Total Capital and Annual Operating Costs of Beverage Container Return Scheme

Mr Jackson Lam asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether the Ministry can provide the total capital and annual operating costs of the Beverage Container Return Scheme, including the network of Return Right Reverse Vending Machines; and (b) whether the Ministry has assessed the comparative cost-effectiveness of centralised AI-enabled waste sorting against the current deposit return model.

As the Return Right Beverage Container Return Scheme is currently in its transition period, our focus is on ensuring the smooth rollout of the scheme. The National Environment Agency (NEA) will review the financials and effectiveness of the scheme operator, BCRS Ltd., after the first year of implementation and will provide more information when ready.

The intent of setting up a deposit return scheme is to increase the yield of clean recyclables through upstream segregation. Similar deposit return schemes have been implemented in over 50 jurisdictions. These jurisdictions have seen return rates for beverage containers increase significantly over time. The deposit return scheme also helps to reduce contamination particularly from food and liquid residues, which has been a key challenge in the downstream sorting of recyclables collected from blue bins.

As a producer-led consortium operating largely on producer fees, BCRS Ltd. is incentivised to run the scheme efficiently. NEA will continue to work with BCRS Ltd. to ensure that the scheme is operated effectively.