Monthly Increase in Plastic and Other Recyclable Waste During and After Circuit Breaker Period and Initiatives to Address Issue

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether there has been any increase in plastic and other recyclable waste during and after the circuit breaker period respectively, with a breakdown by percentage per month; and (b) whether additional initiatives will be considered to address the rapid increase in plastic waste.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) publishes Singapore’s annual waste and recycling statistics, which includes a breakdown by waste streams. The 2020 statistics will be released later this year. We do not have a breakdown by waste stream on a monthly basis.

The monthly average amount of waste disposed during the Circuit Breaker (CB) period (i.e. April to May 2020) was 19% lower than pre-CB in March 2020. The decrease is largely attributable to the fall in the amount of non-domestic waste disposed, with the amount of domestic waste remaining largely unchanged.

Post-CB in June 2020, while the amount of waste disposed of increased relative to the CB period, it was still 16% lower than pre-CB. This was again largely attributable to the fall in the amount of non-domestic waste disposed.

Addressing packaging waste, which includes plastics, remains a priority for my Ministry. We take a multi-pronged approach, from encouraging upstream reduction in excessive consumption to ensuring proper end-of-life waste management.

To raise awareness on the impact of excessive consumption of disposables including single-use plastics, NEA launched the second run of the nation-wide "Say YES to Waste Less" campaign in September 2020. Operators of more than 2,100 premises have partnered NEA to encourage consumers to bring reusables and decline disposables such as single-use bags or takeaway containers and cups. NEA also started a Citizens’ Workgroup to address the excessive consumption of disposables, which submitted its recommendations in January 2021. My Ministry and NEA will study the recommendations and share our response in February 2021.

We introduced the Resource Sustainability Act in October 2019 to drive upstream waste reduction and recycling of packaging, including plastics. From this year, producers of packaged products and retailers with an annual turnover of more than $10 million are required to start collecting packaging data and develop plans to reduce, reuse or recycle packaging for submission to NEA. The reporting framework will lay the foundation for an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework to manage packaging and plastic waste, which will be put in place no later than 2025.

Collectively, these efforts will help to reduce plastic waste disposed and improve its recycling rate.