The Packaging Partnership Programme (PPP) held a sharing session on the beverage container return scheme on 27 July 2022. More than 40 participants, comprising PPP members as well as members from Singapore Manufacturing Federation’s Food & Beverage Industry Group attended the session.
The session kick started with an opening remark by Mr Christopher Tan, Director of the Sustainability Division from the National Environment Agency (NEA), followed by a briefing by Mr Bryan Ong, Executive Engineer from the Sustainability Division from NEA.
Mr Ong first gave an overview of the SG Green Plan 2030, in particular, the “Sustainable Living” pillar of the SG Green Plan which set out a national strategy to address e-waste, packaging waste, and food waste. Mr Ong shared that the beverage container return scheme would be the first phase of an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) approach to manage packaging waste. EPR policies aimed to make producers responsible for the collection and end-of-life management of the products they put on the market. EPR for packaging waste had been successfully implemented in over 60 countries, where it significantly raised recycling rates for packaging, which reduced the waste sent to landfill. The beverage container return scheme would be a key initiative to address packaging waste, specifically beverage containers such as plastic bottles and metal cans.
Under the scheme, a small deposit would be applied to certain beverage containers when consumers buy a pre-packaged beverage. Consumers could then claim a deposit refund by returning their empty beverage container to a designated return point. The scheme would contribute to Singapore’s zero waste efforts by cultivating recycling habits, and aggregating clean and high-quality recyclables, which could be used to make new products. Mr Ong also shared the proposed details of the scheme such as the material and types of beverages to be covered, labelling requirements, return infrastructure, and the scheme administration. In particular, for the labeling requirements, producers of pre-packaged beverages would have to ensure their containers are labelled with a “deposit mark” to help consumers identify containers covered under the scheme.
Producers would also be encouraged but not mandated to use Singapore-Specific (Unique) barcodes instead of international barcodes. This would reduce the risk of added costs to the scheme due to containers bought in other countries being imported deliberately to claim deposit refunds.
The session was followed by a Q&A segment. At this segment, companies asked about the rationale behind the material types covered and the expected effectiveness of the scheme.
To find out more about the proposed Beverage Container Return Scheme framework for Singapore, please access the public consultation paper at https://go.gov.sg/nea-bcrs. To learn more about deposit return systems, you may view this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYn6vTQTXQY&feature=youtu.be