Trash and burn: Singapore's waste problem

By Gillian Murdoch

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Creeping out of their condo after dark carrying illicit bags of garbage was not part of the life Sarah Moser and her husband envisioned for themselves before moving to tropical Singapore.

But with recycling in its infancy on the island, such nocturnal escapades have become normal for the two academics.

Each week they dodge watchful security guards, barking dogs and suspicious neighbors to carry rubbish they cannot recycle at home to recycling bins far down the road.

"We end up storing tons of stuff," Sarah Moser said. "Paper and cardboard, plastics like milk, juice, takeaway containers."

"Then we have to do a huge big binge trip, and we're so embarrassed because the guards are watching us."

This small act of rebellion illustrates the problem faced, on a much larger scale, by tiny Singapore: there's nowhere to put the trash.

"It is very costly to get rid of our waste," said Ong Chong Peng, general manger of the island's only remaining landfill, which cost S$610 million ($447 million) to create on Pulau Semakau eight kilometers south of the mainland.

The landfill "island," a 350-hectare feat of engineering reclaimed from the sea, opened the day after the last of five mainland landfills closed in 1999.

Every day it takes shipments of over 2,000 tonnes of ash -- the charred remnants of 93 percent of Singapore's rubbish, burnt at its four incinerators.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) predicts a new multimillion dollar incinerator will be needed every five to seven years, and a new landfill like Pulau Semakau every 25 to 30 years.

With nowhere to site another landfill, recycling, though not yet rolled out to the masses in condominiums or state Housing Development Board (HDB) skyscrapers, is no longer just nice to have, but a necessity, said Ong.

"Singaporeans have to practice the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) to extend the lifespan of Semakau as long as possible," he said, "and also reduce the need to build new incineration plants."

DIRTY MESS

Untroubled by the festering mounds of pungent tropical garbage that frequently pile up in its less-developed neighbors, clean, green and super-efficient Singapore's unique rubbish headache stems from its small size and high population density.

Incinerators have met with public resistance in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia, and have been banned in the Philippines because of perceived health risks.