up out of bed before 6am and considers 16 hours-a-week commute "dead time".

I have breakfast and do my make-up on the train. That is 20 minutes of your journey. I make sure I have my breakfast packed the night before. You have to be quite organised."

"I can't bear to see '5' written on my alarm clock. It makes you feel a bit sorry for yourself," she says, laughing. "I have breakfast and do my make-up on the train. That is 20 minutes of your journey. I make sure I have my breakfast packed the night before. You have to be quite organised."

Flexi-time allows her to leave her desk at 4.30pm to be back home for 6pm.

Cullen (27) has chosen to work in Dublin because of the career opportunities but to live in Wicklow because she loves her home town and loves "being out in the fresh air and not knocking shoulders as you are trying to walk down the street". She adds: "You work to live - you don't live to work."

Ian Cahill (44), who works in Dublin, likes living in Mullingar despite the 80-minute commute on the train each way. Being in the IT business means there are better job opportunities in Dublin but he likes the "greenery" and the lifestyle in and around Mullingar. Juggling his duties as a father of three is "tricky", he admits, when he is away for long periods but it helps that his wife is a stay-at-home mum.

There is no question about it: you do miss out at that time during the week. When you are getting back at 7pm there is a limited amount of time that you are going to spend with them."

Limited time

"You would like to spend more time with the kids," he said. "You end up doing it at the weekends. There is no question about it: you do miss out at that time during the week. When you are getting back at 7pm there is a limited amount of time that you are going to spend with them."

Caroline Rocks, who commutes to work in Dublin from Louth and also commutes to India once a month. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Caroline Rocks (33), an engineer with a pharmaceutical company and a part-time lecturer, commutes from Blackrock in Co Louth to Dublin every day. and once a month travels to India for a week's work, helping her multinational employer scout for new manufacturing locations. She flies business class through the Middle East and enjoys the travel, having missed out on a gap year abroad in her 20s.

Door-to-door, her Irish commute is an hour; her commute to India takes between 15 and 16 hours. The two commutes have pros and cons, she says. "I like the mix at the moment, that I don't have a constant drive every single day, that I have a bit of a break and am able to go abroad."

Rocks has noticed the increase in traffic in the M1 from Dundalk - it amounts to 16 per cent over the past four years, according to TII figures - but does not see the route as congested as the M50.

"This is the last week of school holidays, so from next week it will be busier and I'll have to set my alarm clock about 15 minutes earlier," she says.

International commuting out of Ireland became more commonplace when the recession hit.

David Ralph, an academic at Trinity College Dublin, says some commuters viewed him more as a relationship counsellor than as a sociologist when he was researching his 2015 book, Work, Family and Commuting in Europe: The Lives of Euro-commuters. Many of the 37 commuters he interviewed for the study spoke about the complications of juggling family and working life, and expressed anger at the mismanagement of the economy by the Government that led to the recession and forced many to commute overseas for work.

Everyone framed it as a temporary thing, something they would do for two, three or five years and a lot of them were taking active steps to upskill and to get out of it effectively"

They talked to him anonymously about the toll it took them: the fatigue, the loneliness of being away from family during the week, and the intense family time and high expectations at weekends that meant sacrificing personal time with friends and involvement in their communities.

"Everyone framed it as a temporary thing, something they would do for two, three or five years and a lot of them were taking active steps to upskill and to get out of it effectively," he says.

Uneven economic recovery

Ralph believes the uneven economic recovery has meant people haven't stopped commuting out of Ireland but they have become more established commuters. He expects an increase in Europe-wide commuting with multinationals relocating from London to other capitals, including Dublin, post-Brexit.

"If they have families, they are not going to uproot them - they are going to commute. Dublin will become a commuting destination rather than a place people commute from," he says.

Career is the driver for many of Ireland's international commuters who spoke to The Irish Times.

Chris O'Donoghue flies to London on the 7.20am flight every Monday for the working week.

Chris O'Donoghue packed up his family and moved them back to Cork almost a year ago after 10 years in London. The cost of educating his two daughters in Fulham was too much and the schools in Cork, where his wife is from, were just as good. He flies to London on the 7.20am flight every Monday for the working week running his own sports marketing agency, returning on a 6pm flight on Fridays. Door-to-door, it takes him about 2½ hours. During the week he lives with his sister in London.

"I would love to do what I would do in Ireland sooner rather than later but there isn't a huge market for it yet so I am kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place financially," says O'Donoghue (39).

"The main upside for me commuting is working in one of the greatest cities in the world and being able to stay in the countryside and in a fantastic Irish city that is thriving more than ever before. You can have the best of both worlds."

Short but gruelling

Tulsen Tollett has a shorter but more gruelling commute travelling from his home in Oughterard in Connemara, Co Galway, to his job as a sports presenter on BBC World News in Manchester.

Tulsen Tollet travels back to Galway at the end of a 3am shift on either a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

The Australian, a former professional rugby league player, leaves home at 12.45am on a Sunday to drive to Galway and catch a 2.15am bus to Dublin Airport and a 6.30am flight onwards to Manchester. Most of the time he starts his shifts at the broadcaster at 6pm that evening. He travels back to Galway at the end of a 3am shift on either a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

Tollett (44) says his "outstanding" wife, who juggles 25 hours of her own work a week and three young children, allows him to devote so much time away from his family to do his job.

I like doing it [the commute] because I love my job. If it is a job that you enjoy, it is not really a job. That's my motto."

"I split my life in two: there's a life of me here working and there's a life of me when I go home. When I get home, I leave my phone alone," he says.

"I like doing it [the commute] because I love my job. If it is a job that you enjoy, it is not really a job. That's my motto."

Steven Rice owns a marketing company and commutes from Dublin to Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates every month.

Steven Rice, who is originally from Newcastle in Co Down, says he has been living on planes for many years. He runs a marketing company in Ras Al-Khaimah, the northern-most emirate of the United Arab Emirates, and returns to Ireland once every three to four weeks for two weeks at a time.

His wife and two sons live in Donabate, Co Dublin, and he is sacrificing family time now to grow his business to a certain point so that he will have more freedom to be around his sons in a few years when they are teenagers. Rice (46) says there are good opportunities in the Middle East for a brand and digital marketing business like his and it would be hard to set up a similar company in Ireland.

"I can only do this for so long," he says. "My family is too important for me for this to be a long-term arrangement. The whole idea is to be able to spend more time with my teenage boys. The father-figure is important then. It is just something we - me and my family - decided to take a risk on. It is a bit of a gamble but so far it looks like we are winning the gamble."
We would like to hear from commuters. What is your experience? Please get in touch by sending an email to to commuters@irishtimes.com with your name, a contact number and a short description of your commute

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The lives of Irish commuters: 'I'm in the car up to 5 hours a day, but I have no other choice'

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It is 5.45am on Tuesday and still dark out. There are just four people sitting in the waiting area of Colbert Station in Limerick ahead of the departure of the first trains to Galway and Dublin. At 6am a member of staff lifts the shutter on the coffee counter as more people shuffle into the station.

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