Systemic issues affecting Spore's recycling rate

Lack of domestic facilities, rather than poor recycling habits, poses bigger challenge

- Ariel Yu

Recyclables “spoilt” with food or liquid waste may be a common and regrettable sight at many recycling bins around Singapore, but poor recycling habits are not likely to be the main driver behind Singapore’s falling recycling rates, said an expert.

Instead, systemic issues – such as Singapore’s lack of domestic recycling facilities – pose larger obstacles in the country’s quest to recycle more.

In June, the National Environment Agency (NEA) released Singapore’s waste statistics for 2023, which showed that the overall recycling rate here had declined over the past decade, from 62 per cent in 2013 to 52 per cent in 2023.

This falls short of the 70 per cent goal set out in the 2030 Zero Waste Masterplan.

Ms Robin Rheaume, a long-time zero-waste advocate, said: “The low and dropping recycling rates are not primarily due to a lack of education and poor practices by consumers.”

She added: “While it is absolutely true that many consumers are putting the wrong things into the blue bins, it’s impossible to say that this is the primary issue or that this behaviour is getting worse.”

Ms Rheaume is the founder of a volunteer-run website about recycling.

The NEA attributed the decline in overall recycling rate to structural factors, such as freight costs and commodity prices.

When freight rates are high, recyclers are less incentivised to collect recyclables, since exporting them overseas would entail higher shipment costs and narrow profit margins.

And when prices for recyclables are low, recyclers may choose to accumulate the materials until prices increase, if space permits.

Two-thirds of the waste Singapore generates come from the industrial sector, such as construction sites and factories.