Masterplan to push Singapore towards zero-waste future

KENNETH CHENG Today Online 7 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE — From 2024, large hotels and malls will have to separate their food waste from all other trash so that it can be specially treated and converted to other uses, such as animal feed or compost for landscaping.

This will be one of the key measures rolled out as part of Singapore’s Zero-Waste Masterplan, which will be launched in the second half of this year, Senior Minister of State (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor said in Parliament on Thursday (March 7).

The masterplan will set out steps that Singapore must take to minimise its food, packaging and electrical and electronic waste.

It has set a goal of raising the overall recycling rate here to 70 per cent and the domestic recycling rate to 30 per cent by 2030.

This is up from the overall recycling rate of 61 per cent and domestic recycling rate of 21 per cent in 2017.

Public consultations on the masterplan will enter its final stages in the next two months, and the measures to move Singapore towards zero waste will form part of a new Resource Sustainability Bill set to be tabled in Parliament later this year.

Dr Khor, who was speaking during the debate on the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources' budget, urged Singaporeans to take part in the public consultations, saying that waste and resource management affect everyone.

The following is a run-down of the masterplan.

FOOD WASTE

From 2024, sizeable food-waste generators — including large hotels and malls, as well as industrial developments housing food manufacturers, caterers and food-storage warehouses — will have to segregate such waste for treatment on- or off-site.

The Government is also working with large public-sector buildings that generate considerable amounts of food waste, to take the lead in segregating the waste from 2021.

From 2021, developers of new premises that are expected to be large food-waste generators will also have to set aside space for food-waste treatment systems and treat such waste on-site from 2024.

Why this matters: Food waste, when segregated and treated properly, can be converted for various potential uses, such as animal feed and compost for landscaping.

On-site treatment improves the environment by cutting odours and the nuisance of pests. It also reduces carbon emissions and traffic congestion resulting from trucks transporting the waste to a facility for treatment.

PACKAGING WASTE

Producers of packaging and packaged products, such as supermarkets, brand owners, manufacturers and importers, will have to collect data and report to the National Environment Agency (NEA) from 2021 on the types and amount of packaging they introduce to the market.

They will also have to set out and report their plans to reduce the amount of packaging which will end up as waste.

For a start, the rule will apply only to firms with an annual turnover exceeding S$10 million.

They will have to register with the NEA when the framework is rolled out in 2020 and submit their first reports from 2021.

Why this matters: Packaging waste — including plastics — forms about a third of the domestic waste discarded in Singapore.

Mandatory reporting is aimed at raising awareness among businesses of the benefits of reducing such waste and to spur them to act. This may result in cost savings for them, too.

ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC WASTE

From 2021, suppliers of consumer electrical and electronic equipment to the Singapore market will have to join and finance a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) appointed by the NEA to collect electronic waste (e-waste) for recycling.

Such equipment will include laptops, mobile phones, household appliances and electric mobility devices, such as electric scooters and power-assisted bicycles.

The PRO will develop programmes to encourage the public to recycle e-waste, supply avenues to which they can deposit their e-waste — including bins in public areas — and collect and transport them to e-waste recyclers licensed by the NEA.

The organisation will also need to report to the NEA the tonnage of waste collected and recycled.

It will have to meet collection targets, namely, 60 per cent of the weight of large appliances supplied to the market, such as refrigerators and televisions, and 20 per cent of the weight of all other consumer equipment covered that are placed on the market.

The PRO will face penalties for failing to meet the targets, from 2024.

At the request of customers, equipment retailers will also have to take back old equipment for free when they deliver new goods.

Large retailers with sales areas over 300sqm for such consumer equipment will also have to set up in-store e-waste collection points for information and communications technology (ICT) equipment, lamps and batteries.

They also have to ensure licensed e-waste recyclers or the PRO treats the e-waste properly.

The producers will fund the organisation based on their market share and the NEA will roll out measures to minimise the potential cost impact on small producers and retailers.

Producers supplying below certain threshold amounts (such as under 10 tonnes for ICT equipment, including mobile phones and tablets) will be exempted from funding the organisation.

As for commercial and industrial electrical and electronic equipment, such as data servers and solar panels, producers will also have to take back equipment that have reached the end of their lifespans for free, at their clients’ request.

Why this matters: E-waste offers valuable materials that can be extracted and reused. Improper handling of e-waste may result in hazardous substances being released, causing long-term environmental and health problems. Tackling e-waste can, therefore, safeguard environmental health as well as the health of workers in environmental services.

MANDATORY WASTE REPORTING

From next year, the authorities will expand mandatory waste reporting to industrial developments and convention and exhibition centres, after this was rolled out to hotels and malls in 2014.

Owners and occupiers of factories with gross floor areas over 20,000sqm, warehouses spanning more than 50,000sqm and convention and exhibition centres covering more than 8,000sqm will have to begin collecting data in 2020 and submit their reports from 2021.

Since 2014, owners and occupiers of large commercial premises, such as hotels with more than 200 rooms and shopping malls covering more than 4,600sqm in net lettable area, have had to report waste data and develop plans to reduce waste.

