Singapore Case Study Flashcards
Background information on Singapore:
Small island nation in south-east Asia.
Third richest nation in the world by GDP per capita
Densely populated country with a growing population and diminishing amount of spare land
100% of Singaporeans live in the urban area
What is waste like in Singapore?
Rapid industrialization and rising prosperity have contributed to a large increase in waste production – as citizens began to have more money, they started to consume more goods.
The state is rapidly running out of space, which has led the Singaporean government to shift from landfill to incineration.
What is their current approach to waste?
Avoid creating waste in the first place – huge shift away from a ‘throw away culture’ to a zero landfill and zero waste target.
Generate energy by incinerating residual waste only dump what is left – but in an
environmentally acceptable way.
Public campaign by the government towards the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Companies have to pay for the collection and disposal of their waste which encourages them
to recycle/recover valuable materials
Singapore 1960s and 70s
In the 1960s and 1970s, most waste was sent to landfill.
Increasing level of material consumption and lack of physical space, together with the
environmental deterioration of the land, forced the Singapore government to take measures to reduce the landfilling of waste.
Singapore in 1970s
In the late 1970s, the government changed their main waste disposal method from landfill to incineration with energy recovery.
mainly due to the rapidly increasing population – more waste was being produced and the nation was running out of space for landfill sites on land.
first incineration plant constructed in 1979
Singapore in early 2000s
Singapore begins using one landfill site, Semakau, which was built on reclaimed land from
two islands.
This site is expected to be filled by around 2040
Singapore 2017 onwards
Today, there are four incineration plants around the city, which provide 3% of Singapore’s energy needs.
3 successes of incineration in Singapore
1) Heat produced during the incineration process is converted into electricity – around 1,600 MWh of electricity is produced every day. Enough to power about 125,000 four bedroom flats in the state. Generating electricity reduces need for fossil fuels.
2) Incineration reduces waste volume by 90% - the ash remaining and non-combustible waste is sent to Semakau island
3) Each incinerator is fitted with pollution control systems to limit greenhouse gas emissions – can reduce up to 90% of harmful nitrous oxides released through the burning of waste.
3 limitations of incineration in Singapore
1) Although energy is being provided, the transportation of waste and the incineration process do produce greenhouse gas emissions. (1.56 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 from the waste-to-energy plants). These are fast flows of carbon to the atmosphere.
2) Pollution - cannot remove all harmful emissions – incineration is not a long-term solution for waste management in Singapore.
3) Semakau is expected to be filled by 2040, meaning that Singapore will have to find an alternative location for landfill if waste production carries on at the current rate.
Conclusion of Singapore Incineration strategy
The waste to energy strategy in Singapore is considered both economically and environmentally better than landfill.
Due to the lack of space in Singapore, incineration is one of the most effective disposal strategies. However, pollution control does not remove all harmful emissions and there are concerns by citizens about the use of incineration long term and the impact on air quality.
Singapore currently building fifth incineration plant to cope with increasing waste production – shift to recycling still only has a 60% success rate and this is not enough for Singapore to meet its Zero waste, Zero landfill target.
