At least 30% of recyclable items collected had to be incinerated

Channel NewsAsia 26 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE : Despite having recycling programmes in Singapore, many still do not know what to do with their recyclables.

According to one company, more than 30 percent of recyclables collected had to be incinerated, instead of being reused.

Besides paper and cloth, homemaker Banjaw Subramaniam did not realise, until recently, that glass bottles too can be recycled.

"Because earlier, I don't know glass or bottles (are recyclable). That's why I throw them. But now, I keep them," said Mrs Banjaw.

And she's not alone. Many recycling companies said Singaporeans are just not aware that many more items can be recycled.

SembCorp Environmental Management collects 5,000 tonnes of recyclables from more than half of Singapore's homes.

Of this amount, more than 30 percent, which is about 1,800 tonnes, must be disposed of because they cannot be recycled. The main reason is because recyclable items were combined with non-recyclable trash.

For example, a pillow and a bamboo stick have been placed in the recycling bin meant for papers only.

"(The general public) is not very well-educated about what are recyclables and what aren't. And because of that, you sometimes have the tendency to mix them together. So when you mix recyclables with contaminants like organic waste, then it becomes waste that ought to be disposed of at the incineration plant," said CK Lim, Senior VP (Collection), SebWaste Pte Ltd.

Another major industry player, Sulo, said that 15 to 20 percent of the recyclables were disposed of.

Out of the four public waste collectors, only SembCorp Environmental Management and Sulo have sorting plants. However, both plants still need to sort out the collected recyclables manually.

As the recycling rate in Singapore is low, companies said going fully automated is not advisable.

"If we compare it to Europe, they collect nearly 20 times more recyclables. So if we recycle 20 times more, then we can have (a) much bigger plant and automatic recycling, like air knives, and automatic sorting with near infrared technique would be easier to install here in Singapore," said Harald Kloeden, Managing Director of Altvater Jakob.

Materials that are sorted include plastic bottles which are eventually exported to neighbouring countries for recycling.

To increase the recycling rate, upper-most on the wish list of recycling companies is receiving items that are clean. This would prevent pests from breeding at the sorting plants. - CNA /ls