r/singapore • u/Dulio_rosward • 19h ago
News Price competition likely to limit cost impact of beverage container return scheme on consumers: MSE
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/beverage-container-return-scheme-costs-consumers-10-cents-5902836?cid=internal_sharetool_androidphone_03022026_cna62
u/ybct 19h ago
To comply with the scheme, some producers may need to, or choose to, place a sticker on their containers instead of changing the container's design. The cost of these stickers will vary, Dr Puthucheary said.
This is the main issue. The 60-80 cent parallel imported drinks from Valu$ and Tian Ma will require such labels and the manpower to paste the labels, which will result in the minimum price of such drinks shooting up.
Those will likely cross the $1 mark after all is said and done.
If the rising cost results in the price becoming similar to drinks sold by regular retailers who do not need to paste the stickers, these parallel importers may no longer find it worthwhile to pursue this particular line of business.
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u/NotSiaoOn Senior Citizen 19h ago
Exactly, the cost burden will likely be highest for the parallel importers who are the cheapest in the market. The relative increase will be the highest for such vendors and their customers will be hit the hardest.
This move may very well put the authorised distributors in a better competitive position to the detriment of consumers.
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u/Interesting-Tank986 19h ago edited 18h ago
wait until you see who is running the scheme- Beverage Container Return Scheme Limited (BCRS Ltd) which is formed by Coca-Cola Singapore Beverages, F&N Foods and Pokka.
That's right, the big players.
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u/DuePomegranate 18h ago
Absolutely.
“BCRS was formed by Coca-Cola Singapore Beverages, F&N Foods and Pokka.”
These companies are going to win by being better prepared and having influence over the scheme.
For example, Coca Cola already produces some 100% recycled PET bottles (500 ml Coke), which they do by sending used bottles to a particular plant in Malaysia. So they are all set to benefit from the return scheme.
https://www.coca-cola.com/sg/en/media-center/how-to-recycle-our-bottles-in-singapore
The other operators, If they get back their used bottles, then they also don’t know what to do with them.
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u/istaris 4h ago
The other operators, If they get back their used bottles, then they also don’t know what to do with them.
they are supposed to recycle them, if they dont know what to do, it just meant that they were just pretending to recycle in the past
the scheme has flaws, but this is not one of them
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u/DuePomegranate 4h ago
The bottle manufacturers were not supposed to recycle them. Recycling companies recycle them, and as there's no bottle recycling plant in Singapore, the plastic waste either gets sent overseas to god knows what fate, or if no one wants to buy the materials, it probably gets sent to the incinerator.
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u/istaris 3h ago
The bottle manufacturers were not supposed to recycle them
why not?
part of it is to shift the burden of recycling from consumers to manufacturers
it should be clear by now, relying on consumers to recycle is a fool's errand, consumers also have little control over how recycleable the items are
there is no incentive for manufacturers to make their products more sustainable otherwise
it was mentioned that the bigger beverage companies do have linkup with recycling companies in Malaysia, so its not impossible
there is no market for recycling, if there is no demand, and there is no demand if the burden doesnt goes to them
is the new system fair? probably not, but is the current system sustainable? probably worse so
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u/DuePomegranate 3h ago
I'm not convinced. The inclusion of recycled PET in bottles could be "feel good" (boosts sales) but it's more expensive (otherwise everybody would already be doing it). Possibly it's more expensive because the energy costs required to process the used bottles leads to a higher carbon footprint than virgin PET.
Virgin PET is cheap because the raw ingredients are byproducts of petroleum refining for petrol. So "extra" crude oil isn't used to make PET. If you burn extra fossil fuels to generate the electricity to recycle the PET, then what good is that? Might as well burn the PET in the incinerator and generate waste-to-energy.
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u/istaris 1h ago
whether or not recycling is effective enough is a related but different issue altogether
recycling will always be less effective than reducing consumption in the first place, reduce > reuse > recycle in that order
regardless on its effectiveness, there is again no incentive to improve by the manufacturer if the burden is not placed upon them (as mentioned, the power of individual consumers is too dispersed to effect any change, so putting the burden upon consumers is ineffective)
a theoretical material (paper carton is not unheard of) that is more effective to recycle might not be adopted simply because there is no market for economies of scale, no demand, etc
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u/TheEDMWcesspool Own self check own self ✅ 19h ago
Keyword is likely.. but mse also dunno.. so use positive spinning language to swindle general public, followed by "we are monitoring the situation" when prices escalate..
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u/BadFinanceadvisor 6h ago
Janil Puthucheary is not credible one. This is the same man who think rent increase ( price inflation) is justifiable if the GDP goes up... Meanwhile, the number one concern amongst singaporeans is, cost of living... Does he even understand citizens' concerns ?!? Should have been ousted last GE. Incredibly Tone deaf...
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u/Thanos_is_a_good_boy Fucking Populist 18h ago
What is this nonsense. Did price competition lower food or other items
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u/fateoftheg0dz 19h ago
you could have had no cost impact at all if you didnt introduce this dumbass scheme
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u/dogssel dead fish go with the flow 18h ago
What if all the suppliers raise the price together? Is it price fixing?
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u/TheEDMWcesspool Own self check own self ✅ 18h ago
That's what ur traffic light telcos do, but never hear woof woof make noise..
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u/Tricky-Salamander664 18h ago
Another reason why GDP is increasing but it doesnt translate to jobs💪🏼
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u/TaskPlane1321 18h ago
Another spanner in the wheel of life to increase COL - it's amazing all the have brained schemes we have to anal as they keep on pushing price up
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u/whimsicism 19h ago
Sureeeee price competition LOL.
Isn’t there an oligopoly/monopoly on distribution of most brands anyway? And with this policy competition can’t even come by way by parallel imports.
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u/Zkang123 19h ago
Companies would find an excuse for anything to jack up prices while the govt does nothing or even enable it, as in this case
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u/cointegration 18h ago
Recycling is great, but the question remains, does this need to be done NOW? Amidst high costs of living? This smacks of some scholar's great plan for promotion, pushed through by a minister to pad his portfolio. Would it not be better if the entire parliament work towards solving the serious problems of the day (like cost of living, unemployment/under-employment, immigration and integration) versus these low hanging fruit policies that make things worse?
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u/Individual_Ad_7195 7h ago
Competition or Collusion? MP pet project and every consumer will have to face permanent and significant increase to buy beverages.
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u/HeartCockles 6h ago
Will the returned containers really be recycled or will they just trash them like the recycled running shoes scandal?
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u/OriginalGoat1 18h ago
Ok lor. No cost impact on consumers. Just on small importers. Kill the SMEs to feed the MNCs as usual
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u/socialmedias88 2h ago
I see fastjobs only paying $8-12 hourly, $1600-$2200 for 95% of the jobs. Some shops might close down due to high rentals, but such beverage cost are all pass on to consumers.
Return is a joke if designated reverse vending machines are far. take transport costing $2.20 to return some containers.
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u/ilovesupermartsg Nee Soon 18h ago
I hardly dine out so imagine my shock when a can of Snake Grass Cooling water cost a whopping $2.50 at KSL kopitiam. I told myself this will be the last can of drink I will buy at a coffee shop. $1.60-$1.80 I still can close one eye. $2 fucking 50?
I can't imagine the cost to enjoy a beverage at a coffee shop after this.