Large shopping malls in Singapore contributed 7% of the country's total waste in 2018. Can malls, as hubs for consumerism, do more to reduce their waste while maintaining sales figures?
To address this significant contribution of waste from retail, shopping malls in Singapore with more than 4,600 sq m of net lettable area have been made to submit their waste data and a waste reduction plan to the National Environment Agency (NEA) since 2014.
Between 2014 and 2019, the average waste generated by the retail sector gradually fell from 52 kg/m2 to 45 kg/m2, with the recycling rate increasing from 6.7% to 11.4%. According to Lendlease and WWF-Singapore, the improvement is a result of installing food waste digesters and conducting recycling training for tenants here.
The real estate group and conservation organisation together released on Aug 5 the Circularity in Retail: Tackling the Waste Problem report, a waste reduction guide for the retail sector in Singapore.
The study referenced tenants’ waste from Lendlease’s malls, namely 313@somerset, Jem and Parkway Parade between 2018 and 2019, along with waste data collected by an automated system at Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ) in 2020.
Across Lendlease malls (less PLQ), 26.7% of waste in 2018 was recyclable. The following year, the percentage of recyclable waste increased slightly to 28.9%. According to the study, this places the average recycling rate at more than 2.5 times Singapore’s average recycling rate of 11.4%.
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“We recognise that a key barrier to improving overall waste reduction is a lack of available data and reduction targets. This has limited our understanding of waste issues at the tenant level. At the same time, tenants may not always be aware of how much waste they may be generating,” says Ng Hsueh Ling, managing director, Singapore and chief investment officer, Asia at Lendlease.
“We have taken one of the first steps to filling that knowledge and data gap; there's still a lot to go,” says Ng at a virtual presentation.
The main types of waste that are recycled at the malls are paper and cardboard, metal and plastic, while certain malls also recycle food waste, glass, used cooking oil, horticulture waste and others.
The report singled out plastic packaging from fashion tenants, which has the highest potential for recycling as it is not contaminated by food or other substances. Among tenants surveyed in February 2021, the overall plastic recycling rate among fashion tenants was 12.8%.
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“More could be done to segregate polybags, a polythene bag used in deliveries and packed garments, since they form the majority and have the highest recycling value compared to other plastic packaging,” notes the report. “Compared to the waste data for the three malls in 2019, if the plastic recycling rate could be increased to 80%, fashion tenants could potentially contribute 0.5 to four times more plastic collected in terms of weight.”
Over at food courts, single-use containers, cutlery and straws make up the majority of plastic waste. Plastic wrappers, used in bulk purchases of bottled drinks and cans, made up 40.2% of plastic packaging from food courts in February, while beverage bottles nearly matched the figure, at 39.4%.
“Most plastic packaging cannot be recycled due to food contamination. These items, even if they were placed into the recycling bin, would be picked out and discarded as general waste instead,” reads the report. “However, it is interesting to note that transparent cups and beverage bottles are accepted for recycling if they are empty.”
That said, supermarkets are the culprits of producing the widest variety of plastic waste. Styrofoam boxes made up more than half of plastic packaging waste in February, with shrink wrap contributing some 8% and large plastic bags making up some 42%.
“Almost half of the packaging, which is made of expanded polystyrene (EPS, or styrofoam) cannot be recycled, according to the waste contractor. The limitation is due to the lack of appropriate technology to recycle EPS in the region, thus rendering it non-recyclable,” notes the report.
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Beyond consumer and tenant education, Jenny Khoo, head of asset operations at Lendlease, believes regulatory bodies could strengthen this obligation and close the “big gap” in recycling figures.
“Some do not realise how they can contribute to this cause of making our planet a more sustainable place for us to live in,” says Khoo. “The challenge now is that it is not compulsory for everyone to be on this journey. If it can be regulated, that will help us.”
Currently, Lendlease’s recycling programme is voluntary for tenants and there is no regulatory obligation for tenants who do not comply with waste management targets.
In the report, Lendlease urges regulatory bodies to make waste management clauses mandatory in mall leases and introduce a penalty for non-compliance. Lendlease also calls for an expansion of NEA’s Extended Producer Responsibility policy, which began in January 2020 for electrical and electronic producers, to include medium-sized companies that occupy an area within a retail mall over a certain size or tenants from a particular retail sector.
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Besides a top-down approach, Dr Amy Khor, senior minister of state at the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, also called on shoppers to do their part to minimise waste in her keynote address.
“Shoppers: we can play a part, too, by bringing our own reusable bags and containers and choosing to support sustainable businesses. No effort is too small and collectively, we can make a difference.”
Photos: Lendlease
