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SG Recycle Shuts Down Paper Program Amid Financial Struggles and Market Decline

Recycling and Waste Management

BusinessHonor - SG Recycle Ends Paper Program Amid Struggles

Business Honor
02 October, 2025

Funding pressures and falling paper prices force SG Recycle to halt collection bins program.

SG Recycle, a Singapore-based recycler, has shut down its paper recycling programme, removing its network of 84 intelligent paper collection bins by the end of October. This follows from consistent funding pressures and record-low paper prices affecting the profitability of paper recycling in Singapore.

Rolling out only four years ago, SG Recycle's pioneering scheme employed intelligent bins fitted with technology that rewarded users with redeemable points, promoting superior-quality recycling with minimal contamination. On the back of broad public appeal and having collected 220 tonnes of paper during the first six months of 2025, the business quoted insufficient sponsorship and the expense of running each bin at around S$300 (US$232) a month as major reasons for closing down the initiative.

This shutdown comes on the heels of the recent collapse of Tay Paper, Singapore's longest-established paper recycling business, which had been in operation for 34 years before falling victim to the same kind of financial strain. Industry players cite an overall fall in paper recycling levels, fueled by increasing collection and export prices and lower demand. Karung guni, locally known as informal waste collectors, have also ceased collecting waste paper due to unfavorable market prices.

The Singapore Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS) recently called on recycling companies to reassess their operations to remain financially viable. Though SG Recycle is closing down its paper scheme, it continues to pursue its sustainability vision and aims to concentrate on exporting intelligent recycling solutions, like reverse vending machines, to more than 15 nations in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Singapore's domestic recycling rate recently reached a 10-year low of 11%, with the post-pandemic surge in packaging waste compounding waste management pressures. Experts call for increased public-private collaborations to maintain recycling momentum and advance Singapore's waste management scene.