Sorting Recyclables by Material Could Boost Low Recycling Rate, Say Observers

It prevents contamination of items such as paper and cardboard in commingled bins

- Ang Qing

With Singapore generating more paper waste without a matching increase in recycling rates, the Government's plans to step up efforts to boost the recycling of the material are welcome, said industry observers.

They were responding to queries from The Straits Times following comments by Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Janil Puthucheary on July 23 that the Government plans to explore more ways to improve paper recycling.

One solution being studied is the use of metal cages to collect used cardboard boxes, the National Environment Agency (NEA) told ST then.

No details have been given yet. But if implemented, this will be a departure from the current practice under the National Recycling Programme, where households are encouraged to put all types of recyclables, regardless of their material, into the big blue bins in housing estates.

The recyclables are then trucked to a materials recovery facility where workers sort them by hand.

In 2024, Singapore's domestic recycling rate registered a historic low of 11 per cent. This broke the previous low of 12 per cent in 2022.

Paper waste is just one of the materials that end up in the commingled bins.

The plan to boost paper and cardboard recycling comes amid an increase in paper waste generation in Singapore due to e-commerce.

NEA figures showed that paper and cardboard waste increased from 1,010 tonnes in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, to 1,273 tonnes in 2024.

Yet, there has also been a steep reduction in paper and cardboard recycling rates as business incentives for recycling the material had weakened, said Dr Janil. This included higher collection and freighting costs.

But observers said that the commingled system is also taking a toll on domestic recycling rates.