Singapore may envision itself as a zero-waste nation, but new statistics show the country still has some way to go to achieve this. Despite the slew of measures to make recycling easier, people recycled less waste last year compared with the year before.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) website shows 4.72 million tonnes of waste were recycled in 2017 – 50,000 tonnes less than the previous year’s 4.77 million tonnes.
The decline happened despite national efforts to encourage people to recycle more.
The NEA said the decrease in waste recycled in 2017 was largely because lower amounts of wood waste, plastic and paper were being recycled.
This was especially worrying in the case of plastics, which harm the environment. Only 51,800 tonnes were recycled in 2017, down from 57,554 tonnes in 2016.
Singapore, however, fared better in the recycling of food waste – a perennial problem for the country. About 133,000 tonnes of food waste were recycled in 2017, up from 111,100 tonnes in 2016. NEA attributes the increase to food manufacturers recycling their food waste and greater use of machines that turn food waste into compost.
Overall, Singapore produced less solid waste in 2017 – 7.7 million tonnes or about 110,000 tonnes less than the 7.81 million tonnes in 2016. But proportionally, the amount of waste recycled remained unchanged at 61%, indicating that Singapore did not do better.
Separately in Parliament on 20 March 2018, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, said the domestic recycling rate in 2017 was 21%, the same as in 2016.
Ms Pamela Low, a member of Singapore Youth for Climate Action, said the unchanged figures for domestic recycling rates for both 2016 and 2017 suggest the recycling programme may be failing. “Perhaps it is time to consider rejuvenating our recycling programme.”
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Source: The Straits Times, 22 March 2018