Where Does Your Rubbish Go?

SEMAKAU LANDFILL Waste is unloaded into RECYCLABLES 35-tonne dump trucks and deposited as landfill; this is covered with soil and At the Material Recovery Facility Sorted waste is baled and waste is sorted into streams: sent to local and overseas 2013: 7.85 Paper Glass recycling plants. million tonnes planted with trees and of waste. 4.82 shrubs. Semakau can take million tonnes or waste until about 2035. Clothes 61% The island supports a coral reef, mangroves and fishing. Plastic Visitors are welcome. Ferrous was recovered Non-ferrous Photo: National Environment Agency of Singapore, 2014. for recycling. 2012: An average of 2,300 tonnes was received daily. BARGES WASTE TO ENERGY PLANTS Waste is transported by barge to the 350-hectare Recycling bins are collected from landed properties, condos and HDB blocks and transported to a sorting Semakau Landfill, 8km south of Singapore CHUTE facility. Waste is not separated. - Waste is incinerated at 850 to 1,000 TUAS TRANSFER STATION SOLID WASTE degrees Celsius, reducing its total- volume by 90 percent - Heat from the combustion process Singapore's solid waste output 1970: 1,260 tonnes a day 2012: 8,016 tonnes a day generates steam in boilers that is used to drive turbo generators to produce electricity. Starting this year, all new HDB developments will have a separate recycling chute. - Air in the refuse bunker is kept below atmospheric pressure to prevent odours escaping into the - Ash and non-incinerable waste from waste- to-energy plants is sent for transfer. Singapore has four waste to energy plants, including Tuas South, which handles 3,500 tonnes daily and cost $890 million to build. A fifth plant, being constructed by Sembcorp for $250 million, will handle 1,000 tonnes 1 Ferrous scrap metal in the ash is recovered and sold to a local steel mill for recycling. environment. 1 A flue gas-cleaning system removes dust and pollutants so the air meets The first WTE plant opened in 1979, ending years of reliance on landfills. of waste daily. environmentat standards before its release into the atmosphere. Source: National Environment Agency