Landfill Island to Become Park
Semakau Island - Singapore
The Singapore Government is in the process of building/enlarging an island entirely with waste material. Don’t worry - most of the material is demolition debris like concrete and ash from burning waste.
Pulau Semakau is located to the south of the main island of Singapore, off the Straits of Singapore. The Semakau Landfill is located on the eastern side of the island, and was created by joining Pulau Sakeng to Pulau Semakau. The Semakau Landfill became Singapore’s only remaining landfill 1999. It is also the world’s first manmade offshore Landfill / Island
From the Singapore Environment Agency Website:
The Semakau Landfill is located eight kilometers south of the mainland Singapore. Commissioned in April 1999, the Semakau Landfill was initially expected to meet Singapore’s need for landfill space for 30 years, but the nation’s recycling efforts have extended this to beyond the year 2040, as at 2005. The goal towards Zero Landfill as part of the Singapore Green Plan 2012 can only be achieved with everyone’s commitment, and Semakau Landfill’s increasing life expectancy shows that Singaporeans are indeed playing their part. Semakau Landfill is the first offshore landfill in the world accepting mainly inorganic waste - that is, ash from Singapore’s four incineration plants - subsequently, will double up as the world’s first island made almost entirely from a waste landfill.
‘Semakau’s marine life is amazingly rich. Semakau has probably the largest seagrass area in the Southern shores while Semakau’s reefs abound with a rich variety of corals and other creatures. Semakau’s natural mangroves also shelter a wide variety of flora and fauna. Some so rare that they are no longer found elsewhere in Singapore,’ she added.
Members of the public who are interested in visiting Semakau Landfill should contact one of these three interest group: Sport Fishing Association of Singapore (sport fishing) at http://www.sfas.net; Nature Society of Singapore (bird watching) at contact@nss.org.sg or 67412036; or Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR) at http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/.
Via: Treehugger
November 30th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
The ash and slag from incineration include a lot of dangerous and non- naturel materials! In contact with sea- water it will change its milieu and enter the ocean! As a high tech- country, Singapore should increase recycling instead of combustion. One solution could be kryo- recycling for plastics and e- waste.
More backgroundinformation about the incineration, its energybilance and its dangerous products and its alternatives see here:
http://www.buendnis-zukunft.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=174
December 1st, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Felix-
Good points! One technology they could use it to treat the fly-ash with supercritical Carbon Dioxide. At very high pressure CO2 changes fly ash into a carbonate mineral that is waterproof.
I assume the island has a very robust impervious barrier between the ash dump and the ocean but every man made structure eventually erodes.
Thanks for the comment,
jsbarrie