Singapore's NEA tenders to explore e-waste collection, recycling and management

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has called for a tender to conduct a study on the collection, recycling and management of electrical and electronic waste (e-waste).

The study is part of the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint's plans to strive towards becoming a Zero Waste Nation, as well as to safeguard public health and minimise the environmental impact from e-waste. NEA said the latter may contain valuable and scarce materials, as well as small amounts of hazardous substances which may pose pollution and health concerns if not properly disposed of.

The study findings will help the agency consider a system to collect and recycle e-waste. It will include conducting a survey of the entire e-waste collection and recycling value chain, including the final treatment and disposal of the waste.

"On top of safeguarding public health and reducing the impact on the environment, the proposed systems should be cost-effective to implement and manage,'' NEA said.

The tender opens on Friday and will close at 4pm on November 5, 2015. The study is expected to commence in December 2015 and conclude in the fourth quarter of 2016.