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Start Recycling at Home

December 8, 2008 by  
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It’s easy to recycle at home. First, learn about the existing recycling programme at your area. Second, find out the type of items that are acceptable and unacceptable for recycling. Third, remember the collection date and place your recyclables outside for collection.

You can start recycling at home with these 3 steps:

1. Learn About Your Recycling Programme

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has implemented the National Recycling Programme (NRP) since 2001, where recycling bags or bins are given to residents living in HDB housing estates and landed properties.

These recycling bags and bins are provided by the appointed recycling contractors and the recyclables are collected fortnightly (once every two weeks) at your doorstep.

For more information, check out this brochure by NEA. For enquiries, call 1800-CALL NEA (1800-2255 632) or email Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg.

In addition, there are public recycling bins placed at housing estates (about one set of recycling bins placed for every five blocks) to supplement the NRP. Some HDB estates have the new programme where there is one recycling bin for every block with daily collection, and the recycling bags are no longer given. Some landed estates have the new programme where there is weekly collection from the recycling bins and separate collection of garden waste.

Find recycling bins near your home via the SLA OneMap under the Environment theme.

Condominiums and private apartments are not covered under the NRP. However, it is mandatory for condominiums and private apartments to provide recycling facilities for their residents from 1 Nov 2008. If there’s no recycling facilities at your place, contact your Managing Agents (MAs) and Management Councils (MCs). The MAs and MCs can also refer to the NEA’s online guidebook to learn how to set up a recycling programme.

2. Find Out What You Can Recycle

You can make use of the recycling programme to recycle items such as paper, plastic bottles and containers, glass bottles, metal cans and old clothing.

Find out what items are acceptable or unacceptable for recycling from this brochure.

3. Remember Your Recycling Collection Date

The date or calendar of your recycling collection is printed on the recycling bag or bin. Remember to place your bag/bin outside your doorstep on the correct collection date and before the collection time specified on the bag/bin.

For enquiries on the collection, contact your recycling contractor whose telephone number is printed on the recycling bag/bin.

What Happens to the Recyclables?

The recycling bag and recyclables are collected by the recycling collector and brought back to their facility. The recyclables are sorted manually or by equipment into the different types of material. The sorted recyclables are then sent to local recycling companies for processing into raw materials or new products, or exported overseas for recycling.

Watch this video to see what happens to the recyclables collected by a recycling collector, Altvater Jakob (now known as Veolia ES):

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Comments

26 Comments on "Start Recycling at Home"

  1. Sudhir on Sun, 8th Mar 2009 8:27 pm 

    I’ve been recycling for awhile now. Unfortunately, the collection in my area (Sembawang – 467 Admiralty Drive) seems to have stopped since January of this year. I have been trying to find out a) why its stopped b) if there are any new collectors/collections in the area c) if I will need to take it to some location myself. There isn’t a lot of information around.

    Perhaps – publicity apart – Singapore is not that focussed on recycling after all.

  2. Eugene on Mon, 9th Mar 2009 10:44 am 

    Check with NEA at 1800-CALL NEA (1800-2255 632) or email Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg.
    Or check with the collector SembWaste Pte Ltd (Tel: 1800-2786135).

  3. Antoinette on Fri, 24th Apr 2009 3:35 pm 

    I’m curious to know what happens when those Wall-E-looking compressed recyclables stuff get exported? Thank you.

  4. Eugene on Tue, 28th Apr 2009 6:05 pm 

    Well, they are recycled!

  5. Making a list « Cudas on Wed, 27th May 2009 12:07 am 

    [...] support the National Recycling Programme. (Got my peeps to get use to the idea of recycling. Initally it’s difficult because we keep [...]

  6. Shirley on Thu, 16th Jul 2009 12:08 pm 

    I understand that plastics/containers that are used to contain food may not be recycled. I would like to know if they can be recycled if I rinse and wash them?

    Since batches that are contaminated cannot be recycled, I would like to suggest pasting reminders or instructions on the bin so that people can avoid putting in things that might contaminate the particular batch.

    Thanks!

  7. Eugene on Tue, 21st Jul 2009 1:01 pm 

    You can check with the recycling collector serving your area on whether they accept those plastic containers for recycling.

  8. kim on Fri, 24th Jul 2009 8:47 pm 

    hi, i would like to know how waste disposal trucks collect waste and recyclables from those recycling bins. Would appreciate if you could reply ASAP, i kinda need the info for my project that is due really soon. Thank you so much!

  9. Margaret on Sat, 19th Dec 2009 9:06 pm 

    Hi, I try my best to recycle & have a couple of questions.

    1)How do I dispose of batteries & light bulbs responsibly?

    2)I read in an article that we must ensure that glass & plastic bottles should be washed thoroughly before we put them in the recycling bin. What happens to those that are not washed?

    Thanks!

