Best of our wild blogs: 8 Mar 19

10 Mar: Registration opens for Sisters Islands Intertidal walks in Apr 2019
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

30 Mar (Sat): R.U.M. mangrove cleanup
Restore Ubin Mangroves Initiative

19 Apr (Fri): Kayaking Sungei Simpang
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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Masterplan to push Singapore towards zero-waste future

KENNETH CHENG Today Online 7 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE — From 2024, large hotels and malls will have to separate their food waste from all other trash so that it can be specially treated and converted to other uses, such as animal feed or compost for landscaping.

This will be one of the key measures rolled out as part of Singapore’s Zero-Waste Masterplan, which will be launched in the second half of this year, Senior Minister of State (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor said in Parliament on Thursday (March 7).

The masterplan will set out steps that Singapore must take to minimise its food, packaging and electrical and electronic waste.

It has set a goal of raising the overall recycling rate here to 70 per cent and the domestic recycling rate to 30 per cent by 2030.

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NEWSand: Government studying how to turn incineration ash into construction material

Aqil Haziq Mahmud Channel NewsAsia 7 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE: The Government is studying how it can turn incineration ash into construction material, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said in his Committee of Supply speech in Parliament on Thursday (Mar 7).

"Today, we already have NEWater," he said. "We are working on creating NEWSand. We are studying how we can turn incineration ash into construction material, instead of landfilling it."

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Parliament: Big push to grow Singapore's food and water resources to ensure survival in the face of climate change

Chang Ai-Lien Straits Times 7 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE - With global warming heralding new threats, resource scarcity will be the new normal.

So the Government is throwing its weight behind efforts to protect and provide for the country's survival - in the areas of water, making the most of waste, food and climate change research - Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said on Thursday (March 7).

"Climate change is bringing new and wicked problems," he said in Parliament.

"It is no coincidence that we are building more desalination and Newater plants - we need to produce water almost at will, regardless of whether the rains come."

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Indonesia: Ministry focuses on preventive measures against forest fires

Antara 7 Mar 19;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Environmental Affairs and Forestry Ministry`s Forest and Land Fire Control Brigade, Manggala Agni, and stakeholders joining a forest fire task force, is currently focusing on preventive measures against the occurrence of forest fires in Riau Province.

After extinguishing wildfires in the province, the ministry and the task force are now focused on preventive efforts, Raffles B. Panjaitan, the ministry`s Director of Forest and Land Fire Control (PKHL), said in a statement, on Wednesday.

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Indonesia: Thousands surrounded by floods across Java

Arya Dipa and Ganug Nugroho Adi The Jakarta Post 7 Mar 19;

More than 22,000 families in 10 districts of Bandung, West Java, have been affected by water from the Citarum River that flooded the area on Thursday, killing one.

The Bandung Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD Bandung) said rain that had started on Wednesday afternoon had caused floods of almost 3 meters in some areas. Baleendah district was the worst hit, with more than 5,000 families affected. The other districts that were also severely paralyzed by the floods are Dayeuhkolot and Bojongsoang. All three districts are located alongside the Citarum River.

The head of the BPBD Bandung’s emergency and logistics division, Sudrajat, said only 226 people from Baleendah had decided to abandon their homes, while most had opted to endure the high water. In Dayeuhkolot, 138 were rescued, including children, pregnant women and the elderly.

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