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Singapore e-waste recyclers all charged up to sate appetite abroad

With its still-fledgling local market, Singapore’s used-battery processors must look abroad to sate their appetites

Chong Xin Wei

Published Fri, May 19, 2023 · 03:28 PM
    • While growth and scale still lie abroad for Singapore's e-waste recycling sector, there is guarded optimism that the scene could yet blossom on the back of a greening economy.
    • While growth and scale still lie abroad for Singapore's e-waste recycling sector, there is guarded optimism that the scene could yet blossom on the back of a greening economy. BT GRAPHIC: SIMON ANG

    IN ONE year, the TES B battery recycling facility in Tuas can recycle about 5,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries. That works out to about 14 tonnes per day, the equivalent of about 280,000 smartphone batteries.

    Yet, at the moment, TES B is only processing up to 70 per cent of its designed capacity, says Alfred Hee, head of battery solutions for the Asia-Pacific region at TES-AMM, the home-grown electronic waste (e-waste) recycler that owns TES B.

    “As we are dealing with scraps, which include spent batteries, the frequency and volume is not constant, unlike in a manufacturing plant. In certain months, we have healthy volumes, and then there’s the lull period,” he says.

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