Today Online 23 Oct 15;
SINGAPORE — The authorities may impose mandatory requirements on packaging waste management, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said yesterday.
It will be consulting stakeholders to gather their suggestions and feedback on the issue from December. The proposed initiative is among the options being explored under the Singapore Packaging Agreement (SPA) as part of continuing efforts to reduce waste.
Under the SPA, which is a voluntary agreement, businesses commit themselves to reduce packaging waste. Last year, domestic waste formed 57 per cent of all the waste disposed of. Of this, about one third was packaging waste.
As of October, a total of 164 signatories have come on board the SPA, including industry associations, businesses, non-governmental organisations and public waste collectors.
Since the agreement’s inception in 2007, the signatories have cumulatively reduced about 26,000 tonnes of packaging waste — enough packaging waste to fill 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
This has resulted in cumulative savings of more than S$58 million in the material costs of locally consumed products.
The NEA, together with the signatories, is working towards a total annual reduction of 10,000 tonnes of packaging waste by 2020, with 2007 as the base year.
The NEA has also launched a packaging benchmarking database, hosted on its website, which allows companies to compare the packaging weight of their products against the benchmarks of similar products sold locally.
The launch of the database was announced yesterday by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, at the 3R Packaging Awards presentation ceremony held at the MAX Atria @ Singapore EXPO.
The database currently displays the packaging weight benchmarks for six product categories — beer, carbonated beverages, chilled juice, fresh milk, non-chilled beverages, and water.
NEA launches database for firms to benchmark packaging against other local products
The database was launched at the 3R Packaging Awards ceremony, where 16 organisations were recognised for their efforts to reduce packaging waste.
Monica Kotwani, Channel NewsAsia 23 Oct 15;
SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) has launched a database that would allow companies to compare the packaging weight of their products against those of similar products sold in Singapore.
The database, which can be found on NEA's website, was launched at the 3R Packaging Awards ceremony on Thursday evening (Oct 22). At the event, 16 organisations including Nestle, Tetra Pak and Sunfresh Singapore were recognised for efforts to reduce packaging waste. They are part of the 164 signatories of the Singapore Packaging Agreement programme.
Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor said the initiative has led to the reduction of about 26,000 tonnes of packaging waste - enough to fill 50 Olympic-sized pools - over eight years. She said it has also allowed companies to save about S$58 million in costs.
The benchmark database contains packaging weight information for six products, such as beer, fresh milk and water. It will be updated in the next few months to include items such as cooking oil and dishwashing liquid.
"Another initiative we are looking at is to engage stakeholders over the next few months starting from December, to discuss and gather feedback on the possibility of mandatory requirements for packaging," said Dr Khor. "We hope to get their feedback to see how we can look at eventually implementing this, getting buy-in from the industry so that there will be significant impact."
- CNA/hs
