Valorising our materials - a key step towards building a resilient nation
Is it really waste? Viewed from a resource efficiency perspective, all materials have properties that can be harnessed in one way or another, and it is up to us to be creative to apply existing techniques and technologies to make good use of the materials around us or even innovate to find new applications. This pursuit certainly rhymes with our university as an innovation hub for sustainable development. As our country aims to reinvent itself to develop greater resilience to global turbulence, the need to make optimum use of materials we have already in our midst cannot be stronger, given our limited natural resources and high dependence on imports. What if the very materials we are throwing away as waste could be reused, recycled or upcycled into valuable items, either at the university itself or in partnership with industry.
A key pillar of a circular economy is the ability to design out waste and pollution and a second one is about keeping products and materials in use as illustrated in the diagram below. Embracing these two principles can go a long way to protecting our environment and support the third pillar, namely supporting the regeneration of our ecosystem. Along this line, the university has embarked on a sustainable waste management campaign, in which the support and engagement of each and every one is instrumental. You would have seen the three coloured bins around the campus, aimed at segregating our materials from source to increase the chances of making good use of them and diverting them from landfills. We are working with the NGO WeRecycle in this initative.
You will find more information about UoM’s sustainable waste management campaign through a brochure and awareness video on this webpage. This webpage will also be used to disseminate the results of the campaign, e.g., how much materials have been diverted from landfills and what has been made from the materials you have properly kept away from the common waste stream to give them a second life. We rely on your continued support in this initiative and hope UoM can progressively move to a Zero Waste status through your collaboration, a point where every materials would be valorised.