Singapore Waste Statistics 2014

Singapore Waste Statistics 2014 The National Environment Agency has published the latest 2014 waste statistics and recycling rate for Singapore. Here's an infographic which 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 waste-to-energy plants and the offshore Semakau Landfill. Waste Recycled refers to the total amount of waste that is recycled locally or exported overseas for recycling. In 2014, about 7.5 million tonnes of waste was generated in Singapore, and each person generated around 1,370 kg of waste in a year. The recycling rate in Singapore for 2014 is 60%, which is a slight drop from the 61% in 2013. The government is still on track to meet its recycling target of 65% by 2020 and 70% by 2030 (set in the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint). 40% of Singapore’s waste is still disposed of, with 37.6% going to the waste-to-energy plants for incineration and energy recovery, and 2.7% 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 75% 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. Ferrous Metal (19%)

2. Construction Debris (17%)

3. Paper/Cardboard (16%)

4. Plastics (12%)

5. Food Waste (10%)% Composition of Waste Disposed The top 3 waste types make up 68% of the total waste disposed in Singapore:

6. Plastics (26%)

7. Food Waste (23%)

8. Paper/Cardboard (19%)% Composition of Waste Recycled The top 3 waste types make up 74% of the total waste recycled in Singapore:

9. Ferrous Metal (31%)

10. Construction Debris (28%)

11. Paper/Cardboard (14%)Recycling Rate of Waste For the 3 common types of waste disposed, the recycling rate for plastics and food waste is still low:

12. Food Waste (13%)

13. Plastics (9%)

14. Paper/Cardboard (52%) More efforts are needed to educate Singaporeans on reducing food waste and the use of plastics, and to increase the recycling of food and plastic waste. For paper, there is still room for more recycling, as 48% of the paper and cardboard waste generated still ends up being burned at the waste-to-energy plants. Waste Statistics from 2000 to 2014 From 2000 to 2014, the waste disposed has increased by only 9% but the waste recycled has increased by a massive 141%. The total waste generated has increased by 61% from 4.7 million tonnes in 2000 to 7.5 million tonnes in 2014. The waste data show that the efforts of the government in promoting waste recycling has paid off over the years. Waste generated in 2014 dropped by 4.3% from 2013 (first drop in 10 years), while waste disposed was up by 0.6% from 2013 (this is a lower rate of increase compared to 3% for 2012-203 and 2011-2012), and waste recycled was down by 7.4%. The drop in waste recycled is mainly due to the large drop in the amount of construction debris recycled in 2014 (down by 423,000 tonnes or 25% from 2013).