Worldwide Recycling Initiatives

Though households in Singapore generate less rubbish than households in the West, recycling is yet to catch on. For every ton of rubbish that is recycled in Singapore, Germans would recycle 12 tons. One in three Singaporean households recycle their rubbish, saving it for the voluntary door-to-door collection that runs every two weeks. Many Singaporeans simply throw their rubbish down the chute. Others will sell what they can to the junk collector and discard what remains with the rest of their trash. This last option also serves to obscure some of the figures that are available to the recycling plants.

But what Singapore does with its waste is becoming a key problem. At the current rate of waste growth, Singapore will need to build a new incinerator every seven years simply to cope with the ever-increasing volume of trash that is generated. Getting rid of waste is thus a very costly affair. With nowhere to site another landfill, recycling is being seen as one of the possible solutions. But the approach the government has taken has been soft and non-punitive, and has centered round changing people's attitudes to rubbish. Supermarkets now ask their clients to bring their own shopping bags. Hawker centers, the cornerstone of life in Singapore where markets coexist with small cafes, employ plate clearers who separate from the rubbish the organic waste that does not need to go the incinerator.