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Home refuse-collection fees to go up from next year

SINGAPORE — Households will soon have to pay about 10 per cent more each month to have their garbage collected because of higher operating costs, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Monday (Nov 7).

SINGAPORE — Households will soon have to pay about 10 per cent more each month to have their garbage collected because of higher operating costs, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Monday (Nov 7).

From January next year, the fees will be raised to S$8.25 for those living in flats, and S$27.47 for those living in landed property.

Currently, those living in flats such as Housing and Development Board (HDB) units and condominiums pay S$7.49 per month, while households living on landed property pay S$24.81.

The NEA appoints public waste collectors (PWCs) to collect garbage from households via open tenders, and each household pays a monthly refuse collection fee through its monthly utility bill.

The refuse collection fee for each housing type is the weighted average of the successful bids submitted by the PWCs in each geographical area, said the NEA.

The current fees were set in July 2012, when the NEA moved to standard fees islandwide. Before standardisation, the fees paid by households varied according to different geographical areas.

For example, HDB households in Ang Mo Kio-Toa Payoh, Hougang-Punggol, Woodlands-Yishun and Tanglin-Bukit Merah paid between S$4.82 and S$5.81 a month, before the fees were raised to the standard S$7.49 for flats.

The standardised fees were first introduced to the Pasir Ris-Tampines and Bedok sectors when their new contracts with the PWCs commenced, and gradually covered all households by January last year.

The NEA did not say how much operating costs, which include manpower costs, have gone up by.

Asked what steps it would take to moderate further increases in costs, the NEA said it was working with the industry to boost productivity and “uphold the high standards of public hygiene” for refuse collection.

“This is with the aim of moderating the refuse-collection fees for households against the rising costs faced by the industry,” a spokesperson added.

The next review of garbage collection fees is scheduled for January 2019.

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