Global Plastic Policy Reviews

This policy aims to establish provisions for the control of air, water, and land pollution; noise; licences and industrial plant works; environmental pollution; and greenhouse gas by establishing a licensing scheme for the importation, manufacture, and sales of hazardous substances, and the requirement for impact analysis at sites where hazardous substances are handled. The Amendments under the Environmental Protection and Management Act 1999 (EPMA) on the control of five hazardous chemicals were implemented on March 1, 2023. These two amendments included three chemicals used in plastics: dechlorane plus, UV-328 and nonylphenol. The primary driver for this policy was political, the amendment further implements Singapore’s obligations under the Stockholm Convention and Rotterdam Convention by adding the 5 substances previously mentioned (“Global environmental and chemical regulations, policies, and standards environmental protection and management act 1999”, n.d.). As highlighted in part 2, the Director-General for Environmental Protection (DGEP), who is leading the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the National Environment Agency, is responsible for the administration of this Act. There was insufficient evidence available to complete the evaluation framework at the time of the assessment as the amendments are too recent. However, it can be speculated that some reduction in plastics containing any of the aforementioned chemical additives should be reported since any person or business who imports, owns for sale, or sells those chemicals is required to obtain a licence under the amendments (Tuvsud, 2018; Envilliance ASIA by EnviX, n.d.).

(Uploaded in August 2023)