The National Environment Agency (NEA) has awarded the new public waste collection contract for the City-Punggol sector to SembWaste Pte. Ltd. (SembWaste) through an open competitive tender. SembWaste was appointed after NEA received 11 tender offers from six tenderers. The current contract for public waste collection in the City-Punggol sector is held by SembWaste and expires on 30 June 2021. SembWaste will therefore continue as the provider of refuse and recyclables collection services to domestic and trade premises in this sector from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2028.

The City-Punggol sector covers the Hougang, Macpherson and Punggol-West Single Member Constituencies (SMC)s, parts of Mountbatten and Potong Pasir SMCs, Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and parts of Aljunied, Ang Mo Kio, Jalan Besar, Marine Parade, and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRCs. There are about 266,800 premises – comprising 250,000 households and 16,800 trade premises which include hawker and market stalls, shops, places of worship, and government buildings.

Use of digitalisation and automation in City-Punggol sector

As part of transformation efforts in the waste management industry, NEA encourages the use of innovative concepts and technologies to improve productivity and sustainability in the collection of refuse and recyclables in our public tenders for the PWCs.

SembWaste will expand the scale of its digitalisation and automation initiatives to the City-Punggol sector. 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.

A new fleet of trucks will be introduced for the collection of refuse, recyclables and garden waste. This includes 14 electric vehicles (EVs), which make up almost 20 per cent of the fleet that will be deployed. SembWaste will be rolling out ergonomic trucks for better worker comfort and safety. These trucks are fitted with a two-step low entry cabin which makes getting in and out of the truck much easier and safer for the crew. In addition, three recycling trucks will be fitted with side-loaders, which increase collection efficiency as larger 2,200L side-loader recycling bins will be deployed in HDB estates. The lower number of collection rounds and truck trips enhances productivity and also reduces the overall carbon footprint of waste collection services (Refer to Annex A for photos of the two-step low entry cabin rear-end loader refuse collection truck, electric truck and its latest vehicle fleet).

Sustainability focus

A key sustainability initiative for households by SembWaste is its ‘ezi’ mobile application with engagement-based programmes to encourage and incentivize household recycling. Residents in the City-Punggol sector can make use of the ‘ezi’ mobile application to locate the nearest Cash-For-Trash stations. The app also has other features such as tips on recycling, educational games and information on upcoming recyclables collection events.

SembWaste will also provide an on-site food waste treatment system at Geylang Serai Market to treat food waste generated there. The centre was selected as it has sufficient space to house the food waste treatment system and generates a sufficiently large quantity of food waste to reap economies of scale. The food waste collected from the premises will be converted into non-potable water, thereby reducing the amount of food waste sent to the incineration plants.

Refuse Collection Fees

Households living in HDB flats, condominiums that have not opted out of the public waste collection scheme and landed homes in all sectors of Singapore, will continue paying the same monthly household refuse collection fees of $8.25 and $27.47 (both fees inclusive of GST), respectively. The next review will be carried out in the second half of 2021, with fees to be effective for the period from 1 January 2022.

As for trade premises, SembWaste will write to business owners to inform them of their new refuse collection fees, which will depend on their daily refuse output. Owners of trade premises can also call SembWaste’s toll-free number 1800-278-6135 or email [email protected] for more information on the latest refuse collection fees.

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