Call for proposals to study how to recover, reuse waste at Semakau Landfill

SINGAPORE – The National Environment Agency (NEA) is calling out for proposals to study the possibility of recovering mixed materials that have been landfilled on Pulau Semakau, so as to extend the landfill’s lifespan.

In a statement on Friday (Sept 25), the agency said it hopes that through this Request for Proposal, it will be able to explore innovative and novel solutions to prolong the use of Semakau Landfill, which is projected to run out of space by 2035, and avoid future costs of constructing another offshore landfill.

Semakau Landfill has been in operation since 1999 and has 11 landfill cells. So far, about 15 million tonnes of mixed materials have been stored in 10 of these cells.

Through this Request for Proposal, NEA aims to understand the physical and chemical properties of the landfilled materials, comprising incineration bottom ash, incineration fly ash and non-incinerable waste, that were landfilled at the Phase 1 cells of Semakau and have “aged” over time. 

NEA is also looking for proposals to assess the technical and economic feasibility of refreshing the landfill space by extracting these materials and finding suitable applications for the recovered materials. For example, they could potentially be used as sand or aggregate replacement in various applications.

NEA noted that this move complements its Zero Waste Masterplan to reduce the ash and waste sent to the landfill by 30 per cent by 2030.

Applications for proposals have to be submitted by 11am on Nov 11.