New recycling plant opens at Sarimbun site as Singapore aims for 'Zero Landfill'

Singapore has taken another step towards its 2012 "Zero Landfill" target with the opening of another plant at the Sarimbun Recycling Park. The old Lim Chu Kang landfill, which was shut down in 1992, is now the Sarimbun Recycling Park. Although, it looks like a demolition site, the park is actually breathing new life into waste material, like horticultural waste and turning it into compost. There are already seven recycling plants, with five more scheduled to join them over the next eight months. When the 12 recycling facilities are set up at Sarimbun, they will be able to recycle more than 3,000 tonnes of waste a day. This is quite a substantial amount as it accounts for more than a quarter of the total waste generated in Singapore daily. The latest recycling plant is an $8 million venture between Singapore's SembEnviro and Australia's Alex Fraser. It specialises in turning construction and demolition waste, like metal, wood, cartons and concrete, into high-value construction materials like fine sand, which can be used for land reclamation or road construction. Ms Loh Wai Kiew, President and CEO of SembEnviro, said: "It's all about price and also the quality, we have to reassure everybody that the quality is as equal or even better than virgin materials. But at the same time, we are reducing the interest or rather the need to import the materials." And there is money to be made. The company has been profiting since the pilot plant started in January. This is because recycled materials are popular with businesses worldwide, as they are cheaper. Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister for the Environment, said: "We hope that the day will come when all the raw material will be used and resused, and recovered so that we will not run out of landfill site one day. In other words, we have to find ways to upgrade, to expand the capacity, to upgrade the capability of recycling industry." And although the recycling is largely automated, the new park has already created 60 new jobs.