What happens to recyclables

Under the National Recycling Programme (NRP) launched in April 2001, the public waste collectors (PWCs) licensed by NEA are required to provide recycling bins and recycling collection services to all HDB estates, private landed properties and condominiums/private apartments opted into the public waste collection scheme.

The NRP adopts a collection system in which paper, plastic, glass and metal recyclables are deposited into the same blue recycling bin for collection by the PWCs.

The mixed recyclables are collected by dedicated recycling trucks and sent to Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) for sorting.

Since August this year, all recycling trucks from the public waste collectors (PWCs) have been refreshed with new identical livery, to help the public readily identify recycling trucks and differentiate them from waste collection vehicles. Recycling trucks are now painted blue to match the blue recycling bin, and have a large recycling logo (the Mobius loop) and labelled “I am a recycling truck”.

The Recycling Collection Process

1. Recyclables are collected by a dedicated recycling truck and sent to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).

2. At the MRF, the recyclables will be sorted out into paper, glass, metal and plastic.

3. After sorting each type of waste is packed into bundles.

4. The bundles are then sent to recycling plants for recycling.

Learn more on what happens after collection