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Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment
Parliament Q&A

Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Beverage Container Return Scheme

5 May 2026

Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on the Beverage Container Return Scheme by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment.

Questions:

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what is the total number of Return Points deployed under the Beverage Container Return Scheme to date; (b) what are the total capital costs and average monthly electricity consumption of these machines; and (c) whether the Ministry has conducted a life cycle assessment to ensure the carbon footprint of operating these machines does not outweigh the recycling benefits.

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment following the first month of the Beverage Container Return Scheme (a) what are the total collection volume and contamination rate; and (b) what measures are being taken to improve the average uptime and maintenance response times for Return Right machines that have experienced frequent technical malfunctions and offline periods since the April 2026 launch.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment whether the Ministry will consider accepting all returned bottles under the Beverage Container Return Scheme, regardless of whether they possess the deposit mark and for an interim period, to encourage recycling behaviour.

Ms Poh Li San: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what is the Ministry’s assessment of the Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS) one month after its launch; (b) whether there are plans to improve the markings of eligible containers; and (c) whether there are other BCRS refund options for less tech-savvy users, especially seniors.

Answer:

All 1,070 reverse vending machines (RVMs) that were planned for the initial roll-out have been deployed and are operational. This will increase to around 2,000 RVMs within the first year of implementation. Each machine has an energy consumption rate that is lower than a drink vending machine.

As the scheme was launched just over a month ago, it is premature to draw any conclusions on the performance and effectiveness of the scheme. As there is a six-month transition period, the volume of containers returned in April is expectedly small. We anticipate the volume to increase significantly in July and August, when more labelled regulated beverages are introduced into the market.

There are no plans for the RVMs to accept non-labelled containers during the transition, as this could lead to greater confusion among the public. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to recycle beverage containers without the deposit mark using our blue bins.

We will continue to work with the scheme operator, BCRS Ltd., to fine-tune and improve the implementation of the scheme.

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