Consider this:

• 1 tonne of recycled paper saves 17 trees
• 1 recycled plastic bottle saves enough energy to light a 60W bulb for 6 hours
• 5 recycled plastic bottles can make 1 square foot of polyester carpet
• 1 recycled aluminium drinks can saves enough energy to run a TV set for 3 hours

A household of four typically accumulates up to 25 kg of waste every week. And about half of that can be recycled. If every household recycled these items, we could potentially divert 1,700 tonnes of waste (about 250 refuse trucks) from our incineration plants and landfill every day!

Solid waste in Singapore has increased six-fold in the past 30 years, and about half of this comes from our households. With our growing population and affluence, it’s increasingly urgent that we all recycle as much as we can.

Currently, we burn all our incinerable waste at our four incineration plants and dispose the remaining waste at Semakau Landfill, our only landfill. But this is not enough; every one of us can help reuse and recycle to reduce the amount of waste generated to move "Towards Zero Landfill” and “Towards Zero Waste”.

So start recycling today!

Check out Singapore’s waste minimisation efforts under the Singapore Green Plan 2012, Singapore’s blueprint for environmental sustainability here

If you have any burning questions about recycling, or have suggestions on other topics you would like more information on, you can email us ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).