More than 2,000 small retailers and non-profit organisations in Singapore have applied for a one-month grace period to clear beverage stocks that do not carry the required Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS) label.
The National Environment Agency said more than 1,600 applications had been processed as of Sept. 29, with about 85% approved. Most applications came from provision shops, neighbourhood convenience stores and standalone food outlets that said they needed additional time to sell their remaining non-BCRS-labelled drinks.
Under the BCRS, eligible plastic bottles and metal cans between 150ml and 3 litres must carry a 10-cent deposit mark from Oct. 1. Customers pay the additional 10 cents when purchasing a labelled drink and can recover the deposit by returning the empty container through designated return points or reverse vending machines.
The scheme officially began on April 1, with a six-month transition period allowing businesses to sell older stock without the deposit label while they shifted to BCRS-compliant products. That transition ends on Sept. 30.
Retailers granted the extension will be allowed to sell their remaining non-BCRS-labelled beverages until Oct. 31. They cannot bring in new non-labelled stock and must clearly identify the drinks for customers, who should not be charged the 10-cent deposit for those products.
NEA said applications are assessed individually, taking into account factors such as the retailer’s business type, number of outlets, remaining inventory, ability to clear the stock before Sept. 30 and efforts already made to reduce the amount of non-compliant stock.
Retailers that have not yet applied but are still struggling to clear their remaining inventory have been encouraged to register by Sept. 30. Those whose applications are rejected must clear their non-BCRS-labelled beverages by the end of the transition period.
Non-profit organisations can also receive an extension, allowing them to distribute donated beverages without BCRS labels to beneficiaries until Oct. 31, provided they register with the authorities.
The extension comes as Singapore moves into full implementation of the nationwide container-return system, which aims to encourage recycling by creating a cleaner stream of plastic and metal beverage containers for collection and processing. More than 33 million containers had already been collected under the scheme by mid-September.
