Singapore opens robotic sorting facility for national bottle deposit scheme
Singapore's Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS) has opened a robotic Counting and Sorting Facility in Tuas, operated jointly by scheme operator BCRS Ltd and waste collector Cora Environment. The automated line, launched 21 September 2026 after starting up in August, sorts six material types from returned cans and bottles and aims to lift the country's container return rate to 60% within a year and 80% within three years, recovering over 16,000 tonnes annually once fully operational from October.
Why this mattersA national deposit-return infrastructure investment signals rising demand for recycled PET, aluminium and steel feedstock across Southeast Asia's packaging value chain.
- The BCRS Counting and Sorting Facility in Tuas, run by BCRS Ltd and waste collector Cora Environment, was officially launched on 21 September 2026 after starting operations in August
- Since April 2026 the scheme collected around 33m containers via 1,300 reverse vending machines, refunding 10 cents digitally per container
- Between August and 13 September the facility processed about 27.5m used bottles and cans, five times the prior rate
- Once fully operational from October, BCRS is expected to recover more than 1bn beverage containers and over 16,000 tonnes of material annually
- The scheme targets a 60% container return rate within one year and 80% within three years, against a household recycling rate that fell to an all-time low of 11% in 2024-2025
- The 2,000 sq m facility is Singapore's first able to sort six material types, including aluminium, steel and PET, on a single automated line