SINGAPORE - SembWaste has beat out five other firms to retain the waste collection contract for the city-Punggol sector, an area with about 250,000 households and 16,800 business premises.
As part of its new contract awarded by the National Environment Agency (NEA), SembWaste will implement a series new sustainability initiatives.
These include rolling out a new fleet of trucks, 14 of which will be electric vehicles; a new food waste management system at Geylang Serai Market; and a wider deployment of SembWaste's ezi mobile application.
They will begin on July 1, when its new seven-year contract begins.
SembCorp will use safer and more comfortable trucks, as well as three recycling trucks fitted with side-loaders, which will increase collection efficiency, NEA announced on Wednesday (June 9).
"The lower number of collection rounds and truck trips enhances productivity and also reduces the overall carbon footprint of waste collection services," it added.
The 14 electric vehicles will make up almost 20 per cent of SembWaste's fleet here.
The food waste treatment system to be housed in Geylang Serai Market will break down food waste on-site, with non-drinkable water as the final product. NEA said this will reduce the amount of food waste sent to incineration plants.
"The centre was selected as it has sufficient space to house the food waste treatment system and generates a sufficiently large quantity of food waste to reap economies of scale," said the agency.
The ezi application is meant to encourage and incentivise household recycling.
The app helps users to locate their nearest Cash-For-Trash stations, where they can exchange their recyclable trash for cash. It also offers recycling tips and information on recycling collection events.
The app is already in use in SembWaste's other sectors.
Singapore is divided into six sectors for waste collection. SembWaste - which is the waste management arm of urban development conglomerate Sembcorp Industries - also operates in the Woodlands-Yishun and the Clementi-Bukit Merah sectors.
German-headquartered Alba W&H Smart City, which also runs Singapore's disposal system for electronic waste - handles public waste management in Jurong, while Singaporean outfit 800 Super Waste takes care of the Ang Mo Kio-Toa Payoh and Pasir-Ris Bedok sectors.
The city-Punggol sector covers the Hougang, MacPherson and Punggol-West single-member constituencies, and parts of Mountbatten and Potong Pasir SMCs. It includes Sengkang group representation constituency and parts of Aljunied, Ang Mo Kio, Jalan Besar, Marine Parade and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRCs.
Fees for households will remain the same, with a review coming in the second half of 2021.
Currently, households living in Housing Board flats and condominiums pay $8.25 a month, while those living in landed homes pay $27.47.
SembWaste will inform businesses about their new fees, which depend on the amount of waste they generate.
