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World Cities Summit Issue, Jun 2008
Waste Management and
Economic Growth
Lee Yuen Hee
Cities as the engines of economic growth are also the highest producers of waste and pollution. Find out how economic development does not have to mean more waste generated.
Having developed its industrial base and achieved high economic growth in the last four decades, current day Singapore is highly urbanised and industrialised. This has had a major impact on the environment—more pollution and waste generated.
The challenge is especially great for Singapore as it is an island city-state with an area of only 704 square kilometres and a population of 4.59 million people. Its population density of over 6,500 persons per square kilometre is the fourth highest in the world, after Monaco, Macao and Hong Kong. To remain attractive, it is essential for Singapore to maintain a good quality living environment, where standards of public health meet the growing expectations of our local population as well as those of investors, tourists and a highly mobile international and local talent pool of people.
Thus, Singapore is highly conscious of the environmental pitfalls of industrialisation and, since the early days of industrialisation, had developed its own integrated approach to environmental protection and management with the aim of ensuring that industrial development was not at the expense of the living environment. The key strategies are prevention, enforcement and monitoring.
Firstly, great emphasis is placed on judicious land use planning and development and building plan control for housing, commercial, industrial and recreational uses as well as water catchments. Secondly, investments in waste collection and treatment infrastructure are made in tandem with industrial and urban developments to minimise pollution to our land and waters. Thirdly, legislation enacted to control pollution is applied judiciously. This is complemented by close monitoring of ambient air, inland and coastal waters to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of the environmental pollution control programmes and by strict enforcement to ensure that waste collection and treatment facilities are properly operated and maintained, and the standards and requirements complied with.
In addition, public awareness and education programmes are conducted to educate the public on the protection of the environment. This multi-pronged approach has enabled Singapore to achieve and maintain a clean and healthy environment, even as the economy continues to grow.
THE SINGAPORE GREEN PLAN
The need for a fresh approach to environmental management was felt towards the end of the eighties. Over the years, there has been a shift of emphasis from a “top-down” approach towards self-regulation by the industries through various incentive schemes; the traditional “command and control” approach, although proven useful, has become increasingly costly to both government and industry.
By then, basic infrastructure for the removal and disposal of solid waste, sewage and wastewater were in place. Air and water pollution were regulated through planning controls and emission standards. However, an increasing population with higher expectations and growing appetites continued to exert pressure on Singapore’s limited capacity to cope with resource consumption and waste generation.
At the same time, there was international consensus on the need to take action on global environmental issues, such as global warming, the protection of the ozone layer, and the preservation of wildlife and prevention of coastal pollution, in which Singapore was an active participant and advocate.
These reasons paved the way for the Ministry of the Environment (subsequently renamed the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, or MEWR) to draw up and publish the Singapore Green Plan (SGP) in May 1992. The SGP charted the strategic directions that Singapore would be adopting to achieve its goal of sustainable development. It was presented at the June 1992 Rio Earth Summit in Brazil.
To keep the SGP relevant amidst the changing economic and environmental landscapes, a review was initiated and the SGP 2012 was launched on 24 August 2002.
The SGP 2012 conveys the message that the new challenge Singapore now faces is no longer environmental performance, but environmental sustainability. This updated master plan charts Singapore’s approach to achieve environmental sustainability over the next 10 years and sets out the broad directions and the strategic thrusts that will help ensure Singapore’s long-term environmental sustainability. The SGP was reviewed in 2005 and an updated edition was published in February 2006.
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