How can I tell what can and cannot be recycled?

SINGAPORE - Not sure if those old clothes or that takeaway box can go in the blue recycling bin in your housing estate?

You are not alone.

As many as seven in 10 people here are

not fully aware of what materials can be recycled,

according to a 2022 report by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC).

This often results in what is referred to as “wishcycling”, defined as the practice of putting something in a recycling bin without being certain that it is actually recyclable.

A 2022 report by British recycling campaign Recycle Now suggested that 84 per cent of households in Britain were contaminating their recycling by disposing of items such as toothpaste tubes and used paper towels in recycling bins. While 72 per cent of households in Singapore recycled in 2023, the contamination rate of household recyclables in blue bins here has been about 40 per cent since 2017.

SEC said the findings of its report could point to the need for greater efforts on consumer education to improve the Republic’s recycling rate.

So just what can and cannot be recycled?

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), paper, plastic, glass and metal items can be placed in the now-familiar blue recycling bins, but they should be cleaned and dried.

These include paper items such as cardboard boxes, egg trays and newspapers, as well as empty plastic drink or detergent bottles, glass cups and perfume bottles, and metal beverage cans.

What should not be placed in these bins are items such as dirty food containers, foil packaging (such as potato chip bags), toys, glitter paper, melamine items such as plates and cutlery, oven-safe food containers and Pyrex glassware, which cannot be recycled.

Not all plastics are recyclable.

Professor Matthew Hu Xiao from NTU’s School of Materials Science and Engineering said that thermoset plastics – polymers created by hardening soft or viscous resins – which are found in everyday items such as the circuit boards in mobile phones and laptops, cannot be recycled.

Ms Robin Rheaume, zero-waste advocate and founder of Singapore-based recycling resource website Recyclopedia.sg, noted that disposable water bottles – most commonly made from polyethylene terephthalate, or PET – can be recycled, so can bottles made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Shampoo bottles and milk jugs are usually made from HDPE.

She pointed out, however, that many reusable water bottles cannot be recycled as they are mixed with other materials to make them more durable.

Such bottles should be disposed of with other rubbish, she said.

Prof Hu noted that recyclable plastics can usually be identified by the three arrows recycling symbol with a number in the middle, typically found on the underside of containers.

The NEA has also made it easier for consumers to determine whether an item can be recycled through the Bloobin AI chatbot on messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram, which was

launched earlier in September.

Users can ask the chatbot – which can be accessed at

https://www.cgs.gov.sg/recycleright/check-my-item

/

– questions or send a photo of an item to find out if it can be recycled.

Recyclopedia.sg also has an exhaustive list of what can and cannot be recycled in Singapore, as well as where people can go to recycle, dispose of or donate their used items.

Electronic and electrical waste items should not be thrown into the blue bins. Prof Hu said that as far as possible, electronic waste should be placed in dedicated bins as they often contain metals which are toxic to the environment.

“Such heavy metals, even in trace amounts, cannot be removed by incineration,” he said.

These include lead, cadmium and beryllium, according to the Hong Kong-based Earth.Org, which notes that exposing such metals to strong ultraviolet radiation or corrosion could result in the release of toxic materials into the atmosphere, soil or water, posing health hazards. 

The environmental non-profit also notes that the recycling of e-waste allows for the recovery of non-renewable minerals such as lithium, often used in the production of consumer items such as computers and smartphones.

German environmental solutions firm Alba, appointed by the NEA in 2021 to collect regulated e-waste, has more than 550 bins islandwide where items such as laptops, printers, mobile phones, batteries and bulbs can be disposed of.

Ms Rheaume however noted that the recycling of electronic and electrical items here is complicated by non-regulated e-waste, referring to products not covered under the NEA’s Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, which includes items such as landline telephones, game consoles and rice cookers.

These should instead be placed in dedicated bins managed by e-waste firms KGS or Metalo. There are more than 60 KGS bins located at shopping centres and office buildings while Metalo bins are located at 23 Shell petrol stations across the island.

Meanwhile, textiles such as used clothing, curtains and towels, for example, can be placed in bins operated by social enterprise Cloop, which has more than 60 across Singapore.

While concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of recycling – particularly for plastics – there is an existing ecosystem here that allows for materials such as paper and metals to be effectively recycled, said Ms Rheaume.

“It’s always worth it,” she said.

Correction note: This article has been updated with data on recycling contamination in Singapore, which we previously said was not available.