Contamination Rate of Recyclables for HDB Flats with Centralised Chute for Recyclables

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment for each year in the past five years (a) what is the contamination rate of recyclables for HDB flats with a centralised chute for recyclables; and (b) if this data is not currently collected, whether the Ministry will consider collecting such data.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: Under the National Recycling Programme, recyclables from both recycling bins and recycling chutes are collected for sorting at a Materials Recovery Facility. Recycling trucks collect recyclables from both recycling bins and recycling chutes to optimise collection routes. The aggregated contamination rate for recycling bins and recycling chutes is about 40%. The National Environment Agency (NEA) does not currently collect separate data for recycling chutes.

Moving forward, my Ministry and NEA will consider the usefulness and feasibility of collecting separate data for the contamination rates for recycling bins and recycling chutes.