Solid Waste Management in Singapore and Nepal

1/8/20242 min read

a large building with many colorful flags hanging from it's sides
a large building with many colorful flags hanging from it's sides

Singapore

In Singapore, solid waste management begins theoretically by separation at source, with the remainder sent for incineration at 4 waste-to-energy plants (NEA). Ash from the incineration is then disposed at the country's only landfill located offshore and constructed by land reclamation on Pulau Semakau (NEA; ST 2023).

Operations at the world's first offshore landfill began in 1999 (NLB) (ST 2023) and, as of 2023, the 350ha facility has reached approximately 50% capacity (CNA 2023).

Researchers are exploring the potential of repurposing the ash from the landfill, including its use in fabricating construction materials (ST 2023).

Ghorahi, Nepal

Through strong citizen participation in policy and decision-making, the municipality of Ghorahi constructed and operates a modern landfill using only domestic funding (Wilson et al 2012).

In 2013, Ghorahi received a grant to build output-based waste management capacity by enhancing waste collection service quality, providing technical assistance, and offering ongoing project management (GPRBA 2022). Waste collection charges appear to be influenced by users' income, and are determined by the annual property taxes payable by the household (GPRBA 2022).

Composting and recycling are the preferred waste management techniques (Maharjan et al 2019), with most waste recovery labour historically performed by informal labour (Wilson et al 2012).

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