A Gap Analysis in Selected Asian Countries, 3R Knowledge Hub ...

BACKGROUND
Singapore, an island between Malaysia and
Indonesia in Southeast Asia, has a land area of
690 km 2 with a population of about 4.4
million. Industrial pollution, limited natural
fresh water resources and seasonal smoke/haze
resulting from forest fires in Indonesia are some
of the major environmental issues affecting the
country. On top of all these issues are the
threats stemming from waste management that
results from the island’s limited land
availability for disposal.
Over the last 30-40 years, Singapore has
transformed to an urbanized, industrialized and
affluent country. This has led to a rising trend in
waste generation, producing about 1,200 tons
per day in 1970 and growing to 7,000 tons per
day by 2005. This growth in solid waste
generation places considerable demands on
waste management, disposal facilities and the
environment.
PRIORITY AREAS
Over the past three decades, the solid waste
disposed in Singapore has increased five-fold.
Domestic waste increased about three-fold.
Non-domestic waste increased even more by
about eight-fold mainly from the high growth
in the manufacturing and services sectors.
Since 1979, the government has spent billions of
dollars to build four incineration plants and
sanitary landfills. The incineration plants have
been designed to incinerate waste safely and are
adequately equipped with air pollution control
equipments. They effectively reduce the volume
of waste for final disposal in the landfill and
also recover energy and scrap metals. Even
then, the last landfill on the main island of
Singapore was filled up in 1999 and a new
3.13
Singapore
offshore landfill at Pulau Semakau had to be
developed for non-combustible waste. With the
present rate of growth in solid waste, Singapore
would need to build a new incineration plant
every five to seven years and a new landfill the
size of Semakau Landfill every 25-30 years.
Considering the quantity of waste reaching the
incinerators and landfills, it is evident that urban
municipal waste is a priority area requiring
immediate action with respect to 3R related
activities. The Singapore Green Plan 2012 also
confirms the understanding that the disposal of
urban municipal waste poses an imminent
problem.
URBAN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE
Waste generated in Singapore is broadly
classified as (i) domestic and trade waste arising
from residential premises, markets, food retail
outlets, schools and trade premises (ii)
commercial and industrial waste from industrial
premises, construction sites and shipyards.
About 2.5 million tons of waste was disposed of
in 2006. Nearly, 90% (2.3 million tons) was
incinerated while the remaining went to landfills.
Chapter 3: Country Analysis
105