While visiting a studio site at Blackwattle Bay in the Bay's Precinct when I came across a huge pile of styrofoams stacked at a corner of Sydney's Fish Market. So I questioned myself, why are these here instead of a proper storage space within the compound ready to be reused despite a strong recycling section by the Australian Government's waste policy "Less waste, more resources"?
Photo source: Author. Unorganised pile of polystyrene boxes that is used to transport fresh fish in Sydney's Fish Market.
Why recycle? Recycling is within a broad range of criteria in achieving the concept sustainable development. It is defined as " meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their needs" (United Nations Brundtland Commission, 1987). On top of that, it is also important to understand the prospects of recycling is vital towards a sustainable city growth, in the sense of a non-deteriorating state of the environment by reducing the demand for raw materials and energy.
In fact, I came across an article that is intriguing about Janet Unruh, founder of "The Institute for Material Sustainability, Portland" and the writer of the book " Recycle Everything- Why We Must, How We Can". She believes that everything can be recycled 100% - provided we learn how to design things properly. To create materials that are fully recyclable, it is necessary to understand the fundamental of a product, from material extraction to method of processing and adapt the idea of cradle to cradle as illustrated by her below.
Image Source :http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2010/08/13/janet-unruh-recycle-everything-why-we-must-how-we-can/.
It illustrates by Janet that by understanding the fundamentals and design for deconstruction, materials would never need to leave the system but instead being passed from their intended role to be reused till the end of their life cycle.
So, I started researching on current recycled products made by polystyrene, particularly in the construction field. Stumble upon, a company manufacturing walls out of recycled styrofoam that has high insulation value. Not only it reduces the raw materials in conventional concrete, the high insulated performance would lead to huge energy saving in maintaining thermal comfort within a building.
In short, recycling may not be the key to sustainable development, but undoubtedly an important factor in en-route into a smart liveable city. What's more important is, government policy and public engagement should play their role not only as a responsible occupant of the city, also as an occupant of mother nature. As Kuhn describes the prospects for sustainable growth offered by recycling-promoting environmental policies where the main objective of the government is to assure for sustainability in the sense of a non-deteriorating state of the environment. (Kuhn. et al, 2003)
Resources
http://www.uq.edu.au/sustainability/recycling-and-waste
http://sustainability.anu.edu.au/green-work-spaces/paper-and-recycling
http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/national-waste-policy/publications/australian-recycling-sector-reports
http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2010/08/13/janet-unruh-recycle-everything-why-we-must-how-we-can/
T.Kuhn, K.Pittel, T.Schulz. (2003) Recycling for Sustainability. International Journal of Global Environmental Issue, IJGEVI, Vol 3. View on 15 March 2016.
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