Recycling with Tzu Chi

The ubiquitous blue bins around our housing estates are the main means of recycling for Singaporeans. I used to dump all of my recyclables in them, until I started to doubt the effectiveness of those bins. We are not required to sort the recyclables before placing them into the bins. Recycling trucks drop by approximately thrice a week to collect the items and send them to sorting facilities. However, I feel that as sorting is not needed on our end, the bins are treated like trash bins and one can find a myriad of non-recyclables in them, including food waste. This seems to negate people's efforts in washing recyclables since the whole bin will get contaminated when one inconsiderate person throws food waste in it.

Hence, I decided to look for an alternative way to recycle and learnt about Tzu Chi's recycling programme through a Facebook group. It takes place every second Sunday of the month at different locations throughout the island. At each recycling point, you are required to sort the recyclables (hard plastic, soft plastic, clothing etc). The items will then be sold and the funds will be channelled to charity.

Tzu Chi's website: https://www.tzuchi.org.sg/en/our-missions/environmental-protection/recycling-points/

My first experience in recycling with Tzu Chi almost ended up in disappointment though. The recycling points are supposed to be open from 9 am to 12 pm, and I arrived at 11.30 am drenched from a sudden downpour. The volunteers had packed up earlier and I wandered around the block for a while with three bags of recyclables. Thankfully, I spotted a group of volunteers leaving and one of them kindly opened a storage room for me to place my recyclables. I will head out earlier for the next recycling day and hopefully join in the process of sorting the recyclables.

Three full bags of recyclables!