From wasteland springs a recycling zone
By
Dominic Nathan
A RECYCLING zone has been created out of wasteland in Lim Chu Kang.
The Sarimbun Recycling Zone, which will recycle wooden crates and garden trimmings initially, will pilot recycling in Singapore.
A 2.5-ha site at the old landfill has been leased to a company to reuse wooden pal-lets and crates. An adjoining site may be leased out as well to turn garden trimmings into fertiilsers and soil conditioners.
Fittingly, the old 45-ha ~Lim Chu Kang landfill, which was considered wasteland, will itself be recycled.
These moves are part of ~an Environment Ministry (ENV) effort to give recycling a boost and help reduce the amount of wastes that end up in landfills or in the incinerators.
Tiong Weng Hup Trading won the tender from eight companies which submitted bids for the 2.5-ha site in February.
The company will repair broken pallets and crates. It is expected to start in June or July and will handle about 150 tonnes of waste a day.
At present, companies dispose of about 50,000 tonnes of such wastes a year at landfills, paying $35 a tonne to do so. But at the plant, they might even get paid for their wastes.
The ENV spokesman said a second tender may be called this year to hand out another 2.5 ha to recycle 75,000 tonnes of wood chips, leaves, branches and other trimmings collect every year into fertilisers or soil conditioners.
Other projects in mind are recycling old tyres — about one million a year are thrown away — and construction debris. The land could also be used for a sorting centre for general wastes, said the spokesman. He emphasised, however, that all the end products must have a market.
Wood waste and building debris have been targeted for recycling under the Government’s Green Plan to make Singapore a model environment city by the year 2000.
They make up about 500 tonnes or 16 per cent of all industrial and commercial waste every day. The Plan estimated that between 20 and 40 per cent of it can be recycled.
All this is giving the old Lim Chu Kang dumping ground a new lease of life. It was closed in 1992 after 17 years of dumping. As it will take about 30 years for the land to stabilise, ENV has decided to use parts of it now.
Source : The Straits Times 23rd Mar 1995
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