As part of efforts to safeguard public health and the environment, NEA started licensing the general waste disposal facilities from 1 August 2017. The general waste disposal facilities (GWDFs) are defined as facilities that receive, store, process or treat general waste, and include the recycling facilities. A list of GWDF licensees by waste streams is found
here.
Licensing criteria
Any facility that receives, stores, processes or treats general waste are required to apply for licence in order to operate, except for the following facilities/premises.
a) Any refuse bin centre
b) Any residential premises used for depositing or storing general waste
c) Any machinery or apparatus (for example, a food waste digester) used solely to process or treat waste generated at the premises in which the machinery or apparatus is located
d) Any water reclamation facility.
Upcoming GWDF Licence Validity Period and Fee Adjustment from 1 Jan 2025
As part of a regular review, the fees structure and validity period for the GWDF licence will be revised to keep pace with the increases in resource and operating costs and to reduce the need to renew the GWDF licence when there are no changes to the facility’s operation. Nevertheless, licensees are reminded to submit amendment application to the GWDF licence, when there are any changes to the facility’s operation.
With effect from 1 Jan 2025, the GWDF licence validity period will be increased from 2 years to 3 years with a corresponding increase of the GWDF licence and amendment fee from $300 to $400 and $70 to $138 respectively. With the revised licence validity period, GWDF licensees will pay less in terms of aggregated licence fee over the 3-year period. A copy of the circular can be found here.
How to apply for a general waste disposal facility licence
GWDF licence application is done on the GoBusiness Portal. The GWDF licence fee is $400 and has a licence validity of three years. In the event of any changes in operation or facility location within the licence validity, the licensee is required to submit an amendment to their existing GWDF licence through the GoBusiness Portal, and the cost of amendment of the licence is $138.
The following are supporting documents that you will need/upload during the licence application.
- Details of applicant
- Details of the facility to be licensed, including but not limited to, location of facility, design data, list of equipment, process details, and employment information
- Source of waste intake and offtake/disposal plan for products recovered/waste generated by the facility
- Contingency plans during emergency or disruption in operation
- Process flow diagram and a description of the overall process/operation of the GWDF
- Sample of export/cargo clearance permit (if any)
- A scheduled maintenance programme of all major equipment
- Tenancy/lease Agreement
- ACRA Business Profile/Singpass account authorised by CorpPass Admin
- Industrial Siting Consultation (ISC)* reply, previously known as Industrial Allocation (IA), from Development Control and Licensing Division.
* The ISC process is to ensure that the proposed activities at the premises will be able to meet the buffer requirement (i.e. separation distance from the industrial premises to the nearest residential building(s) or similar stay-in facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) as stated in the Singapore Standard on the Code of Practice for Pollution Control (SS593:2013). For ISC applications and more related information, please visit https://epms.nea.gov.sg.
Progressive Wage Model
GWDF licensees are required to conform to the wage levels, overtime rate of pay and bonuses specified by the Commissioner for Labour for Singapore Citizen and Permanent Resident waste disposal workers in the materials recovery sub-sector. More information can be found at MOM's website.
From 1 Jul 2023, licence applicant will be notified to log in to the Waste Resource Management System (WRMS) to submit information and supporting documents relating to the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for the material recovery sub-sector. Licence applicant may choose to update the information using the WRMS or download the template here and upload it to WRMS.
Training Requirement
Under Environmental Public Health (General Waste Disposal Facility) Regulations 2017 R3B(1)(c), the licensee must ensure that every waste disposal worker employed by the licensee satisfies the training requirement as may be specified by the Director-General.
All waste disposal employed for 3 months or more are to be trained according to the list of modules found under Annex C of the Tripartite Cluster for Waste Management's recommendation report, at the point of licence application and throughout the licence period. The training modules are to be selected according to the PWM job title of the waste disposal worker employed by the licensee. The training requirement applies to both Singapore Citizen and Permanent Resident, including full-time, part-time, and casual waste disposal workers.
Applicants are required to declare all training modules attained by the Singapore Citizen and Permanent Resident waste disposal workers employed by their business when they are notified to submit information and supporting documents relating to the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for the material recovery sub-sector.
Useful Information
| Downloading WSQ e-Certs | A step-by-step user guide to support workers in downloading their WSQ e-Certs from MySkillsFuture portal can be found at: https:/www.myskillsfuture.gov.sg/content/portal/en/header/faqs/eCerts.html If the workers have forgotten their SingPass password, they may visit the SingPass website or SingPass counter to reset their password. The list of SingPass counters and their locations can be accessed here: https://www.singpass.gov.sg/home/ui/counter-locations.
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Identifying PWM job title of waste disposal workers
| Waste management businesses may refer to Annex B of the Tripartite Cluster for Waste Management's recommendation report for the list of job descriptions for the materials recovery sub-sector.
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| Ensure waste disposal workers attends the training | Waste management businesses should make necessary provisions to allow their workers to attend their scheduled training. Service buyers are also encouraged to engage their service providers in open communication for mutually agreeable arrangements, so that their workers can attend training and be upskilled, and to prevent service downtime.
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| Keep records to monitor training attended by waste disposal workers | Waste management businesses are required to monitor and keep track of the training attended by their workforce, the licensee must keep the records, accounts or documents specified in Environmental Public Health (General Waste Disposal Facility) Regulations 2017 R3B(1)(e).
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Daily Register
All GWDF licensees must maintain a Daily Register, using this template, that records the following information:
a) The source, type and quantity of all general waste received;
b) The type and quantity of all products recovered or produced;
c) The type and quantity of all general waste stored;
d) The type and quantity of all residual waste recovered or produced and disposed of; and
e) The method by which such residue was disposed of.
GWDF licensees are required to submit their Daily Register records on their transactions every 6 months, and upload the Daily Registers to Waste Resource Management System as supporting documents (with the exception of GWDFs with contractual obligations to submit Daily Register records every month).
List of advisories/guidelines/slides
A list of advisories/guidelines/slides for general waste disposal facility licensees is found in the table below.
For queries relating to the general waste disposal facility licence, please fill in the online feedback form or call our hotline at 6225 5632.