  10. Eugene on Mon, 28th Dec 2009 5:55 pm 

    Hi Margaret, if you are referring to household batteries, there’s no collection for recycling. See NEA’s explanation http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2008/04/producers-have-recycling-schemes-in.html. For handphone and laptop batteries, see the recycling programmes in this post http://www.zerowastesg.com/2008/12/08/electrical-and-electronic-waste-recycling/.

    We don’t think light bulbs are recycled in Singapore so you would have to dispose them the usual way.

    It’s ok to just rinse the bottles before putting into the bins, this is to prevent pests and smell.

  11. watsup on Sun, 18th Apr 2010 6:29 pm 

    sorry may i know what happen IF the plastic containers are not rinsed before they are placed in recycling bins? Can it still be recycled?

  12. Eugene on Mon, 19th Apr 2010 9:57 am 

    Hi, the plastic containers are still recyclable if they are not rinsed. Rinsing helps to reduce smell and pest problems, and is less messy.

  13. Cecilia on Mon, 2nd May 2011 6:42 pm 

    How do we dispose printers? Rag and bone man doesn’t collect them and the company does not have trade-in programs?

  14. Eugene on Tue, 3rd May 2011 4:12 pm 

    Hi Cecilia, try the collectors at http://app2.nea.gov.sg/topics_collectrade.aspx

  15. ‘Can Recycle?’ Shows Items that are Acceptable for Recycling | Zero Waste Singapore on Wed, 20th Jul 2011 8:44 pm 

    [...] We have been receiving frequent enquiries from our readers on whether certain waste items can be recycled under the National Recycling Programme (NRP) or through the public recycling bins. [...]

  16. Stacey on Sun, 2nd Oct 2011 12:18 pm 

    Can we take plastic bags and plastic food containers to a recycling plant here? The recycling truck won’t take them but all these things are totally recyclable.

  17. Eugene Tay on Mon, 3rd Oct 2011 4:10 pm 

    Clean plastic bags and food containers, except styrofoam, are recyclable and can be placed in the recycling bins or bags, but we know collectors don’t like them.

  18. Katez on Mon, 26th Dec 2011 11:27 pm 

    Is there anyway that I can recycle small things.. like a box of papers and glass easily?

    I tried to use to recycle bags. Put some of those A4 papers in which garang guni dun wan to buy (I nv plan to sell anyway) and left then at the doorstep as the date indicate was the next day. But the bag was gone by evening….

    Then I want to recycle glass bottles. There is this really nice recycle bin near my place which I will want to use, but its full of rubbish.

  19. Eugene Tay on Mon, 2nd Jan 2012 4:33 pm 

    @Katez, you would have to use the recycling bags or bins for small quantity. If you have large quantity, check with the recycling collectors at http://app2.nea.gov.sg/topics_collectrade.aspx.

  20. Iris Tham on Tue, 31st Jan 2012 10:16 pm 

    The video on sorting the recycleable items either by hand or equipment, may I know if the recycleable sorting machine is sited in Singapore or not?

  21. Eugene Tay on Wed, 1st Feb 2012 11:38 am 

    @Iris, the video was taken several years ago but the system was sited in Singapore. Not sure whether it looks the same now.

  22. Maryam on Wed, 4th Apr 2012 7:41 pm 

    hi, im currently doing a project that is relevant to recycling. May i know if there are any sort of proper stats/figures that shows that people are unsure of how to sort their recyclables or are there increasing number of such enquiries, something along those lines.. a prompt reply would be much appreciated:) thanks!

  23. steffi on Sun, 28th Oct 2012 2:32 pm 

    Hi!

    I don’t know if this is the right page to ask this, but I have a couple of nail polish bottles that I want to dispose of, and there’s still a bit of nail polish left in it! What do I do? I googled online, and they said to bring it to your local hazardous waste treatment facility, but it seems like Singapore doesn’t have one? :(

    Thanks for your advice!

  24. Eugene Tay on Tue, 6th Nov 2012 9:22 am 

    @steffi, you probably have to dispose them through the normal disposal bins, and it gets sent to the incineration plant where air pollution controls are in place. Note that maybe you could place the bottles with nail polish in a plastic bag and tie it up to prevent leakage during the transportation.

  25. Hamidah on Tue, 26th Feb 2013 9:14 am 

    Hi. I am an avid recycler. Been recycling for past few years now. I appreciate if you could address my issues below:

    1) Make collection time more frequent maybe weekly instead of fortnightly so that we don’t have to keep too many recyclables at home,

    2) How do I get information on next collection date at my block coz sometimes i do not get that plastic bag provided by Sembwaste,

    3) Better communication between Sembwaste and Town Council coz once
    the cleaner at my block (Blk 635 Woodlands Ring Road) threw all my recycle items meant for collection into the refuse chute, wasting weeks of effort!

    Thanks for your attention..

  26. Eugene Tay on Thu, 7th Mar 2013 11:10 am 

    @Hamidah, you may wish to feedback or check with NEA at 1800-CALL NEA (1800-2255 632) or Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg

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