Cora Environment Rebrand: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
Kicking Into High Gear ♻️
Some of Singapore’s waste collection trucks have gotten a makeover recently.
With over 45 years of waste management experience, SembWaste, one of the three NEA-appointed public waste collectors, has rebranded to Cora Environment.
The transformation marks a strategic shift for the company, which services around 450,000 households and trade premises across the City-Punggol and Clementi-Bukit Merah sectors.
The new brand identity, paired with a multi-million-dollar strategic plan, signals Cora Environment’s ambition to move towards a zero-waste future.
The New Look
For decades, SembWaste shared the same green-and-white pill logo as its former parent company, Sembcorp. While this aided corporate brand recall, it left SembWaste with little visual distinction of its own. Following its sale to Indonesian energy group TBS Energi Utama in early 2025, the newly renamed Cora Environment now has the opportunity to build a brand with sharper visual focus.
Inspired by the words ‘collaboration’ and ‘heart’, the name “Cora” reflects our commitment to putting people, purpose and planet at the heart of everything we do.
-Cora Environment
Cora Environment’s brandmark takes the form of a lime green gear shaped like a “C”. The logo uses a typeface with both rounded and sharp edges, giving it an industrial feel.
The logo may not be groundbreaking, but it successfully distances itself from its predecessor as a look that is modern and even stylish. More importantly, the rebrand represents a meaningful investment in communications within an industry where branding is often treated as an afterthought. Cora Environment also has a surprisingly pleasant website, which is not something that all the public waste collectors have.
A complementary colour palette of olive green, purple and blue makes the brand feel vibrant and approachable. Who says waste collection companies should only use dull colours?
The most noticeable change is the livery on Cora Environment’s waste collection trucks, which are now olive green. The previous liveries had doodles but were not as eye-catching because the truck’s panels were uncoloured. Cora Environment could inject more colour to the liveries when the brand becomes more familiar.
Rethinking Waste
During the brand launch, Cora Environment unveiled an ambitious five-year, S$200 million strategic roadmap, focusing on enhancing waste-to-resource capabilities, strengthening material recovery facilities, and accelerating digital transformation.
Public outreach has also intensified since the rebrand, particularly among students, through talent attachments and competitions. As part of its School Recycling League, 100 smart recycling hubs have been rolled out in schools, using gamification to educate younger generations about recycling and waste reduction.
Kawaii-fying Waste
In places like Taiwan and Japan, strong recycling cultures did not emerge overnight. Behind the mascots and musical garbage trucks are decades of consistent public education and campaigns to teach citizens how to love our planet.
Singapore has also turned trash into treasure. Semakau Landfill is a lush island with a thriving ecosystem. The “Garbage of Eden” is a far cry from the typical landfill which spews toxic gases and pungent odours.
But we still have some way to go before reaching the same level of collective environmental consciousness as seen in our Asian counterparts. Through its renewed commitment to outreach programmes, Cora Environment is playing its part in making that happen.
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Branding Singapore is a series which highlights notable local brand identities. Explore Singapore’s design scene with us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Telegram.
