RENEW (REcycling Nation’s Electronic Waste)

[KaiBoon]

E-waste contains toxic substances and its improper disposal can lead to serious pollution and health problems. Rapid changes in technology, shorter life-cycles before a product is obsolete, changes in media (tapes, software, MP3) and falling prices have resulted in a fast-growing surplus of electronic waste around the globe. Yet there are very few avenues for individual consumers to recycle their e-waste.

That is why in 2012, as a corporate citizen that is firmly committed to environmental sustainability and a provider of electronic services and products, StarHub initiated a massive consumer-oriented environmental programme, to provide consumers with avenues to responsibly dispose of their electronic products. We partnered with home-grown e-waste recycler TES-AMM to launch the StarHub E-Waste Recycling Programme on 31 March 2012, Earth Hour.

The five bins, located at our Customer Service Centres and one other location in town, collected over one tonne of e-waste within five months. Buoyed by the success and with the aim of making e-waste more convenient by providing more locations of recycling, StarHub increased the number of e-waste recycling bin sites in August 2012 to include condominiums and schools around Singapore, a Community Club and even the Environment Building. In August 2014, there were 30 bin locations island-wide, but more could be done.

MOU signed between DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM

DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM all believe in being environmentally responsible corporate citizens. In line with the Singaporean Government’s People-Public-Private approach to tackling environmental issues, the three organisations decided to join forces, with the support of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources and National Environment Agency, to provide even more opportunities for the public to recycle their e-waste.

On 16 September 2014, an MOU was signed between DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM to expand the programme as RENEW, short for REcycling Nation’s Electronic Waste. The MOU signing was witnessed by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, at The Environment Building.

StarHub sources for locations interested in having a RENEW bin, and engages a supplier to produce and provide bins to these locations. DHL manages the logistics of collecting and delivering the e-waste from all the bins to TES-AMM’s e-waste recycling facility. TES-AMM then recycles the e-waste. To date, over 14.8 tonnes of electronic waste have been collected for recycling.

You can recycle almost any electronic product in the RENEW bins. You do not have to be a DHL, StarHub or TES-AMM customer or even have purchased the product from StarHub. However, all recycled items must be able to fit through the bin's 470mm x 120mm slot.

Here are some items you can recycle in the RENEW bins: answering machines, cables, car stereos, computer mice, CDs/ DVDs, docking stations, CD/ DVD/ VCD players, electronic toys, hard drives, keyboards, laptops, lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries, mobile phones, modems, MP3 players, printed circuit boards, printers, remote controls, routers, set-top boxes, telephones, VCRs and wires.

Do your part for the environment

Recycle your electronic waste in any of these RENEW bins:

East
Canossian School (107 Circuit Road)
Chong Zheng Primary School (1 Tampines Street 21)
Kampong Kembangan Community Club (5 Lengkong Tiga)
Nan Chiau High School (20 Anchorvale Link)
StarHub Green (Level 3 South Wing, 67 Ubi Avenue 1)
Tampines Mall (#02-26, 4 Tampines Central)
Victoria Junior College (20 Marine Vista)
Yuying Secondary School (47 Hougang Avenue 1)

Central
*SCAPE (Level 4, 2 Orchard Link)
Environment Building (Level 2, 40 Scotts Road)
Global Indian School (1 Mei Chin Road)
James Cook University (600 Upper Thomson Road)
London School of Business & Finance (3 Anson Road)
Plaza Singapura (#B2-17/18, 68 Orchard Road)
PSB Academy (355 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee)
Queenstown Secondary School (1 Strathmore Road)
Queensway Secondary School (2A Margaret Drive)
Singapore Chinese Girls' School (190 Dunearn Road)
VivoCity (#02-202, 1 HarbourFront Walk)

West (condominiums)
Blue Horizon (31 West Coast Crescent, #01-31)
Clementi Woods (84 West Coast Road, #B1-01)
The Infiniti (39D West Coast Park, #01-13)
Varsity Park (34 West Coast Road)
West Bay Condominium (58 West Coast Crescent)

West (schools)
Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) (121 Dover Road)
Anglo-Chinese Junior College (25 Dover Close East)
Fairfield Methodist Secondary School (102 Dover Road)
New Town Secondary School (1020 Dover Road)
Radin Mas Primary School (1 Bukit Purmei Avenue)
Zheng Hua Primary School (9 Fajar Road) 

FAQs
Q1. What is RENEW?

