Waste Disposal Guidelines for Public Waste Collectors (PWCs)

Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) whether NEA can allow the public waste collectors (PWCs) to dispose more waste tonnes at the Senoko and Tuas incineration plants; and (b) whether the current operating time for waste disposal can be extended to allow the PWCs to have better operational efficiency and productivity.

There are four Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Plants in Singapore, namely, Senoko, Tuas, Tuas South and Keppel Seghers Tuas WTE Plants. Today, the operating hours of these plants have already been extended as much as possible to optimise the operational efficiency for the waste collectors. Tuas South and Keppel Seghers Tuas WTE Plants operate round the clock. Senoko WTE Plant is open to receive waste from 8 am to 12 pm and Tuas WTE Plant from 6 am to 12.30 pm. The PWCs, however, are allowed extended hours up to 6 pm to dispose of their waste at Senoko WTE, subject to a daily tonnage cap. Given their locations, the latter two plants will usually reach their full capacity fairly quickly and, hence, their opening hours cannot be further extended. The two plants are already working round the clock to incinerate the waste received during their opening hours. Nevertheless, NEA will continue to monitor the situation and make changes where necessary.

We are in the process of developing the next WTE plant to replace Tuas WTE Plant as well as to cater for growth. When it is ready, we will review the operating hours for all our plants.