Donation, Resale and Repair Channels

Benefits of giving these items a second lease of life include:

• Less waste produced
• Less raw materials, energy and water used, less carbon emissions and pollution emitted to produce these products
• Helping someone else (if you donate or sell at a discount)
• Savings from not having to buy a new item

List of Reuse Channels

i. In Good Condition
For items in good condition, you may donate, resell or swap your items through the following list of physical and online channels.

ii. In Need of Repair

For items in need of repair, you may refer to the attachment below for the list of stalls at hawker centres that are offering repair services. Alternatively, you may wish to search online for other paid repair services.

Other Repair Avenues:
1. Repair Kopitiam, currently with 5 locations (for electrical appliances, mechanical devices, fabric products, toys, and furniture)
2. Videos on Repair Tips by Repair Kopitiam (for electrical appliances, fabric products, and furniture)
3. The Fashion Pulpit (for clothing) 

iii. Spoilt/Damaged Beyond Repair or Unable to Be Salvaged
Spoilt/damaged ICT equipment, lamps, certain large home appliances and other electrical appliances can be recycled through the following avenues below.  Other non-electrical items that are damaged beyond repair or are unable to be salvaged should be disposed of as general waste. For bulky items, you may utilise the bulky items removal service provided by Town Councils.

1.     Light Bulbs, Long Fluorescent Tubes
     a. E-Waste Collection Bins (Fluorescent tubes to be disposed of only in battery-bulb bin)
     b. E-Waste Collection Drives organised by ALBA at HDB estates (Temporarily on hold due to COVID-19  situation)
     c. Free one-for-one take back of consumer product of the same type upon delivery by retailers
     d. Doorstep collection provided by ALBA at a fee
     e. Drop off at ALBA’s depot at 20 Tuas Loop, Singapore 637350

2.     ICT Equipment
     a. E-Waste Collection Bins (Fluorescent tubes to be disposed of only in battery-bulb bin)
     b.  E-Waste Collection Drives organised by ALBA at HDB estates (Temporarily on hold due to COVID-19 situation)
     c. Free one-for-one take back of consumer product of the same type upon delivery by retailers
     d. Doorstep collection provided by ALBA at a fee
     e. Drop off at ALBA’s depot at 20 Tuas Loop, Singapore 637350

3. Large Household Appliances (consumer refrigerators of or less than 900L, air-conditioners, washing machines, dryers and televisions) – ALBA
     a. Free one-for-one take back of consumer product of the same type upon delivery by retailers
     b. Doorstep collection provided by ALBA at a fee
     c. Drop off at ALBA’s depot at 20 Tuas Loop, Singapore 637350
     d. E-Waste Collection Drives organised by ALBA at HDB estates (Temporarily on hold due to COVID-19 situation)
     e. Town Council Bulky Items Removal service (ALBA will subsequently collect the e-waste from the Town Councils)

4.     Large Household Appliances (consumer refrigerators of or less than 900L, air-conditioners, washing machines, dryers and televisions) – ALBA
     a. Free one-for-one takeback of consumer product of the same type upon delivery by retailers
     b. Doorstep collection provided by ALBA at a fee
     c. Drop off at ALBA’s depot at 20 Tuas Loop, Singapore 637350
     d. E-Waste Collection Drives organised by ALBA at HDB estates (Temporarily on hold due to COVID-19 situation)
     e. Town Council Bulky Items Removal service

5.     Other Electrical Appliances, e.g. small household appliances – National Voluntary Partnership Programme for E-waste Recycling

Reusable items, such as soft toys, clothing, bags and shoes should not be placed in the blue recycling bins as they would easily get contaminated by residual food waste as well as liquid stains and be rendered unusable.  

Fig.1 : Infographic shown on blue recycling bins which shows that reusables are not accepted

Instead, reusables in good condition should be channelled to appropriate reuse avenues listed in ‘List of Reuse Channels - In Good Condition' above. Certain types of reusables such as clothing and small electrical goods may also be dropped off at the Cash-For-Trash (CFT) stations  or accepted via Door-to-Door Collections by public waste collectors. There are also many existing platforms to trade or sell second-hand items as listed above, including mobile applications or physical stores. To promote the repair trade, NEA has also allocated space in some hawker centres for businesses which repair small household appliances or clothing. The full list of hawker stalls offering repair services can be found in the attachment listed above, in the section ‘In Need of Repair’. There are also repair workshops and courses organised for the community, such as by Repair Kopitiam.

Fig. 2: Repair Kopitiam session with repair coaches teaching people how to fix their spoilt items
Photo: Repair Kopitiam

We have also listed many charities and organisations that accept donations. Some tips on how to donate responsibly below:

• Items should be in good working condition, clean and uncontaminated.
• Sort and label your items to help donation organisations organise the items they receive.
• Carefully wrap fragile items to prevent breakage.
• Ensure that non-perishable food items are in their original packaging with clear labelling and expiry dates.
• Contact the community and donation organisations to find out more about their criteria for accepting items if you have any queries.

For more information on reuse, recycling and other related information, please refer to the links below.

1.  Recycling / Collection Points
2.  SembWaste CFT Stations
3.  800 Super CFT Stations
4.  ALBA W&H CFT Stations