The eco-entrepreneurs waging war on plastic pollution in oceans

SINGAPORE: From straws to takeaway containers, plastic baggage and private protecting tools - the quantity of plastic that's used yearly is rising.

Regardless of a worldwide push for recycling and lowering single use plastics, a lot of this finally ends up as waste on the earth’s oceans.

Yearly, about 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans. That's equal to greater than 15 baggage of rubbish, on each metre of shoreline all over the world.

“We can immediately see the impact this has on the marine life. But what we do not know for sure now is the extent of the impact on human health," said materials expert Yvonne Lin from WWF Singapore.

"The plastic  in the ocean breaks down into microplastics, and these then could enter the food chain when people eat seafood,” she added.

In accordance with a 2015 report by the Ocean Conservancy and McKinsey, 60 per cent of all plastic waste within the ocean comes from 5 Asian nations – China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.

Though Singapore doesn't contribute a lot to plastic air pollution within the ocean, specialists say we nonetheless have an element to play within the clean-up.

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“Anyone who has gone to East Coast Park in the morning would have seen the amount of plastic waste that’s being washed ashore. So this really shows that this is a transboundary problem," said Ms Lin.

"It doesn’t matter where the plastic comes from, whether it originates in Singapore or some other countries. Solving the plastic waste problem requires a coordinated effort globally and shared responsibility in a collective approach.”

The supplies professional stated that Singapore is well-positioned to drive management on this space.

The Incubation Community was based in Singapore in 2019 with simply that purpose in thoughts.

The main target is on supporting entrepreneurs.

Its director Simon Baldwin stated that it views entrepreneurs as "the engine room for changing systems".

“So consider us as with the ability to supply, help, and scale the very best and brightest concepts to deal with this drawback. Now, entrepreneurs by themselves aren’t going to unravel this drawback alone, so we additionally work with different key stakeholders, to make sure a extra enabling setting for entrepreneurs, companies to scale," said Mr Baldwin.

He added that the organisation also works with large companies and governments to help them implement policies that could potentially de-risk an entrepreneur from moving into the space.

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One of the programmes run by the Incubation Network is the Plastic Data Challenge, which attracted hundreds of entrepreneurs from around the world.

On offer were innovative ideas on working with data to understand how material flows through waste systems across the region.

One of the finalists is a start-up called Clearbot, which uses a swarm of robots to collect trash from oceans or rivers.

The Incubation Community has helped Clearbot to seek out appropriate mentors and linked them with an accelerator in Surabaya to trial their prototype.

As one of many finalists of the problem, additionally they obtained US$10,000 in funding.  

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Mr Baldwin stated entrepreneurs with particular options for native issues are key to cleansing the oceans. 

“We’re finding that there’s lots of people with ideas but there’s such little coordination within the ecosystem," said Mr Baldwin.

"We really think that we’re able to help wayfind, help navigate some of these start-ups through this emerging and exciting space. We’re able to help them connect to mentors ... connect to early grants and funding that allows them to experiment and scale.

"They’re too risky at the moment for venture capital. But our idea is that through these pilot studies and through these projects, that we can support them with building relationships and building connections into the region.”

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He also welcomed the Government’s recent Budget announcements and the Green Plan, which he believes will help create a market for start-ups.

“When governments create goals and aspirations and set targets, it allows to de-risk entrepreneurs moving into that space. We saw in the Singapore Green Plan really ambitious goals for improving waste sorting technology, increasing recycling, turning ash from incineration into building materials. These are all great examples of opportunities for entrepreneurs.

"We may help you, we may help expose you to this chance and in a means de-risk the entry into that area as a result of they know that there's a marketplace for the varieties of applied sciences that they that they’re engaged on.”