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About 93 per cent of free home recycling boxes have been distributed, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng in Parliament on May 9.

The recycling box, known as Bloobox, was introduced as an initiative by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to encourage residents to set up a recycling corner at home.

Residents could collect them from numerous vending machines placed all over Singapore.

530,000 boxes distributed

About 530,000 boxes were distributed as of Apr. 30, when the distribution period ended, said Baey in response to questions from several Members of Parliament (MP) about the initiative.

Booths to distribute the boxes were set up at community events, shopping malls and hawker centres.

Blooboxes were also distributed to primary and secondary schools to promote recycling, he added.

Flyers, posters and digital notifications via the Singpass app helped to publicise the distribution efforts.

According to an earlier press release by NEA, 300,000 boxes had been distributed as of Apr. 18. This includes 60,000 which were distributed to schools.

By Apr. 18, slightly over 50 per cent of the total number of boxes were distributed, with around 20 per cent of households in Singapore having collected the Bloobox.

"Positive response" by the public

Baey said that the "strong and positive response by the public" reflects the community's interest in recycling at home, and their "appreciation of the utility" of the Blooboxes.

He explained that at the start, the initiative had taken into account households that already recycle.

"Nevertheless, not every household requires a Bloobox as many may already have existing recycling corners using other containers. This was taken into consideration when we planned for the number of Blooboxes to be distributed in this initiative."

Baey shared that NEA will use the remaining boxes to support its Recycle Right campaign and continue to encourage households to recycle.

Distribution was close to estimate

MP for Sengkang GRC Jamus Lim raised a supplementary question, asking if Baey could share the total cost of the Bloobox initiative.

Lim also enquired if there would be a "certain threshold percentage" for which the programme will be regarded as "cost-effective".

Baey replied that he does not have the number for the cost of the Bloobox campaign.

He elaborated:

"We estimated the number of Blooboxes required because we didn't produce or procure Blooboxes to cover all houses in Singapore, because that would not be realistic and we know that not every household requires it."

"We were quite close to our estimate," Baey noted, and cited the high percentage of distribution.

He also reiterated that the remaining Blooboxes "will not be put to waste".

Baey concluded:

"Most [important of all] is that we have 93 per cent collection, [this] means that there are these households who have interest in the Bloobox, and we hope that they will put the Blooboxes to good use, and we will continue efforts to promote recycling in the community."

Before the nationwide rollout of the campaign in March 2023, the Bloobox distribution was piloted at five constituencies between November and December 2022.

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said then that the pilot would be studied to inform the national distribution.

Blooboxes still available at various recycling initiatives

MP for Yio Chu Kang SMC Yip Hon Weng also enquired if areas with higher Bloobox collection rates had higher recycling rates and lower contamination rates.

Baey responded that the agency conducts its data on recycling on an annual basis, and he would need to check if more detailed data is available to understand the trends Yip is referring to.

He also added that residents who wish to collect a Bloobox can look out for the various recycling initiatives by NEA and its partners.

Top image via Mothership.