Waste Not...
By Pauline Leong
Five waste-recycling companies are registered with ENV, which made it a requirement for trash-collecting firms to tie up with registered recyclers
RECYCLING is making headway in Singapore.
Five waste-recycling companies have so far succeeded in registering with the Environment Ministry (ENV).
ENV has made it a requirement for private waste-collecting companies, bidding to service areas on the island, to tie up with one of the registered recyclers.
This is the ministry’s way of formalizing loose arrangements between the waste-collectors and the recyclers that already exist.
ENV said in its annual report for last year that it would continue to promote recycling and the reduction of waste material, given Singapore’s land scarcity and the rising cost of refuse disposal.
Only two out of the nine sectors in Singapore are now being serviced by private companies. The Pasir Ris - Tampines sector is taken by Alvater Jakob, while Colex Holdings looks after the Bedok area.
In asking for tenders for the other seven sectors —now handled by its corporative refuse-collection arm Semac — the ministry is moving to privatize garbage collection.
About 1.88 million tonnes or 40.3 per cent of the total 4.67 million tonnes of waste generated last year were recovered for recycling, ENV said in its annual report.
Waste paper recovered accounted for 388,800 tonnes, while 811,000 tonnes of ferrous scraps were recovered.
For a recycling company to be registered with ENV, it must satisfy certain conditions such as its financial standing, experience and expertise, and how feasible its proposed recycling schemes for domestic and trade premises are.
The five now registered are: Transnational Recycling Industries, Alvater Jakob Recycling, Tsing Yi Enterprises, Eco Resource Recovery Centre and Graceland Recycling.
Tsing Yi Enterprises, which has been in operation for five years, specializes in metal scrap such as copper, brass, aluminium and stainless steel.
Its spokesman, Ms Betty Zhang, said that industrial waste collected is exported to countries such as Japan, Korea, and United States where it is melted down to produce new materials.
Transnational Recycling Industries, in the recycling business for 23 years, first started with metal scrap and has since expanded into recycling paper, wood, glass and plastic.
The company launched its first Residential Household Recycling programme in July last year, focusing on Housing Board households under the Tanjong Pagar - West Coast Community Development Council.
Its second programme was launched this May and involved households covered by the North-east CDC.
Graceland Recycling has started a pilot project with Sembawang town council to collect waste paper from about 80 blocks of HDB flats.
Other recycling companies interested in registering with ENV can still do so.
Sparks Of New 'Life':
At Tsing Yi Enterprises at Sungei Kadut, stainless-steel scrap metal is prepared for a new lease of life by first being broken up with a blowtorch and then compacted with machines into bales before being transported for recycling by third parties. ENV said it would continue to promote recycling and the reduction of waste material, given Singapore’s land scarcity and the rising cost of refuse disposal.
They collect your trash and recycle it
SOME companies that collect public waste are also running recycling programmes.
Colex Holdings, which services the Bedok area and collects about 12,000 tonnes of garbage per month, is now recycling items such as paper, cardboard boxes, old clothes and tin cans.
The company is also working with Transnational Recycling Industries on a pilot programme in Aljunied which covers 221 Housing Board blocks, said its general manager, Mr Desmond Chan.
Also in the pipeline is a recycling programme with Marine Parade town council.
Semac, the corporative refuse-collection arm of the Environment Ministry, is doing its bit too.
From the more than 3,000 tonnes of refuse it collects per day, it recycles about 500 tonnes per month — including paper, metal, electrical appliances, plastics and wooden pallets.
The recyclable materials are collected from residential, commercial and industrial premises. It also works with town councils to promote recycling, it said.
For example, it has up a trash bank for the public, so they can exchange used items for gifts.
Recycling is also going online, with the setting up of Recycling Point Dot Corn.
Its founding partner, Mr Joseph Tan, 34, said that it will buy used items such as old computers and printers, empty printer cartridges, damaged monitors, television or video-cassette recorders and furniture from offices that are moving to new locations.
These items will be sent to countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
"Instead of calling office removers to dispose of these items, we hope that they will contact us first," he said.
Those interested can check out www.recyclingpoint.com.sg for more information.
Source : The Straits Times, September 27, 2000
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