Singapore legislation
Regulation 3
of Resource Sustainability (Exemptions — Beverage Container Return Scheme) Order 2026
Regulation 3
Exemption in relation to certain beverage products and associated beverage containers
Subregulation 1
A person is exempt from sections 23O, 23P, 23Q, 23R, 23V and 23W of the Act in relation to any of the following beverage products:
any beverage product that is solely supplied or offered to be supplied to hospitals, hospices and other residential care facilities like nursing homes for the purpose of providing services to patients in those facilities;
any beverage product that contains a beverage that —
is supplied or offered to be supplied at a retail food establishment, at which the beverage is prepared by hand; or
is supplied or offered to be supplied online and the beverage is prepared by hand at a retail food establishment from which it is collected by or on behalf of the customer;
any beverage product that contains a beverage that is prepared by hand for the purpose of a non‑retail food business carried on by a person (A), that is solely distributed for sale at one or more of the following:
a retail food establishment operated or used by A or A’s related party;
a retail food establishment that A or A’s related party knowingly permits to be used as such;
any beverage product that is supplied or offered to be supplied from an automated beverage dispenser where the beverage container containing the beverage is only sealed by the automated beverage dispenser upon selection of the beverage product from the automated beverage dispenser.
Subregulation 2
A person is exempt from sections 23P, 23U, 23V and 23W in relation to any beverage container used for any beverage product mentioned in paragraph (1).
Subregulation 3
A scheme licensee is exempt from operating the scheme in relation to any beverage container used for any beverage product mentioned in paragraph (1).
Subregulation 4
In this paragraph —
Definition
“automated beverage dispenser” means a machine that dispenses a non‑prepacked beverage;
Definition
“franchise” has the meaning given by section 19(1) of the Act;
Definition
“non‑retail food business” —
before the date of commencement of section 395 of the Food Safety and Security Act 2025 — has the meaning given by section 2F of the Sale of Food Act 1973; and
on or after the date of commencement of section 395 of the Food Safety and Security Act 2025 — has the meaning given by section 3(1) of the Food Safety and Security Act 2025;
Definition
“prepacked” means packed or made up in advance ready for sale in a container;
Definition
“retail food establishment” means any establishment (which may include a person’s ordinary place of residence in Singapore) where food or drinks, or both, are sold wholly by retail (whether or not the food or drinks, or both, are also prepared, stored or packed for sale or consumed at the establishment).
Subregulation 5
For the purpose of this paragraph, a person (B) is a related party of another person (C) if —
B is a corporation that is deemed to be related to C under section 6 of the Companies Act 1967; or
B and C are parties to a franchise.
Subregulation 6
To avoid doubt, a “beverage that is prepared by hand” includes —
a beverage that a person pours out from the container in which the beverage was originally packed and repacks into a different container;
a beverage that is prepared with the assistance of a machine that is manually activated or operated by a person; and
a beverage that is dispensed from a machine that is manually activated by a person.