Singapore 2010 Waste Statistics

The latest 2010 waste statistics and recycling rate for Singapore can be found at the National Environment Agency website. The following infographic gives an overview of the waste figures:

Waste Generated refers to the total amount of waste generated in Singapore, which is the addition of Waste Disposed and Waste Recycled. Waste Disposed refers to the total amount of waste disposed at the four waste-to-energy or incineration plants, and at the offshore Semakau Landfill. Waste Recycled refers to the total amount of waste that is recycled locally or exported overseas for recycling.

In 2010, about 6.5 million tonnes of waste was generated in Singapore, and each person generated around 1,280 kg of waste in a year. The recycling rate in Singapore for 2010 is 58% and has been increasing steadily over the years. The government has set a target of 60% recycling rate by 2012 in the Singapore Green Plan 2012, and 70% recycling rate by 2030 in the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint.

42% of Singapore’s waste is still disposed of, with 40% going to the waste-to-energy plants for incineration and energy recovery, and 2% of non-incinerable waste such as construction and demolition waste, used slag and treated sludge, going to the Semakau Landfill for landfilling.

% Composition of Waste Generated

The top 5 waste types make up 74% of the total waste generated in Singapore, which are either disposed of at the waste-to-energy plants and landfill, or recycled locally and exported:

1. Paper/Cardboard (21%)
2. Ferrous Metal (18%)
3. Construction Debris (14%)
4. Plastics (11%)
5. Food Waste (10%)

% Composition of Waste Disposed

The top 3 waste types make up 66% of the total waste disposed in Singapore:

1. Plastics (24%)
2. Paper/Cardboard (23%)
3. Food Waste (19%)

% Composition of Waste Recycled

The top 3 waste types make up 74% of the total waste recycled in Singapore:

1. Ferrous Metal (30%)
2. Construction Debris (24%)
3. Paper/Cardboard (20%)

Recycling Rate of Waste

For the 3 common types of waste disposed, their recycling rate is still low:

• Plastics (11%)
• Food Waste (16%)
• Paper/Cardboard (53%)

More efforts are needed to reduce the amount of paper, plastics and food waste disposed and to increase their recycling rates. Half of the paper and cardboard waste generated still ends up being burned at the waste-to-energy plants.

Waste Statistics from 2000 to 2010

From 2000 to 2010, the waste disposed has only dropped by 1% but the waste recycled has increased by a massive 102%. The total waste generated has increased by 40% from 4.6 million tonnes in 2000 to 6.5 million tonnes in 2010.

The waste data show that the efforts of the government in promoting waste recycling has paid off. However, waste disposed has been increasing slowly since 2003. To work towards zero waste, there is a need for the total waste generated to reach a peak and decrease every year.

This means that we can’t depend only on high rates of recycling but we also need greater reduction in the waste disposed, in other words, more reduce and reuse of waste. Recycling is still the least effective of the 3 Rs and should be practised last after reduce and reuse.

7 Types of Recycling at HDB Housing Estates in Singapore

Do you know that there are 7 common types of formal and informal recycling at HDB housing estates in Singapore? If you’re staying in a HDB flat, you would likely come across or participate in one or more of those types of recycling.

Let’s take a look at the 7 common types of recycling in HDB estates:

1) National Recycling Programme (NRP)

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 licensed recycling contractors and the recyclables are collected once every two weeks at the doorstep.

2) Centralised Recycling Depositories (CRDs)

To complement the NRP, NEA has requested the recycling contractors to place centralised recycling depositories (CRDs) at all HDB estates, since August 2007. There will be a CRD for every 5 blocks of flats and the locations of the CRDs can be found at OneMap under the Environment – Recycling Bins theme.

3) Recycling Exchange

The recycling contractors usually organise a recycling exchange once a month by working with the Residents’ Committee (RC) to set up recycling stations for residents to exchange their recyclables for cash or food items. For example, Colex has the Cash for Trash Programme in the Jurong sector, and Veolia has the Recycling Exchange Initiative (REIT) in the Pasir Ris-Tampines, Bedok, and Tanglin-Bukit Merah sectors.

