Page 187 - Shaping A Sustainable Future
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Plastic  is  another  type  of  waste  generated  at  the   Water Management
            nursery and consists of plastic pots and growing bags
            (see Figure 5). These are torn and not reusable. Plastic   Prince’s Landscape has a water reservoir (15 m by 30
            waste  is  discarded  by  the  waste  disposal  company   m by 4 m depth) on the nursery’s premises (see Figure
            Tidy Maintenance & Engineering Pte Ltd. at the cost of   6). The reservoir captures some of the rainwater runoff
            $30.00 per tonne.                                    from the site, as well as waste irrigation water. A passive
                                                                 filter is constructed to clean the water before entering
                                                                 the reservoir (see Figure 7).

















                    Figure 5: Plastic and general waste in
                    the nursery.

            Synthetic Chemicals


            Synthetic  chemicals  used  by  the  company  are  in  the        Figure  6:  Reservoir  inside  the
                                                                              nursery.
            form of inorganic and organic fertilizers, and pesticides
            including  insecticides  and  algaecides.  Fertilizers  are
            applied  once  every  two  months  to  keep  the  plants
            healthy and presentable.

            Pesticides are applied once every month to keep pest
            populations  low.  Trained  workers  to  apply  chemicals
            according to the labels and material safety data sheets.
            From our research, we found that all of these chemicals
            are  considered  broad-spectrum  inorganic  pesticides.
            Chemical  pesticides  are  known  to  accumulate  in  the
            soil. They can adversely affect the growth of beneficial
            microbial  organisms  in  the  soil  and  affect  non-target   Figure 7: A part of the filtration system being
            organisms beneficial to the ecosystem.                    upgraded.


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