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  Straits Times Forum 15 May 06
It takes time to inculcate recycling culture. Do more to educate people to cut waste
Letter from Eugene Tay Tse Chuan

I refer to the letter 'Cut waste by hiking disposal fee or charging by volume' (ST, May 6) by Ms Sharon Seetho.

I agree with her that we should reduce and recycle waste, but using economic pressure may not be the right approach.

As Singapore moves towards a developed country status, we should start to move away from using economic pressure to achieve our objectives. There are better alternatives and more creative ways to reduce and recycle waste.

Using economic pressure should be done only as a last resort. It is also not easy to implement a 'charge by volume' system in our context. How do we charge residents staying in flats, individually or by block? If we charge individually, how do we measure the weight of the waste?

I believe that the reduction in refuse disposal fees is a result of the privatisation of the domestic waste collection system several years ago. Now, the waste collection companies have to tender for providing the collection services. Lowering their collection fees may help them in their tendering by showing that they can provide value for money. If the companies can do it with lower fees, why should the government penalise residents for that?

Also, refuse disposal fees may not have a long term effect on the amount of waste thrown away. Initially, an increase in fees is likely to lead to a reduction in the amount of waste disposed as residents feel the impact of increasing cost. However, over time they could get used to the increasing cost and learn to live with it.

Moreover, an increase in disposal fees could lead to more cases of illegal dumping and littering as residents try to reduce their own waste by throwing them in public areas.

More importantly, residents should not be the only ones taking the blame for not reducing waste. Companies that manufacture the products we use and throw away are also at fault.

Some companies have produced excessive packaging to promote their brands and attract consumers to buy. These packagings usually end up as waste if they are not recycled. Companies could play their part by minimising excessive packaging and make their products more recyclable.

It takes time to inculcate a recycling culture and this cannot be done in a short time. If I remember correctly, the amount of domestic waste disposed per person per day has decreased over the past five years since the national efforts on waste minimisation and recycling took place.

This shows that efforts to educate the public and putting in place the various recycling programmes and infrastructure have been fruitful, although more could be done.

Sometimes, it is not reasonable to compare our current recycling efforts with other countries which have started their efforts much earlier.
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