Environment Minister Lim Swee Say said the National Environment Agency and the HDB are now exploring the idea of having separate chutes for recyclable waste in some apartment blocks here.

This would be good news for many recycling firms, which have long said that the current practice of handing out and collecting plastic bags cannot go on for long.

Yesterday, Mr Lim agreed, noting the high labour costs of doing so.

Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore chairman Loh Wai Kiew welcomed news that the chute idea was being explored: 'It would mean people can recycle any time they wish to, and it would encourage more to recycle.

'I hope this can be done within the next two years.'

Mr Lim also updated MPs like Dr Amy Khor (Hong Kah GRC) on the progress made on the recycling front.

He said there would be 4,500 recycling bins in public areas by the end of the year.

On the home front, he said the aim was to get one in four condominiums and one in two HDB households to recycle by the end of the year.

Nationwide recycling was launched here in April 2001 to cut down the amount of waste that ends up in landfills.

And as a result of Singaporeans taking to recycling, the 25-year lifespan of the Pulau Semakau landfill has been extended by 10 years.

'But we are not going to stop here... Our target is to increase the national recycling rate to 60 per cent so that Pulau Semakau in its current form can be stretched to 50 years,' Mr Lim said.

The island could also be doubled in size, which means it can serve for 100 years as a landfill, he added.

He also gave an update on the Singapore Green Plan 2012, a concern raised by Dr Teo Ho Pin, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee on National Development and the Environment.

There will be six action committees to turn the goals outlined in the plan into results.

The plan also hopes to create more jobs in the environmental sector. The intention is to adopt and make use of environmental technology.

This can then be used to develop products and services that can be exported.

Mr Lim said: 'We'll make sure that our environment industry will become a regional leader to contribute to economic growth.

'At the same time, we'll make sure that this industry will provide more good jobs with good pay so that more Singaporeans can benefit.'