More sustainable, smarter waste collection and recycling for City-Punggol households and businesses
An electric vehicle in SembWaste's refuse collection truck fleet. (Photo: SembWaste)
SINGAPORE: People living and working in the City-Punggol sector can look forward to smarter and more sustainable services for public waste collection and recycling under a new contract awarded to SembWaste.
Among them is a new fleet of refuse collection trucks that includes 14 electric vehicles, making up almost 20 per cent of the fleet to be deployed, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Wednesday (Jun 9).
An on-site food waste treatment system will also be introduced at Geylang Serai Market. Food waste collected from the market will be converted into non-potable water, reducing the amount of waste sent to incineration plants, said NEA.
The market was selected as it has enough space to house the treatment system and generates a sufficiently large quantity of food waste to reap economies of scale, added the agency.
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The City-Punggol sector covers Hougang, Macpherson and Punggol-West Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC).
It also covers parts of Mountbatten and Potong Pasir SMCs, and parts of Aljunied, Ang Mo Kio, Jalan Besar, Marine Parade and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRCs.
This area comprises about 250,000 households and 16,800 trade premises including hawker and market stalls, shops, places of worship and government buildings, said NEA.
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NEW FLEET
The new contract will see SembWaste roll out ergonomic trucks for better worker comfort and safety, said NEA. Trucks will be fitted with a two-step low entry cabin that makes getting in and out of the truck easier and safer.
Three recycling trucks will also be fitted with side-loaders, increasing collection efficiency in Housing Board estates as larger 2,200L side-loader recycling bins will be deployed there, added the agency.
"The lower number of collection rounds and truck trips enhances productivity and also reduces the overall carbon footprint of waste collection services," it said.
SMARTER SERVICES
SembWaste will also expand the scale of its digitalisation and automation initiatives to the City-Punggol sector, said NEA.
"Technologies with Internet of Things (IoT) attributes will be used to capture real-time information on the amount of refuse and recyclables collected, and generate fault alerts for SembWaste to carry out corrective maintenance on its refuse storage equipment.
"This will minimise any inconvenience of faulty equipment to the public," said the agency.
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SembWaste's ezi mobile application to encourage and incentivise household recycling remains a key sustainability initiative by the company, added NEA.
The agency reminded residents in the City-Punggol sector that they can use the application to locate the nearest Cash-for-Trash stations.
NO CHANGE TO HOUSEHOLD FEES
SembWaste holds the current public waste collection contract for the City-Punggol sector. The new contract, awarded through an open competitive tender, will see the company continue to provide these services to the sector from Jul 1 this year to Jun 30, 2028.
Households living in Housing Board flats and condominiums that have not opted out of the public waste collection scheme, as well as landed homes in all sectors of Singapore will continue to pay the same monthly household refuse collection fees, said NEA.
The fees are currently S$8.25 and S$27.47 respectively.
The next fee review will take place in the second half of the year, with fees to be effective from Jan 1, 2022.
As for trade premises, SembWaste will write to business owners to inform them of their new fees, which will depend on their daily refuse output, said NEA.
