Singapore has started a six-month trial that lets consumers return used phones and laptops through locker stations and Shopee collection points, opening a new takeback channel for small consumer electronics in the city-state.

The programme targets the device stream that curbside e-waste schemes struggle to capture: working and end-of-life handsets and laptops held in households. By embedding return points inside existing logistics infrastructure — parcel lockers and an e-commerce platform's collection network — the trial removes the drop-off friction that suppresses device return rates in dense urban markets.

What does the trial cover?

The trial runs for six months from its launch. Participating consumers can return used phones and laptops at:

• Locker stations positioned for self-service drop-off
• Shopee collection points, piggybacking on the e-commerce platform's existing pickup footprint

The Straits Times reported the launch of the scheme, which pairs a physical locker network with an online marketplace's collection infrastructure — a combination designed to test which return route pulls more devices out of storage drawers and back into the recycling chain.

Why lockers and e-commerce points matter for device recovery

Small IT and telecom equipment consistently underperforms larger appliance categories in collection schemes because consumers delay disposal and conventional deposit points are out of routine travel paths. Locker-based takeback addresses that by placing return capacity where people already collect parcels. Tying the trial to Shopee collection points extends the same logic to the e-commerce journey itself.

For processors and refineries, higher handset and laptop capture matters materially: these devices carry the highest precious-metal intensities in the municipal e-waste stream. Every phone diverted from a drawer or general waste into documented takeback is feedstock with recoverable gold, silver, palladium and copper content.

What happens at the six-month mark?

The trial's design implies a decision point at the end of the six-month window. Stakeholders will need results on:

• Device volumes returned through lockers versus Shopee collection points
• Participation rates across the trial period
• Condition mix of returned phones and laptops, which determines whether devices route to reuse or to materials recovery

Those figures will decide whether Singapore scales the locker-and-collection-point model into a permanent channel or reshapes it. The six-month results deadline is the milestone to watch: it determines whether this becomes standing takeback infrastructure for the consumer electronics stream or remains a pilot.