Singapore’s long-awaited polluter-pays scheme for drink containers is facing criticism from beverage companies, which say shifting timelines, poor communication, and unresolved technical hurdles are undermining confidence in the system, set to launch next April.
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Under the Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS), producers will need to impose a S$0.10 (US$0.07) refundable deposit on all pre-packaged drinks in plastic bottles and metal cans by 1 April 2026.
The extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme aims to improve the country’s low domestic recycling rate and ease the burden on its only landfill, which is projected to be full within a decade.
However, BCRS Ltd – the non-profit scheme operator formed by major players Coca-Cola Singapore, F&N Foods and Pokka – has drawn criticism from producers who say the lack of clarity is complicating planning cycles and raising operational risks.
Singapore’s beverage container recycling logo will need to be placed on all products sold in the city-state. Image: BCRS
Lim Jialiang, founder of beer importer and distributor Watering Hole, said the scope of the scheme was supposed to have been finalised by September, yet “numerous uncertainties” remain, including penalties for late product registration and a “security fee” for using international barcodes. The system needed for producers to register drinks with the operator was also delayed.
Producers have between 1 April and 30 June 2026 to clear old stock that does not carry the deposit mark, and therefore is ineligible for refunds. Lim argues that the three-month window is “unrealistic” for import-heavy businesses that will need to redesign or manually sticker thousands of individual items.
The deposit mark artwork guidelines were published in November 2024, producer registration started in August 2025, and product registration began in October 2025.
“It’s not so much the cost of the scheme that’s painful,” Lim said. “It’s coordinating the labour and making sure my products are registered on time.”
The system requires Singapore-specific barcodes and a unique recycling sticker that can only be purchased from BCRS-appointed vendors. The local barcode is challenging for companies with packaging that already carries recycling labels that comply with other jurisdictions, such as Australia or Japan, Lim said.
BCRS has clarified that international barcodes are accepted under the scheme too – subject to a refundable security fee. While producers are required to obtain a new barcode for beverage containers carrying the deposit mark, this is a technical necessity to ensure reverse vending machines and point-of-sale systems can distinguish between products with and without the S$0.10 deposit, particularly during the transition period from 1 April to 30 June 2026, the operator said.
Producers are “encouraged to use national/Singapore-specific barcodes to prevent unregistered containers from being accepted at return points without deposits being paid to the scheme. These measures are designed to ensure accountability and traceability while balancing the needs of producers of all sizes,” it said.
However, for smaller importers operating on tight margins, the combination of labelling costs and registration, administration, and security fees could be enough to force some businesses out of the market, Lim added.
Another stakeholder familiar with the process, who chose not to be named, noted that the tender for 1,000 reverse vending machines (RVMs) – essential for collecting returned containers – still has not been appointed almost a year after it was launched. Without certainty on machine specifications, locations or collection processes, producers say they cannot confidently prepare inventories or logistics around the scheme.
BCRS clarified that the RVM tenders have been awarded, and said that as long as beverage product labels meet the requirements currently listed on the BCRS Ltd. website, they will be accepted by the scheme. Producers are able to register themselves and their products immediately without waiting for further RVM specifications, it said.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) and BCRS Ltd added in a joint statement that they are engaging stakeholder groups to ensure a smooth roll-out of the scheme, and further details would be shared “in due course”. Neither organisation addressed whether the scheme may face further delays.
Years of delays and industry pushback
The deposit return scheme has been repeatedly postponed – initially planned for 2022, then pushed to 2024 and 2025 – with industry-watchers accusing producers of slow-walking the process. “The more time they are given, the more money they save,” said one source familiar with industry delay tactics around EPR schemes in other markets.
EPR schemes elsewhere have delivered results once up and running. Germany’s Pfand system, introduced in 2003, achieves return rates above 98 per cent for PET bottles and cans. Norway’s EPR has return rates of around 95 per cent, supported by a transparent, industry-run system that publishes financial accounts and performance data annually. Even newer schemes, such as those in Lithuania, Latvia and Queensland, Australia, have reached return rates of 70-90 per cent within a few years by ensuring clear labelling rules and early deployment of return points.
Industry observers told Eco-Business that Singapore’s BCRS has less clarity on how handling fees will be distributed and how unclaimed deposits will be managed.
BCRS is targeting a 60 per cent return rate in its first year of operation, rising to 80 per cent by 2029 – comparable to benchmarks set in established schemes abroad. Experts Eco-Business spoke to said that reaching these levels will depend not only on a dense network of return points but also on strong consumer education, fair handling fees for retailers, and transparent reporting of collection data.
Another challenge is Singapore’s parallel use of blue recycling bins, which have long suffered from high contamination rates due to the co-mingling of food waste and liquids. The success of the scheme hinges on consumers shifting from casual bin disposal to deliberate returns at RVMs.
The BCRS currently covers only plastic and metal beverage containers. Cartons, glass bottles and freshly-prepared drinks remain outside the system – a narrower scope than in many European nations, where glass bottles and, increasingly, drink cartons are included in deposit schemes. These exclusions may weaken Singapore’s circularity ambitions, though NEA has signalled that the scope could be expanded later.
Producers say more clarity is urgently needed if the scheme is to launch smoothly – and if Singapore hopes to match the success of countries where deposit systems have become central to improving recycling rates. The city-state’s domestic recycling rate plunged to a record low earlier this year, at 11 per cent, well below its targeted 30 per cent by 2030.
This story has been edited to clarify details on the product registration period, barcodes, and the reverse vending machine tender.