A1. RENEW stands for REcycling Nation's Electronic Waste. It is a collaborative consumer-driven environmental effort between DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM to help individuals in Singapore responsibly dispose of their electronic waste (e-waste). RENEW was formerly known as the StarHub E-Waste Recycling Programme since it began on 31 March 2012 till DHL was brought on board as the official logistics provider on 16 September 2014.

Q2. What was the StarHub E-Waste Recycling Programme?

A2. The StarHub E-Waste Recycling Programme was StarHub's Earth Hour effort in 2012. As a provider of electronic products and e-services, StarHub had felt that providing their consumers with an avenue to ensure the safe, proper and productive disposal of these products after their product life cycle has ended was important too. So they provided five bins for the public to recycle their e-waste. Homegrown e-waste recycling company TES-AMM then collected and recycled the e-waste.

Q3. What is e-waste?

A3. E-Waste is short for electronic waste. This refers to discarded electrical and electronic items such as wires, mobile phones, computers, batteries, etc. It is also called e-scrap and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

Q4. Why should we recycle e-waste?

A4. Rapid changes in technology, shorter life-cycles before a product is obsolete, changes in media (tapes, software, MP3) and falling prices have resulted in a fast-growing surplus of electronic waste around the globe According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), Singapore produces about 60,000 tonnes of electronic waste every year; about half from households and half from industrial sources. According to the International Environmental Technology Center of the United Nations Environment Program, only about 20% of discarded electronics worldwide are recycled. Electrical waste contains valuable and scarce but also highly hazardous materials. These hazardous materials include mercury, sulphur and cadmium. The release of such poisonous materials into the environment poses many pollution and health problems.

Q5. Why is DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM providing the RENEW Programme?

A5. DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM believe in being environmentally responsible corporate citizens. In line with the Singaporean Government's People-Public-Private approach to tackling environmental issues, the three partners decided to join forces, with the support of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources and National Environment Agency, to provide opportunities for the public to recycle their e-waste.

Q6. What are the partners' respective involvement for RENEW?

A6. StarHub engages a supplier to produce and provide the bins to interested locations. DHL manages the logistics of collecting and delivering the e-waste from all the bins to TES-AMM's e-waste recycling facility. TES-AMM then recycles the e-waste.

Q7. What constitutes e-waste?

All Metals	Answering Machines	Batteries	Capacitors
Car Stereos	Computers	Computer Mouse	Docking Stations
DVD Players	Fax Machines	Hard Drives	ICs
Keyboards	Laptops	Lithium-ion Batteries	Mobile Phones
Modems	Monitors	MP3 Players	Networking Equipment
Printed Circuit Boards	Printers	Remote Controls	Resistors
Scanners	Stereos	Telephones	TVs
Typewriters	VCRs	Wire	And many others…

Please note that the above list is NOT exhaustive.

Q8. What about household appliances?

A8. Although these are electrical and/or electronic products, household appliances are labeled as "white goods" and these require a different disposal method from what TES-AMM offers.

Q9. What are “white goods”?

A9. In this case, they refer to household appliances, such as refrigerators and ovens, which used to be finished in white but are now often in other colours. However, the label remains.

Q10. What can be recycled/ deposited in the RENEW Bins?

Answering machines	Cables	Car stereos	Computer Mice
CDs/ DVDs	Docking stations	DVD players	Electronic Toys
Hard drives	Keyboards	Laptops	Lithium-ion (Li-on) batteries
Mobile phones	Modems	MP3 players	Printed circuit boards
Printers	Remote controls	Routers	Set-top Boxes
Telephones	VCD players	VCRs	Wires

However, the items must be able to fit through the 470mm x 120mm slot of the RENEW Bins.

