Singapore has our very own waste management system, which includes 4 waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plants, which are located in Tuas, Tuas South, Senoko, and Keppel Segners Tuas, and an off-shore landfill in Pulau Semakau.

NEA has a policy for waste management, which is to incinerate waste which are not recovered, reused or recycled. Hence, the 7.81 million tonnes of waste produced goes into 3 channels:

• Reduced, Reused or Recycled
• Incineration Plants
• Landfill

      

Waste that are being disposed into the Semalau landfill includes ash residue from the incineration plants together with waste which cannot be incinerated (construction and renovation debris).

These waste management plans have made it seemed like Singapore has done a great job at channeling our waste, and diposing them well. However, these huge amount of waste that are being disposed is filling up our one only offshore landfill at a rapid rate and it may become full as early as 2035, a decade earlier than projected.

This is what is worrying, because then, where would our waste go to once the landfill is full and is not able to take anymore waste?