Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor said on Tuesday that an initiative to encourage people to recycle their used drink containers for a refundable deposit will be implemented by the beverage industry, which will have a strong incentive to operate efficiently and cost-effectively.
The refundable deposit is estimated to be around 10 to 20 cents, and is currently estimated to be around 10 to 20 cents, in addition to the cost of the drink.
If you return your used containers to return points, you'll get a deposit back. These locations have yet to be confirmed.
The scheme will cover plastic bottles and metal cans from 150 ml to 3 L, covering more than 1 billion beverage containers in Singapore each year.
MPs Ang Wei Neng PAP-West Coast Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim PAP-Chua Chu Kang and Liang Eng Hwa PAP-Bukit Panjang had asked about the costs and scale of the scheme.
In reply, Dr Khor said that beverage producers, such as manufacturers and importers, will be responsible for the collection and recycling of the products they put on the market, as well as funding the scheme.
In similar schemes overseas, producers usually appoint an operator to carry out their responsibilities under the scheme. She said that an industry-led, not-for profit scheme operator is preferred.
The scheme is owned and run by the industry, so it will have a strong incentive to operate the scheme efficiently and cost-effectively, to keep scheme costs low for all parties, said Dr Khor.
The scheme operator will use the revenue from the sale of clean, high quality and high value recyclables to reduce the scheme costs.