In November 2017, I caught up with a friend of mine. In the middle of the conversation, he said “I have adopted a Zero Waste lifestyle”… I would have laughed if someone has told me that I will start a company one year later in Singapore about Zero Waste. Without realising it, he started a process that will mature over the coming months: the awareness of the waste we generate.
Awareness and recognising a need traveling through South East Asia
In January I undertook a travel through Oceania. I went to New Zealand, Fiji, Western Australia, Indonesia, and finally Singapore. Indonesia offered the most striking contrast between stunning landscapes and shocking waste management practices. How was it possible that people in such a beautiful environment would not be more mindful of how wastes impact the land.
Global warming, Great Pacific Patch, bleaching of corals are all symptoms of the way we consume and generate wastes. Even if I respected the Zero Waste philosophy and concepts, I didn’t take the further step to become Zero Waste.
Jean-Christophe, the friend who introduced me to the Zero Waste concept, is currently doing a “Zero Waste World Tour” and maintain a blog. One day, he sent a post highlighting what were the alternatives to common single-use products of our daily life. I realised that I was just too lazy to actually do the research and, surely, more people would be in a similar situation…
And a business idea came to life
The Zero Waste concept has been around for over 30 years and is trending at the moment. On an individual level, it is a way to reduce one’s footprint. On a city or region level, it is the only viable solutions to a long-term sustainable economy.
I am passionate about energy efficiency for industries and large commercial facilities. This passion led me to work for a great consulting company in Australia, Northmore Gordon. With such an interesting field of work, why would I give up and deal with the trash of companies instead of their energies? Because, if successful, leading Singapore to become a Zero Waste City, will have a much bigger impact on energy savings and carbon emission reductions than all the energy audits I could do. That’s the goal!