Engagement 2 – in-person interview with Mr. Danny Lim

Interview with Mr Danny Lim

For my third engagement I conducted a face-to-face interview with Mr. Danny Lim, who is part of an initiative called “Repair Kopitiam”. This initiative promotes sustainability by aiming to bring the community together to tackle the throw away culture of our modern world. My objective for this interview is to learn more about the attitudes towards and the management of e-waste within Singapore.

I chose to interview Mr. Danny because I am aware of his involvement in and passion towards this issue during my time with him in the Repair Kopitiam Service offered at school. He is very knowledgeable about the topic and I trusted that he could provide some insight on the attitudes towards e-waste within the local community, and beyond that — from the viewpoint of a business.

To begin, we discussed Repair Kopitiam and the ideas and behaviours it advocates for, such as the importance of “prudency” and extending the life of appliances rather than throwing them away. We discussed the problems that come with simply recycling parts — a topic we have touched on during our RK sessions. Recycling takes effort and energy to melt down the product and form it into the same product.

He introduced me to Producer Responsibility Organisations (PRO) He said there is ample opportunity to create regulations that promote the maintenance of quality products to prolong its life. He also recommended some points for further research such as cash-for-trash initiatives.

Next, we discussed the “right to repair” — another core component of RK. Companies have the right to void warranty, but should stop putting security bits and make spare parts available. He also dipped into his personal life to describe where his passion towards the issue stem from: “an asian thing, constantly threatened by our parents about wet fingers [when dealing with electronic devices, so instead of] opening them up, they are thrown away.”

This is why he believes governments will be forced to tackle e-waste one way or another, “manufacturers will be forced to be more responsible for what they produce”, and that the major part of what we must be working towards is a circular economy (ZERO waste!)

Fortunately, he was quite knowledgeable about e-waste in Jakarta as well. My Danny was my first stakeholder who invited me to consider the difference in disposable incomes between Singaporeans and Indonesians.

However, to my surprise he knew quite a bit about Mitra Adiperkasa and shared a few points that seemed to contradict my first engagement. He told me that one of the part owners of the company is a major advocate for sustainability. As one of the largest companies in Indonesia, it is incredibly important for them to set an example for other companies to follow, especially in a country where people are not even aware of sustainability (seen as quite a complex concept!).

Another interesting point he mentioned is how the business sector is very interlinked with politics. The businesses that flourish are those owned by politicians, whether the business is sustainable or not, many are guilty of “greewashing”. 

This interview undoubtedly provided me with information to help me compare e-waste in Jakarta and Singapore, but Mt Danny also provided me with guidance for my next steps in my research.