Households recycle 13% of waste in 2021

Singapore's domestic recycling rate remained at 13 per cent last year - unchanged from 2020's figure, a 10-year low - even as households produced more waste as economic activity resumed after the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Environment Agency (NEA), in its annual waste and recycling statistics released yesterday, said households generated 1.82 million tonnes of waste last year, up from 1.77 million tonnes in 2020.

For both years, only 13 per cent of domestic waste was recycled. Between 2017 and 2019, the domestic recycling rate hovered between 17 per cent and 22 per cent.

In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the collection of recyclables from the domestic sector was put on hold, and it restarted gradually only from the third quarter of that year.

Last year, NEA said the waste generation and recycling patterns of 2020 were "unlikely to be repeated in 2021", as the impact of the pandemic gradually eased.

Under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint, Singapore wants to raise its recycling rate to 30 per cent by 2030.

Contamination in the blue recycling bins is a key obstacle to realising this ambition. NEA said about 40 per cent of the contents found in blue recycling bins cannot be recycled owing to leakage, mainly from food and liquid waste.

A number of residents also do not wash their recyclables before placing them in the bins.

To inform the public about correct recycling practices, NEA has rolled out online content such as a filter on its Recycle Right website to help the public identify what can and cannot be recycled.

And to make recycling more convenient for residents, NEA is planning to provide recycling bins later in the year to households that want them, so that residents can put recyclables in them before dropping the items off at neighbourhood recycling bins.

But Singapore's overall recycling rate inched up from 52 per cent in 2020 - the lowest in a decade - to 55 per cent last year, as economic activity picked up and the industrial sector recycled more.

The resumption of more economic and social activities last year led to 10 per cent more waste thrown away than in 2020.

Compared with the pre-pandemic period in 2019, last year saw 11 per cent less waste recycled, and 5 per cent more thrown away.

This was due to lower construction activity and export demands for recyclables, especially for construction and demolition waste, as well as wood and non-ferrous metal, said NEA.

The recycling rate of plastic waste - one of three major waste streams here - rose slightly from 4 per cent in 2020 to 6 per cent last year, but NEA said more needs to be done to improve the rate as it remains low. The other two priority waste streams are electronic waste and food waste.

Commenting on last year's statistics, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said the recycling rate of 55 per cent is still below the pre-pandemic level of 59 per cent in 2019. "To achieve our target of reducing waste-to-landfill per capita by 30 per cent (in Semakau Landfill) by 2030, we must push for more sustainable consumption and production practices," she said yesterday.

She was speaking at the joint opening of the 2022 Singapore International Water Week and the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore.

Held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre till Thursday, both events are among the first and largest sustainability conferences to be held in the Asia-Pacific since the pandemic hit, with more than 15,000 attendees expected.

Among them are government officials, industry players and academics from around the world who are gathering to network and share best practices on issues such as coastal protection and enhanced hygiene standards.