Speech by Minister Lim Swee Say, at at The Opening Ceremony Of Sembenviro Alex Fraser Construction And Demolition Materials Recovery Facility, 10 September 2003, 10.00 am

Singapore Government Press Release
Media Relations Division, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts,
MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2nd Storey, Singapore 179369
Tel: 6837-9666

SPEECH BY MR LIM SWEE SAY, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AT THE Opening Ceremony of SEMBENVIRO ALEX FRASER CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY AT SARIMBUN RECYCLING PARK on 10^th September 2003, AT 10.00 AM

H.E. Gary Quinlan, High Commissioner, Australian High Commission

Ms Loh Wai Kiew, President and CEO of SembCorp Environmental Management Pte Ltd

Mr Jamie McKellar, Managing Director, Alex Fraser Group

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to join you here at the opening of this new facility. It marks yet another milestone in our efforts to move "Towards Zero Landfill" as we strive for environmental sustainability here in Singapore.

This facility sits on the former Lim Chu Kang refuse landfill, which was closed in 1992. There are now 7 recycling facilities sitting on this old landfill site. 5 more recycling facilities will come on stream progressively over the next 8 months. Together, these facilities are capable of recycling more than 3,000 tonnes of waste per day. As we now generate about 13,000 tonnes of waste everyday, what this means is that this recycling park can recycle about 23% of the total waste generated. This is a significant amount.

Imagine, without these recycling facilities, more than 32 million tonnes of waste would have to be disposed of at Pulau Semakau Landfill for the next 30 years. It would take up more than half of our landfill capacity, or about half the size of Sentosa Island! So what we are doing today is reusing a closed landfill while at the same time extending the lifespan of the Semakau landfill.

I am happy to see SembEnviro, a leading waste management and recycling company in Singapore, working in partnership with Alex Fraser, an established construction and demolition waste recycling company from Australia. When I visited Australia last year, I was impressed by the scale and capability of recycling business there. I am encouraged by your foresight in setting up this materials recovery facility for construction and demolition waste. Such partnership between Singapore and Australian industry leaders will certainly help speed up the development and growth of our recycling industry.

Today, even though we are already recycling 90% of the 400,000 tonnes of C&D waste produced a year, most of the waste is recycled as hardcore material for temporary road access in construction sites. This is a low value utilisation of C&D waste. With this new materials recovery facility, I understand that more C&D waste will be recovered and processed into aggregates and other higher value materials. This is a big step forward for the industry.

Use more recycled materials

As we improve and increase the supply of recycled C&D materials, we need to encourage greater use of recycled building materials as well. The support and participation of the construction industry are important to sustain such recycling efforts.

To this end, I am glad to learn that recycled building materials are now of increasingly better quality. For example, recycled aggregates have been used to make drainage channels and road kerbs with quality and performance matching that of conventional non-structural concrete products. The pricing is competitive too. With closer collaboration between the construction industry and waste recycling companies, I am confident that we will see greater and more innovative use of recycled building products from now on.

Reduce waste at source

Besides making more use of recycled materials, our construction industry can also do more to reduce waste at source. The Building and Construction Authority (BCA), NEA, the Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL) and NUS have embarked on several projects to promote waste minimisation and recycling at construction sites. One joint project by BCA, NEA and NUS aims to benchmark construction waste levels and identify measures to minimise waste generation at construction sites. The project findings will be disseminated across the construction industry to guide them in their efforts to reduce waste and lower costs.

Share Best Practices

We are also encouraging greater sharing of best practices in waste reuse and recycling in the construction industry. NEA has incorporated the guidelines for best practices in the Code of Practice for Demolition (CP11). These guidelines cover the removal of reusable parts of a building, such as doors and cables, prior to demolition; as well as segregation of waste to facilitate recycling. Over time, there will be more best practices on waste minimisation. These can be further added to this Code of Practice for greater productivity, lower construction costs and better environment sustainability.

Concluding Remarks

Under the SGP 2012, NEA is promoting recycling in the construction industry with our 3P partners. I wish to recognise the constructive efforts put in by SCAL, BCA and our research institutes in the universities. I am particularly pleased to hear that SCAL has offered to spearhead several action programmes to promote public education, waste minimisation and recycling in the construction industry over the next 3 years. I wish SCAL and its partners great success.

Working together, the construction industry and the recycling companies can strive for "zero C&D wastes" at our landfill one day. I congratulate SembEnviro and Alex Fraser on the setting up of this materials recovery facility. It will certainly contribute to attaining this long-term goal.

It is now my pleasure to declare the SembEnviro Alex Fraser Construction and Demolition Materials Recovery Facility open. Thank you.

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