Poor perceptual affordance of recycling bins could be another external cause of our low recycling rates.
When recycling bins were first introduced to residents living in HDB, there were only one recycling bin for every 5 HDB blocks. Only in 2011, the number of recycling bins were increased to one bin per HDB block with. In spite of the increased number of recycling bins, the bins are often placed in less obstructive areas with low human traffic. However, the good intentions of reducing obstruction, also caused people to take less notice of the bins, and adopt the mindset of “out of sight, out of mind”. Similar situations are faced by those living in private housing.
The ‘Consumer Plastic and Plastic Resource Ecosystem in Singapore’ report by Singapore Environment Council (SEC) showed that 21% of Singaporeans are unaware of the location of the nearest recycling bin even though there is one present under their HDB block. To solve this issue, simply shifting the bins to a more prominent location can highlight to residents the presence of a recycling receptacle.