The OEM announced that more than 60 government and industry leaders addressed the future of recycling at Ricoh’s 13th Eco Action Day Roundtable event.
Ricoh Asia Pacific held its Eco Action Day Roundtable at the Ricoh Printing Innovation Centre, bringing together more than 60 government, senior business and academic leaders to address topics on sustainable waste management and recycling via a circular economy.
The title of this year’s roundtable was “Recycling: The Road to Zero Waste?”. Speakers and participants reimagined the future of recycling in Singapore and discussed potential solutions and actions to advance Goal 13 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) – climate action.
Mr Yuji Hiruma, Director and Senior General Manager of Digital Workplace Marketing Division in Ricoh Asia Pacific, said: “Despite years of driving awareness and action on the importance of recycling, Singapore’s domestic recycling rate remains flat at 22 percent in 2018, up from 21 percent in 2017. This is why in the Year Towards Zero Waste, we want to initiate conversations on sustainability and environmentalism, and to share actionable outcomes to advance the recycling practice and sustainable waste management.”
Mr Tan Meng Dui said: “We have designated 2019 as the Year Towards Zero Waste, to rally everyone to care for our environment and treasure our resources. To achieve our goal of becoming a zero waste nation cannot be solely a government-driven effort, but a collective one involving the Public, Private and People partnership. NEA will continue to provide the policy, regulatory and legislative framework to support our adoption of the circular economy. Individuals and businesses can also play their part to build a strong 3R culture and adopt a zero-waste mind-set in all that they do. This will help conserve our precious resources and extend the lifespan of Semakau Landfill for as long as possible.”
Mr Robin Hicks said: “The amount of waste generated annually in Singapore has risen 40-fold since the 1970s, but recycling rates have not kept pace. Today’s discussion raised many excellent ideas for how Singapore can gradually shift towards becoming a true zero waste nation where incineration is a last resort, and we hope participants in today’s session will take these solutions back to their homes, organisations and communities and put them into action.”
“In support of the Eco Action Day campaign, Ricoh believes in driving sustainability for the future and have strong plans to support this commitment,” said Mr J.D. Kasamoto, General Manager, Service and Environment Division, Ricoh Asia Pacific, who also presented at the Eco Action Day Roundtable. “These include reducing carbon emissions via investments in electric vehicles, utilising more renewable energy in our offices, and using more recycled materials by reducing input of new resources in product manufacturing.”
“We are also making headway in environmental research at our Eco Business Development Centre in Japan. It has embarked on several research initiatives in resource conservation and energy creation. This has, for example, led to the development of a dye-sensitised solar cell, which enables high-power generation performance and efficiency under weak lighting conditions. Through such investments and R&D, we want to contribute to a better tomorrow in the communities around the globe that we are privileged to serve,” he concluded.
