Singapore launched Packaging Partnership Programme

On March 24, 2021, the National Environment Agency of Singapore officially launched the Packaging Partnership Programme (PPP) jointly with the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) for better packaging material management. The PPP is a government-industry partnership led by SMF in a partnership with NEA with the aim to enhance the capability of industry to manage packaging material in a sustainable way. Upon launching the PPP, NEA held an inaugural PPP Conference in which 15 signatories of the Singapore Packaging Agreement (SPA) were recognized for their waste reduction efforts (10 major companies and 5 small & medium enterprises).

Packaging waste including plastic waste constitutes about one-third of Singapore’s domestic waste by weight, accounting for a large proportion of waste generated in the country. The SPA was initiated on June 5, 2007, the World Environment Day, under a collaboration among the government, private companies, and non-governmental organizations. The SPA is voluntary initiative so as to encourage for the signatory companies and organizations to adopt solutions to reduce waste. Until its end on June 30, 2020, over 200 signatory companies of SPA and reduced a total of 62,000 tons of packaging waste. (The list of signatories can be seen at: https://www.nea.gov.sg/SPA.)

The PPP aims to further advance sustainable waste management taking over the network established under SPA, which is composed by various entities. In Singapore, under the mandatory packaging reporting requirements of the Resource Sustainability Act 2019, producers of packaged products and retailers with an annual turnover of more than SGD 10 million (approx. USD 7.3 million) are required to collect packaging data and develop plans to reduce, reuse or recycle packaging materials. The first reports must be submitted by March 31, 2022.