Last year was Singapore’s Year of Climate Action, but the call to save the earth may have been lost on its residents. Figures from NEA in Apr showed that the overall recycling rate fell from 61 per cent in 2017 to 60 per cent last year, mainly due to a drop in wood waste recycled. On the domestic front, there was a slight improvement, with the recycling rate going up from 21 per cent in 2017 to 22 per cent last year. However, figures show that the informal sector has been more effective than the official programme in boosting Singapore’s domestic recycling effort. The statistics raise questions over the effectiveness of the islandwide scheme involving the ubiquitous big blue bins. These are often found to be contaminated with food waste. There have also been reports of public waste collectors botching recycling efforts by being picky with the type of recyclables they pick up, or by mixing recyclables collected with rubbish bound for incineration. NEA has also found that residents living in landed properties recycled about four to five times more than those in HDB flats.... Continue Reading