What action, if any, should the National Environment Agency take to reduce the rate of disposed household municipal solid waste in Singapore?

Executive Summary

Singapore’s land scarcity problem, along with concerns for air quality and pollution shines a light on unsustainable disposal rates of household municipal solid waste (MSW) which, for Singapore, is one of the highest of the developed countries. The current policy of a flat fee for disposal does not capture the marginal social cost and is likely to lead to depletion of the only landfill site available to Singapore, by 2035. Therefore, our recommended policy option is to “Save-as-you-throw” (SAYR); an innovative solution to electronically “charge” per chute- opening for the 95% of households living in apartments and which also accounts for externalities at a total cost of 23 Singapore cents per five litres of chute capacity.

1 Problem Analysis

Singapore is running out of landfill space and high rates of disposed domestic Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) are contributing to the problem. The Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) recognises the urgency of the problem and is working with the National Environment Agency (NEA) to develop and implement policy solutions (MEWR, 2019b).