Internationally, Singapore is known for its exceptional standards when it comes to cleanliness.
The South East Asian commercial hub is universally prized for its streets and parks that are generally free of plastic waste, a state of affairs partly due to the city’s ‘zero-waste’ pledge.
Yet the current waste management model employed in Singapore follows linear rather than circular thinking, as most of the municipal waste produced is incinerated.
In 2019, more than 40% of 7,23 million tonnes of solid waste was incinerated in Singapore. Reliance on waste-to-energy initiatives have led to an explosion in refuse production, as the belief is prevalent that waste generation without check can be beneficial due to its potential for conversion into green electricity.
This is also one of the reasons why recycling rates have been consistently low in Singapore, having dropped from 22% in 2018 to 17% in 2019….
…In the wake of these issues, Grace Fu, Malaysian Minister for Sustainability and Environment, inaugurated the new Plastic Recycling Association of Singapore (PRAS) to tackle the city’s growing waste problem.
The organisation means to bring together companies and institutions interested in developing Singapore’s sustainable future by means of knowledge exchange as well as by recycling pilot schemes.
