SINGAPORE - With Singapore generating more paper waste without a matching increase in recycling rates, the Government’s plans to step up efforts to boost the recycling of the material are welcome, said industry observers.

They were responding to queries from The Straits Times following comments by Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Janil Puthucheary on July 23 that the Government plans to explore more ways to improve paper recycling.

One solution being studied is the

use of metal cages to collect used cardboard boxes

, the National Environment Agency (NEA) told ST then.

No details have been given yet.

But if implemented, this will be a departure from the current practice under the National Recycling Programme, where households are encouraged to put all types of recyclables, regardless of their material, into the big blue bins in housing estates.

The recyclables are then trucked to a materials recovery facility where workers sort them by hand.

In 2024, Singapore’s domestic recycling rate registered a historic low of 11 per cent. This broke the previous low of 12 per cent in 2022. Singapore has a goal to achieve a 30 per cent domestic recycling rate by 2030.

Paper waste is just one of the materials that end up in the commingled bins.

The plan to boost paper and cardboard recycling comes amid an increase in paper waste generation in Singapore due to e-commerce.

NEA figures showed that paper and cardboard waste increased from 1,010 tonnes in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic, to 1,273 tonnes in 2024.

Yet, there has also been a steep reduction in paper and cardboard recycling rates as business incentives for recycling the material had weakened, said Dr Janil. This included higher collection and freighting costs.

But observers said that the commingled system is also taking a toll on domestic recycling rates.

I n a written response to a parliamentary question posed by WP MP Jamus Lim in 2022 about the effectiveness of a commingled recycling system, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said it makes it more convenient for residents to recycle without sorting their materials.

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This system also allows public waste collectors to reduce the number of trips needed to collect these recyclables.

But contamination and misuse pose a problem, said Ms JacQueline Lim, managing director of local paper recycling firm Tai Hing .

The contamination of recyclables in blue bins comes from things like liquids or food-stained items. Several people treat these receptacles as rubbish bins because of a lack of clarity about what can and cannot be recycled, she added.

About 40 per cent of what is thrown into the blue recycling bins cannot be recycled, according to previous estimates.

Ultimately, the act of recycling properly in Singapore still feels like a voluntary exercise, with no financial or social incentives to reward positive behaviour, said Ms Lim.

Contamination has discouraged those with a heart for recycling, said Mr Yasser Amin, chief officer of Stridy, a non-profit that organises clean-ups.

He recalled many occasions where volunteers shared that they had done their due diligence to clean their recyclables, but faced contamination in blue recycling bins.

“They naturally think that because of the contamination, the stuff in the blue bins will be sent for incineration and their efforts wasted,” said Mr Yasser.

Ground-up efforts focusing on collecting recyclables by material type have shown significantly lower contamination rates.

For example, green tech company SGRecycle collects recycled paper and cardboard waste in dedicated machines.

These have logged a contamination rate of less than 1 per cent over the past five years, according to Ms Pamela Low, who is in charge of the firm’s business development.

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The firm has collaborated with public waste collector 800 Super to roll out segregated bins for all recyclables at more than 90 locations across Singapore.

Ms Low said the benefits of collecting a large volume of clean and high quality recyclables from infrastructure that separates recyclables before they go to the sorting facilities outweigh the hidden costs of contaminated recyclables.

“With contamination being prevalent in the National Recycling Programme, the opportunity cost of transporting and sorting contaminants is high. Furthermore, the recycling rate has not improved and the return on investment is low,” she added.

She said that despite the success of SGRecycle’s cardboard and paper collecting machines, the firm has had to scale back its machines due to a “lack of mutual partnerships”.

The firm had 113 paper and cardboard collection stations in 2024, down from 140 in 2023, with a corresponding drop in cardboard collected.

Mr Yasser and Ms Lim said the Government’s exploration of metal cages for cardboard waste marks a positive shift for more of such infrastructure, but the move will need to be accompanied by a culture that cares for clean recyclables.

Said Mr Yasser: “We still need to educate and tell people how to use the bins, if not, the contamination rates are still going to persist, even for the segregated paper and cardboard streams.”

For Singapore Environment Council executive director Cheang Kok Chung, there is one bright spark in the waste statistics for 2024 – each person generated less waste every day that year.

The daily domestic waste generated per capita decreased from 0.88kg in 2023 to 0.85kg in 2024.

Mr Cheang noted that other than the recycling rate, the amount of waste generated is another key driver behind how fast the Semakau landfill – Singapore’s only one – will reach its limit.

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He added: “To sustain this trend, waste streams that are bucking this trend require more attention.”

But James Cook University’s Professor Adrian Kuah, who advises developing countries on minimising waste and maximising resources, said that figures on waste generation or recycling rates do not provide a full picture in understanding how materials are used and reused through the economy.

He said official figures could understate progress in sustainable practices here, as they do not account for reused items like old clothes and electronics from specialised collection points.

He called for reused materials to be integrated into national metrics to better reflect the growing environmental consciousness of residents and to support more targeted, data-driven waste strategies.

Said Dr Kuah: “Rather than focusing solely on landfill capacity or recycling rates, policymakers and residents should consider the bigger picture: Is Singapore reducing its overall material consumption and embedding circular thinking into everyday life?

“Continued efforts to improve waste tracking, incentivise reuse and promote sustainable consumption habits will be key to navigating the coming decade.”