Between 2014 and 2017, the share of hotels with recycling practices rose from about 91 to 93 per cent, and for malls, from 80 per cent to 94 per cent. The overall recycling rate for hotels and malls also climbed from 6.5 to 8.7 per cent.

Why this matters: Industrial developments and convention and exhibition centres churn out large amounts of waste, most of which is homogeneous and recyclable. There is the potential for owners and occupiers to cut and segregate waste for recycling.


Large hotels, malls, caterers will have to segregate food waste from 2024
Aqil Haziq Mahmud Channel NewsAsia 7 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE: Commercial and industrial premises that generate a large amount of food waste will be required to begin segregating the waste for treatment from 2024, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor announced on Thursday (Mar 7).

This move would affect large hotels and malls, as well as large industrial developments housing food manufacturers, food caterers or food storage warehouses.

The move is part of Singapore's inaugural Zero Waste Masterplan, which will be released later this year.

In 2018, Singapore produced 763,000 tonnes of food waste, but only 17 per cent of this was recycled.

“We are now ready to expand food waste segregation, starting with larger food waste generators,” Dr Khor said in Parliament on Thursday.

“NEA (National Environment Agency) has started consulting the industry on requirements for food waste segregation for treatment," she added.

Food waste can be converted into animal feed, compost or fertiliser, non-potable water or biogas for energy production, MEWR said in a press release on Thursday.

“Segregating food waste for treatment also reduces odour and pest nuisances at premises, and reduces the contamination of recyclables by food waste, allowing for greater resource recovery,” it added.

Dr Khor said owners of the affected premises will be able to choose the food waste treatment method that best suits their operations. This includes using on-site treatment systems, recycling food waste into animal feed, or sending the waste off-site for treatment.

From 2021, MEWR and NEA will also work with with large public sector building owners with food and beverage outlets to implement food waste segregation for treatment.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS MUST SET ASIDE SPACE FOR TREATMENT SYSTEMS

Dr Khor also announced that it will be mandatory from 2021 for developers of new large food waste generators to include space for on-site food waste treatment systems when they submit their building plans.

“The adoption of such systems will allow for the closed-loop management of food waste at these premises, where the food waste could be converted to compost for landscaping purposes or water for non-potable uses,” MEWR said.

MEWR and NEA will also support premises owners and operators who choose to implement on-site food waste treatment systems before the mandatory requirements kick in.

For instance, NEA’s 3R Fund has already supported 23 premises in installing on-site food waste treatment systems that convert food waste into non-potable water compost or fertiliser.

MANDATORY WASTE REPORTING TO BE EXTENDED TO LARGE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTS, CONVENTION CENTRES

Meanwhile, Dr Khor also announced that the mandatory waste reporting scheme will be extended to large industrial developments and convention centres.

This will apply to factories, warehouses and convention centres with gross floor areas of more than 20,000 square metres, 50,000 square metres and 8,000 square metres, respectively.

Those premises will be required to track the amount of waste they generate from 2020 and submit their first reports to NEA in 2021.

“There is potential for the owners and occupiers of these premises to reduce their waste generation and segregate their waste for recycling,” MEWR said, noting that the waste is usually homogenous and recyclable.

Owners and managers of large hotels and malls have been reporting their general waste data and waste reduction plans to NEA since 2014, with more than 90 per cent of covered hotels and malls having adopted recycling programmes.

Source: CNA/lc(aj)

60% of large electrical appliances must be collected for e-waste recycling
Aqil Haziq Mahmud Channel NewsAsia 7 Mar 19;

SINGAPORE: Manufacturers of large household appliances must collect for recycling 60 per cent in weight of the appliances they supply to the market each year, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) announced on Thursday (Mar 7).

These large appliances include refrigerators, air-conditioners, washing machines, dryers and televisions.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) will also include electric mobility devices like power assisted bicycles and electric scooters in its targets for Singapore’s electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) management system.

This is in anticipation of a need to dispose them and treat their batteries properly. The collection target for these devices is 20 per cent.

The collection target for smaller consumer electronics like lamps, portable batteries and info-communication technology (ICT) equipment – printers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and routers – is also 20 per cent.

The targets followed an announcement last March that MEWR will implement a mandatory e-waste management system by 2021. All e-waste collected under the system will be channeled to licensed e-waste recyclers.

It was also announced that producers will collect their e-waste through a producer responsibility organisation (PRO), which the NEA will appoint through an open tender. Producers may work together to form a PRO.

The PRO will be penalised if it does not meet these targets, although this will not be enforced in the first three years as a transitional measure. It is not yet clear what the penalties are.

“It is critical that we manage our e-waste properly,” Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Amy Khor said in her Committee of Supply speech on Thursday.

She said this will help avoid contaminating Singapore’s landfill and water catchments with toxic substances, protect the health of workers who handle these discarded products, and extract valuable materials that can be recycled into new products.

Singapore generates about 60,000 tonnes of e-waste annually – a figure that’s expected to increase with rising affluence and technological advancements.

PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY ORGANISATION

The PRO, which is responsible for meeting NEA’s targets, must develop and implement a system for collection and recycling, and report the tonnage figures to NEA. It should also develop public education programmes and provide ways for the public to recycle their e-waste.

