Laws and Regulations

National Laws and Regulation

The Environmental Protection and Management Act, Chapter 94A (Original Enactment: Act 9 of 1999) Part V, Premise 15, Number 1 states: ‘Any person who discharges or causes or permits to be discharged any trade effluent, oil, chemical, sewage or other polluting matters into any drain or land, without a written permission from the Director-General, shall be guilty of an offence’. Other pollutants may include land-based litter such as plastic waste. Failure to comply with this regulation shall result in the payment of a fine not exceeding S$5,000.

With regards to land-based litter prevention, the Environmental Public Health Act Chapter 95 (Original Enactment: Act 14 of 1987). Part III Premise 19 Number 1 Letter (a) states: ‘Any person who drops, scatters, spills or throws any noxious liquid, dirt, sand, earth, gravel, clay, loam, manure, refuse, sawdust, shavings, stone, straw or any other similar matter or thing in any public place (whether from a moving or stationary vehicle or in any other manner) shall be guilty of an offence’. Meanwhile, Part III Premise 20 Number 1 states: ‘Any person who (a) dumps or disposes of any refuse, waste or any other article from a vehicle in a public place; or (b) uses a vehicle for the purpose of dumping or disposing of any refuse, waste or any other article in a public place, shall be guilty of an offence’.

The Act was amended on 1 April 2014 to enable the mandatory reporting of waste data and submission of waste reduction plans by any owner, occupier, or lessee of a workplace to raise awareness on the amount of waste produced and improve waste management systems (NEA, n.d.). Under this amendment, a workplace refers to places used for any industrial, trade, commercial or manufacturing purposes, including construction sites, work sites, and farms (NEA, n.d.).

On 4 October 2019, Singapore enacted the Resource Sustainability Act 2019 (Act 29 of 2019), which includes regulatory measures on electrical and electronic waste (e-waste), packaging (including plastic) waste, and food waste. Manufacturers, importers, brand owners, and retailers of packaged products with an annual turnover of more than S$10 million shall report to the National Environment Agency (NEA) their packaging data (Section 20), which shall consist of information on type of packaging material (e.g. plastic, paper, metal, glass); packaging form (e.g. carrier bag, bottle); and weight (MEWR, 2020). Producers will be required to submit plans to reduce, reuse, and recycle their packaging (3R plan), including details of key initiatives, key performance indicators, and targets. The 3R plan shall consider packaging reduction; packaging collection for reuse or recycling; outreach related to reducing, reusing, and recycling packaging; use of recycled content in packaging; and improvements in recyclability of packaging (MEWR, 2020). Producers will be required to submit progress of their plans in subsequent reports. These regulatory measures will be enforced starting in 2020, with the first reporting submitted to NEA in 2022.

Beyond laws and regulations, the Government of Singapore has also taken non-policy measures. For example, the Clean and Green Singapore movement under the NEA encourages Singaporeans to care for the environment by adopting sustainable lifestyles, among others through campaigns to reduce waste production and increase recycling (Government of Singapore, n.d.). Go Green SG, an annual movement led by the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment (MSE), consists of a series of events as well as a platform for public and private stakeholders as well as citizens to work together to achieve an environmentally sustainable Singapore (Go Green SG, n.d.).