SINGAPORE (Bloomberg): Don’t throw out that plastic bottle. The Singapore government wants empty beverage containers in return for cash, in a bid to boost the recycling rate.
More than 1,000 machines will be available islandwide from April 1, the National Environment Agency and the Beverage Container Return Scheme said in a statement on Wednesday.
The plan is to increase the number of machines to 2,000 within the first year. There’ll be a refund of 10 Singapore cents (7.8 cents) for each plastic and metal container returned.
Singapore expects the plan to cover more than one billion beverage containers used each year. This would recover more than 16,000 tons of material annually that would otherwise have been burnt, resulting in carbon emissions and the release of toxic chemicals. The city’s major supermarket chains started charging for plastic bags in 2023.
Governments around the world are clamping down on waste from single-use products to protect the environment and reduce pollution. South Korea started a container deposit program in 1985 while Sweden became the first country in Europe to legislate a similar plan for plastic bottles back in 1994.
Singapore’s overall recycling rate fell to 50% in 2024, the lowest in at least a decade while the rate for plastics stood at 5%.
The government may struggle to meet a target to reduce the daily waste-to-landfill per capita by 20% by this year from a 2018 baseline.
The city burns most of its trash at incineration plants before transporting the ash to the Semakau landfill, which is expected to be full by 2035.
-- ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