Q11. What if I have products that are too large for disposal in the RENEW Bins?

A11. We regret that we are unable to accept your bulky e-waste deposit if it does not fit into the slot of our E-waste Recycling Bin. Please call 1800 8 TES-AMM (1800-8-837-266) for your toll-free consultation on how to otherwise recycle your electronics in Singapore.

Q12. Can I get the partners to collect my e-waste from my own location?

A12. We regret that e-waste will not be collected from private individuals' locations. All e-waste has to be deposited into the RENEW Bins.

Q13. What happens to the e-waste after I deposit it into the RENEW Bin? Or, how is e-waste recycled?

A13. All electronic waste is delivered by DHL, the Official Logistics Partner, to TES-AMM, the Official Recycling Provider. There, the e-waste product is first manually dismantled into smaller components. These are then fed into a shredder or shredders that break these components down into increasingly smaller pieces. The metals are extracted and separated from the plastics and these are all melted down into bars or pellets for other uses.

Q14. Will anyone besides DHL be able to retrieve my item after I have deposited it?

A14. RENEW Bins come with hinged latches which will be locked by the location owner. These bins will only be unlocked for DHL's collection. The box has an internal design to prevent theft of items through the slot.

Q15. What will I get for recycling my e-waste with RENEW?

A15. DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM are providing this e-waste recycling service for responsible citizens to play their part in protecting the environment from harmful e-waste. This service is provided for free. Hence, DHL, StarHub and TES-AMM will not be giving anything in return for e-waste deposited in RENEW Bins.

[Anonymous]

Please consider putting the RENEW stations in all Community Centers and MRT Stations! 

[HJ Toh]

Hi,

I faced problem sending the electronic recycling items to 3 of the locations:

1) DHL at Changi South (staff there claims that the bin is no longer located there)

2) PSB Acadmy (not open after office hours)

3) Global International Indian School (restricted access for my vehicle and i could not find the bin)

In view of all these issues, I would like to suggest that

1) list of collection bin to be continuously updated to reflect the relevant sit

2) to indicate operating hours, considering the operating hours of schools, corporate offices vary greatly

3) position the bins in visible areas and to consider putting up signs to lead public to where the bin is

I notice that this list indicated in your blog is vastly trimmed down compared to the list in Starhub Renew site page.  Can I assume yours is the more updated one and therefore not to use the one in the said page?

[HJ Toh]

there is something very wrong with the information of bins listed on this blog and starhub website.  i called up a few of the schools listed therein, all of them indicated there are no such bins or no such bins that they are aware of.  this type of misinformaton and lack of information will surely deter green folks from turning in their electronic waste for recycling.

I hope starhub and their partners can make a concerted effort to address this and other deficiencies in the workings of this program.

[alangohek]

The link "http://www.starhub.com/renew" which shows the site where the bin is located is broken. Can someone fix it please?

[eric3743]

The link could be changed or the short url could be removed.

Here is the link for more info;

> RENEW - REcycling Nation’s Electronic Waste

I am not starhub staff.

[AlanNg]

Hi, can I throw electronic weighing scale and thermometer into the bin to recycle?

Thanks

[Amy_Law]

Hi @ AlanNg

If the thermometer is also electronic, you can also dispose of it in the RENEW bins. Do remember to remove the batteries though. 

[AlanNg]

Hi Amy,

Thanks for your reply. What about the electronic weighing scale?

[Josephine C]

Sure, it can be dispose in the RENEW bins as well.

[poh_83]

Our company having a green office campaign, we would like to put some bins in our office, anyone know where to get thee E-waste recycle bin ?

[KengTan]

Could I understand that the RENEW e waste bins allow for Li Ion Batteries to be recycled?

There is a sign on it to not recycle ALKALINE batteries. Why is that so?

Where else can I recycle my ALKALINE batteries?

Thank you!

[AlanNg]

Hi, can I throw a toaster into the bin to recycle? It can fit the opening of the bin. What about watches?

Thanks