SINGAPORE: Property agent Rose Tan throws her domestic waste in the designated blue recycling bins below her flat two to three times a day. “Things like metal
Property agent Rose Tan throws her domestic waste in the designated blue recycling bins below her flat two to three times a day.
They represent a growing number of Singaporeans who are aware of the virtues of recycling, widely regarded as a key solution to the ever-growing mountain of rubbish around the world. Addressing the falling domestic recycling rate in a social media post on May 11, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said that it is worrying that Singaporeans are “using more, but recycling less”.
By 2030, the country hopes to increase its domestic recycling rate to 30 per cent and its non-domestic recycling rate to 81 per cent. China, once the world’s largest importer of recyclable waste, banned the import of certain recyclable materials in 2018, including mixed paper and mixed plastics, through its “National Sword” policy.
According to Resource Recycling, a news website dedicated to recycling, recovered fibre exports from the United States dipped by more than 13 per cent from 2018 to 2019, its largest year-on-year decline since 2000.Besides China, other countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia have also tightened their requirements for recycling waste imports.
NEA had previously said that this waste was exported to countries including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand for processing and recycling.TODAY has asked the NEA and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment for updated figures on the amount of recyclable waste, including domestic waste, that is exported.
Chinese customs officers check a truck carrying imported solid waste they seized during a crackdown in Ningbo city, on Aug 13, 2019. Under NEA’s definition, recycling refers to the amount of collected recyclables sent for recycling either locally or elsewhere, and not sent for disposal, noted Assoc Prof Tong of NUS.
“As we do not have the capacity to recycle this ourselves, the drop in the measured recycling rate would thus not be surprising,” said Assoc Prof Tong, who specialises in waste treatment and processes. In the face of such external forces affecting recycling rates, environmental experts suggested that the government could subsidise freight costs for recyclable materials. Demand for recycled materials could also be ramped up by encouraging consumers to opt for them instead of their virgin counterparts, the experts said.
To recover more plastics from waste for recycling, NEA is also looking into setting up the first plastic recovery facility here. TODAY has asked NEA what is Singapore’s recycling capacity, and what is the capacity that can offset the amount of recyclable waste that cannot be exported.The pandemic has also impacted recycling at a more downstream level, said experts.
The rise in e-commerce during the pandemic also saw the emergence of sophisticated packaging and filling to ensure the safety of products as they were transported. Stickers are currently placed on the blue bins, indicating to residents what can and cannot be thrown inside. However, residents still throw in contaminating items, such as food and liquids, thus undermining the efforts of those who have recycled correctly.
She gave the example of how a whole bale of high-density polyethylene which is set aside for sale to recycling companies could be contaminated and reduced in its purity if it also contains polypropylene plastic which is a common post-consumer plastic. At the ground level, retiree Madam Jane Tan, 74, who lives in Ang Mo Kio, has often seen for herself how the recycling process has been contaminated, which she attributed to a lack of awareness on the residents’ part.Mdm Tan is aware of the labels on the recycling bin that give clear instructions on what can and cannot be thrown inside, and how some bottles must be washed before being thrown.
Ms Rheaume said the logistics of having separate bins might be challenging in a place so densely populated like Singapore. For example, the inaugural Recycle Right campaign was started in 2019. A new mascot, community and school outreach, and a search engine to identify recyclable items were also launched in January 2022.As 2030 beckons, Singapore continues to grapple between the twin needs of improving the effectiveness of its recycling process and keeping it convenient for residents to recycle their domestic waste.
Following other countries’ models might also be another way to work around the structural limitations that Singapore has, such as the density and already pre-existing infrastructure that makes building a recycling chute in every block challenging. Other environmental experts noted that Singapore is moving some way towards introducing single-stream recycling processes.
An automatic segregation system will allow the sorting of materials in a central facility to be done in a cost and energy-efficient manner. “Items containing food or liquid waste are sometimes disposed of in recycling bins. Non-recyclable items such as soft toys and clothing are also sometimes found in recycling bins,” she said.
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