Search

Singapore is a city-state with limited land space and resources, and most construction materials are imported from foreign countries. In this study, a detailed whole building life cycle assessment (LCA) of a base case building in Singapore as well as material LCA were conducted with customized life cycle inventory datasets by considering materials importation and transportation in particular, and by considering the effects of adopting local recycled aggregates. Results showed that importation and transportation of construction materials significantly alter environmental impacts. This highlights the necessity of considering transportation for importing materials in Singapore context. Inclusion of local recycled aggregates for concrete production to reduce potential environmental load is significant. This suggests adoption of local recycled aggregates is an important strategy for the development of sustainable construction in Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The yearly amount of waste getting disposed of in Singapore is rising, which poses a waste management issue to be tackled and overcome. The practice of upcycling increases the value of objects and materials and hence, can divert these materials from landfills. This study investigated individuals' and businesses' motivation, interest and participation in upcycling in Singapore. Firstly an overview of the relatively nascent upcycling studies was conducted. The design thinking approach was then employed, which helped to uncover stakeholders' needs and frustrations. Through the implementation of the design thinking approach, this study chose and prototyped a mobile app-aided waste marketplace platform that aimed to reduce the barriers of upcycling by aggregating the materials available in the market and crowdsourcing upcycling know-how. Generally, the results found from the user testing of the platform were positive and encouraging. Feedbacks from individuals showed that the platform can help to improve key factors including raising the awareness of the upcycling issues, and also enable such practices by providing better usability and promoting the upcycling culture. Evaluations from business also corroborate these aspects. The results indicated the potential feasibility and impact of such a solution to promote upcycling in Singapore. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the need to conserve energy, natural resources and landfill space, the necessity to recycle has never been more pressing. However, efforts to improve recycling rates and to reduce contamination rates have seen limited success. This study proposes a new mobile app-aided RANAS approach for recycling behavioral change in Singapore with the goal to increase household recycling rates while reducing the proportion of contaminants in recyclables. The recycling program was developed according to the RANAS model which is a behavioral change model that connects behavioral factors with behavioral interventions through designing and evaluating behavioral change strategies that target and change the behavioral factors influencing a specific behavior in a specific population. The program, with the use of a mobile app platform, was based on tracking each user's recyclable contribution by issuing personal QR code stickers. Two experimental campaigns were launched to evaluate the effectiveness of the mobile app-aided RANAS approach for recycling behavioral change. Results show that the mobile app-aided RANAS approach to incorporate sense of ownership greatly encourages recycling rates to above 40% (vs. 20% for the current household recycling rate in Singapore) and significantly reduces contamination rates to below 2% (vs. 40% for the national average contamination rate). Incentives and rewards program can strongly influence mix of recyclables collected. Furthermore, the mobile app-aided RANAS approach is able to achieve intervention of recycling behavioral changes and has the potential to be used as an action-based training tool to educate individuals about the environmental impacts of recycling. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]