The PRO will be financed by the producers in proportion to their market share. This means that producers will need to report the tonnage of appliances they supply to the market.

“A single PRO will benefit from economies of scale and lower the overall cost of the system,” MEWR said.

However, producers that supply less than a specified threshold amount to the market will be exempted from financing the PRO. This will help “avoid imposing disproportionately high costs on them”, Dr Khor said.

For instance, producers that supply less than 10 tonnes of ICT equipment, and less than 100 tonnes of large appliances (excluding electric mobility devices) are exempted.

RETAILERS

Retailers must also play their part by providing a free one-for-one take-back service for goods that are delivered, and participate in public education programmes.

Large retailers with a sales area of more than 300 square metres will also need to set up in-store collection points for ICT equipment, lamps and batteries, and ensure these are properly treated by licensed e-waste recyclers or the PRO.

Dr Khor said many retailers and partners have already provided such collection points voluntarily, noting that since last June, collection points at Best Denki, Courts, Gain City and Harvey Norman have collected more than 3,200 kg of e-waste across 20 outlets.

NON-CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

As for non-consumer electronics, like solar panels and data servers, their producers will be required to provide a free take-back service of all their end-of-life equipment from businesses upon request.

“To complement this obligation, businesses are also required to properly dispose of e-waste with the producer or any licensed e-waste recycler,” MEWR said.

To support the overall e-waste management system, Dr Khor said NEA will “actively develop” the e-waste industry, such as the skills and capabilities of local recyclers.

“This will create more good job opportunities for Singaporeans, including opportunities in the PRO, supply chain management, and e-waste recycling,” she added.

Source: CNA/lc

Funds to help build a sustainable Singapore
R&D is at the forefront of local environmental initiatives. In the areas of water security, food security, waste management and climate change, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources will continue to take steps this year to advance and better the ways in which these are managed.
Cheryl Teh Straits Times 8 Mar 19;

WATER SECURITY
With $200 million to dispense in funding for research and development (R&D), national water agency PUB will push for breakthrough technology that can fulfil what scientists often call "big hairy audacious goals". One of these is to develop a system that can produce desalinated water with a low energy use of 1 kilowatt hour per cubic m.

Singapore has the technology to halve the energy required in conventional reverse osmosis desalination. Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli announced in Parliament yesterday that Singapore is ready to scale up and deploy this technology at the PUB's Tuas Desalination Plant from next year.

"The gains from R&D go beyond solving our water problems," Mr Masagos said.

FOOD
The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources has a "30 by 30" vision it intends to achieve - to produce 30 per cent of the food needed in Singapore by 2030.

The country currently imports over 90 per cent of its food, so hitting the "30 by 30" goal will require the agri-food industry to adopt new solutions to raise productivity, look into new forms of R&D, combat climate change, and develop ways to overcome the Republic's resource constraints.

$200M
Amount in funding for more work to be done for R&D.

>90
Number of farms that have benefited from the Agriculture Productivity Fund.

$45M
Amount set aside under MEWR's Closing the Waste Loop R&D Initiative in 2017.

The Agriculture Productivity Fund is one of the ways Singapore can support its existing farms. For example, the fund has allowed local vegetable farms Kok Fah and Ho Ka Clean to add climate control and automation systems to their operations.

More than 90 farms have benefited from the fund.

WASTE
A sum of $45 million was set aside under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources' Closing the Waste Loop R&D Initiative in 2017 to fund projects that adopt circular economy approaches - where all waste materials are re-purposed, creating a closed loop of production, with as little as possible being discarded.

Promising projects under the fund include Singapore Polytechnic's development of green chemistry technology to recover precious metals in e-waste, and Nanyang Technological University's method of rapidly converting food waste into high-grade bio-fertilisers.

Mr Masagos said yesterday that these R&D projects might result in more opportunities for local enterprises and, consequently, more jobs.

He cited the success of a Singapore Polytechnic team which developed a recycling process for solar panels that can potentially recover up to 90 per cent of useful materials.

CLIMATE CHANGE
While climate change must be tackled on a regional and global level, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources plans to press on to transform Singapore's economy to accommodate a low-carbon future.

Mr Masagos said in Parliament yesterday that the Government is prepared to spend more than the estimated $1 billion in tax revenues in the first five years, to help companies become more energy-efficient.

Meanwhile, solar adoption will be geared up, as the PUB continues to study the deployment of floating solar panel systems at four reservoirs - Bedok, Lower Seletar, Upper Peirce and Tengah. The Economic Development Board is also exploring the possibility of a commercial floating solar system at Kranji Reservoir. Together, these systems would have the capacity to power 40,000 four-room HDB households a year -about half the size of Tampines.

The ministry will also look into plans to manage transport emissions. These include promoting cleaner vehicles through stricter emission standards.

The ministry also intends to encourage the early replacement of older and more pollutive vehicles, through schemes such as the Early Turnover Scheme.

More than 40,000 commercial diesel vehicles have switched to cleaner vehicles under this scheme, Mr Masagos said.