Resource Sustainability Bill

Bill No. 20/2019

Read the first time on 5 August 2019.

An Act to impose obligations relating to the collection and treatment of electrical and electronic waste and food waste, to require reporting of packaging imported into or used in Singapore, to regulate persons operating producer responsibility schemes, and to promote resource sustainability.

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

PART 1

PRELIMINARY

Short title and commencement

1. This Act is the Resource Sustainability Act 2019 and comes into operation on a date that the Minister appoints by notification in the Gazette.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“Agency” means the National Environment Agency established under the National Environment Agency Act (Cap. 195);

“authorised officer” means an authorised officer appointed under section 5(2);

“consumer”, in relation to any regulated goods or regulated product, means an individual who purchases or intends to purchase the regulated goods or regulated product for household use or private consumption;

“dispose”, in relation to any thing, means to dispose of the thing as waste;

“import” does not include the bringing into Singapore of any regulated goods or regulated product which are to be taken out of Singapore on the same conveyance on which they were brought into Singapore without any landing or transhipment within Singapore;

“licensed e-waste recycler” means a person who is licensed under section 23(1) of the Environmental Public Health Act (Cap. 95) to operate a disposal facility that receives, stores, sorts, processes or treats electrical and electronic waste;

“licensed scheme” means a producer responsibility scheme operated by a person who is licensed under section 29;

“licensed waste collector” means a person who is licensed under section 31 of the Environmental Public Health Act;

“occupier”, in relation to any premises, means a person —

(a)	in occupation of the premises or part of the premises; or
(b)	having the charge, management or control of the premises or part of the premises, either on the person’s own account or as agent of another person,

but does not include a lodger;

“producer responsibility scheme” means a scheme in which —

(a)	the operator of the scheme collects, or organises the collection of, any specified waste from the public and causes such waste collected to be treated and recycled; and
(b)	members of the scheme finance the costs of operating the scheme, including the costs of the collection, treatment and recycling of the waste collected;

“retailer” means a person who carries on a trade or business of supplying any regulated goods or regulated product to consumers;

“Singapore-connected person” means any person who is —

(a)	a citizen or a permanent resident of Singapore;
(b)	a company or other body corporate incorporated in, or having its central management and control in, Singapore; or
(c)	an unincorporated body established in Singapore;

“specified waste” means any waste specified in the Schedule;

“waste” includes any discarded, rejected, unwanted, surplus or abandoned substance, and a substance is not precluded from being waste for the purposes of this Act merely because it is or may be processed, recycled or recovered.

(2) In this Act, a reference to the collection of any waste regulated under this Act means the collection, receipt, removal, transportation or storage of the waste for the disposal of the waste.

Purposes of Act

3. The purposes of this Act are —

(a)	to implement a framework where persons who profit from the supply of products bear the cost of collecting and treating these products when they become waste;
(b)	to encourage producers of packaging to reduce, re‑use or recycle packaging; and
(c)	to enable proper segregation and treatment of food waste.

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