Optimization of Solid Waste Management System in Singapore

Amanda Ng Wai Ming

Abstract

Singapore is a highly urbanized and industrialized small island nation with a land area of 697 km2 and a population of 5.5 million, currently having a total of four waste-to-energy refuse incineration plants and an offshore sanitary landfill for the disposal of non-combustible waste, to account for Singapore’s incineration capacity. Due to the ever-increasing population rate, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) has formulated a range of strategies and programs to achieve its objectives for curbing waste growth and supporting sustainable waste management, incorporating recycling, collection and disposal into an integrated solid waste management system. This project offers an in-depth description and analysis of the types of waste and the overall waste disposal process, while optimizing the distance traveled and cost to transport waste from a specific region to a specific waste-to-energy (WTE) plant. Short and long term time frames for future waste projections and population growth rates over a few years are also forecasted. Besides examining and optimizing the current waste disposal plan put in place by NEA, this project has also utilized the transportation problem methodology found in operations research. The computer software, LINGO, has also been employed to generate five possible scenarios to simulate the current and possible feasible future waste situations for Singapore, being the environmental impact of the waste disposal and the construction of a new WTE to cater to the increase in waste generation in years to come, just to name a few. Overall, this project is beneficial in helping to optimize the entire waste management system in Singapore, making it even more efficient and effective while reducing overall costs for everyone at the same time.