4) Tzu Chi Recycling Day

During the Tzu Chi Recycling Day, which falls on every second Sunday of the month from 8.30am to 11.30am, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation volunteers will set up recycling points at housing estates in 14 locations across the island. The volunteers encourage residents to bring their recyclable items from their houses and to help in the sorting of the items.

5) School Recycling Collection

There are frequent school recycling collection initiated by students to collect newspapers and old clothing for fundraising or for charity. The students doing the recycling collection for an area usually have to work with the licensed recycling contractor who are in-charge of the NRP for that area, and sell the recyclables to them.

6) Karang Guni Recycling Collection

The traditional unlicensed karang guni man or rag-and-bone man goes from door-to-door to collect items from residents, such as newspapers, televisions, radios, and computers. The karang guni man usually pays residents for the items. The items are sold to a waste recycling company or to a secondhand dealer.

7) Informal Recycling Collection

The informal recycling collection is usually done by the unlicensed poor elderly, who go through the rubbish bins in the neighbourhood and pick up recyclables such as newspapers, carton boxes and drink cans, from the bins. They usually sell the recyclables to a waste recycling company or to a secondhand dealer.

Waste is not Waste Provides Online Waste Exchange for Businesses and Organisations in Singapore and Malaysia

Waste generation in Asia has been increasing rapidly due to urbanisation and industrialisation, and poor waste management in several countries has caused negative impacts on the environment and the health of the people. According to The Global Development Research Center, the waste in Asia is disposed of by 51% open dumping, 31% landfilling, 9% recycling, 5% incineration and 2% open burning. It is clear that more work has to be done to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in Asia.

We believe that waste is not waste, but a potential resource for someone to use again. To tackle the waste problem, we wish to contribute by focusing on ending industrial and commercial waste from businesses and organisations in Asia, starting from Singapore and Malaysia.

There is much scope for businesses and organisations in Asia to reduce and recycle their waste. Waste is usually the last thing on their mind and is something to be thrown away without much thought. With increasing awareness on environmental issues, businesses and organisations are facing pressure from their customers and along the supply chain. They are starting to look at the waste they generate and trying to recycle as much as possible.

By reducing their waste, businesses and organisations also hope to cut costs and be more efficient. However there are some barriers such as lack of time and information to find out the types of waste that can be recycled, and to search for suitable collectors and recycling companies.

Our new initiative, Waste is not Waste, hopes to remove the barriers by providing an online waste exchange that is easy and convenient for businesses and organisations to use, and which helps them reduce, reuse and recycle waste. We connect businesses and organisations that generate waste materials with those who want the materials, thus helping both parties save time and money while helping the environment.

Visit our new beta version of Waste is not Waste to learn more about us, the benefits and how it works. Remember that waste is not waste, but potential resources to be used again.

‘Can Recycle?’ Shows Items that are Acceptable for Recycling

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.

To be honest, we don’t have all the answers. So we started this new initiative called ‘Can Recycle?‘. We compiled a list of 70 common waste items and checked with the National Environment Agency (NEA) on whether the items are acceptable for recycling through the NRP or recycling bins.

In Can Recycle?, you will find images of items categorised under Paper, Plastics, Metal, Glass, and Others. Point your cursor at the image and you can see the description of the item with comments from NEA.

Check out the list of items in Can Recycle?

Where Can I Find Recycling Bins?

Do you know that there are more than 1,500 recycling bins all over Singapore? Do you know where they are located?

We understand that you might wish to use the recycling bins near your house but can’t find them. To make it easier to find recycling bins, we developed a Google Map using CommunityWalk to show the locations of the recycling bins at housing estates in Singapore.

Trying to find a recycling bin near your house? Check out our map today!

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