Safeguards to Ensure Recycling Companies Adhere to Proper Recycling Protocols and Procedures

Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources what safeguards does NEA have to ensure that recycling companies contracted to remove and treat recyclable waste actually adhere to the proper recycling protocols and procedures.

Under the National Recycling Programme (NRP), public waste collectors (PWCs) are required to provide a blue co-mingled recycling bin at every Housing and Development Board (HDB) block and landed residential property.

The PWCs are contractually required by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to ensure that the recyclables in the blue bins are properly collected and sent for recycling. These requirements include the use of dedicated trucks to collect recyclables, separately from general waste, and marking these trucks accordingly.

NEA monitors the recycling trucks to ensure that collected recyclables are sent to Materials Recovery Facilities, which sort the co-mingled recyclables for further processing. Each truck is equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS), and Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is used to record collection from individual bins. As a further safeguard, these recycling trucks are prohibited from entering the incineration plants, where general refuse is disposed of.

NEA imposes financial penalties on the PWCs if they fail to meet contractual requirements, including failing to collect recyclables according to schedule and failing to collect recyclables using a separate dedicated vehicle.