constructing geology
waste geologies | exchange by dustin valen how to make an island out of garbage ( and still feel kind of ok about it )
Eight kilometres off the southwest coast of Singapore, an island is being made
Transported at night by covered barge to prevent windblown ash, incinerated waste is taken to Semakau landfill, tipped into cells and compacted by bulldozers. Once filled, cells are covered with a layer of topsoil and left to seed with native vegetation. Lined with a continuous impermeable membrane, the 7 km long perimeter bund, designed to isolate toxic leachate inside the fill, supports a thriving coastal ecosystem on its ocean side – a feature lauded by the country’s own National Environment Agency (NEA) whose 2012 guide to the landfill: Habitats in Harmony , is teeming with bright and colourful photographs of marine life found on and near the landfill. In a bid to raise awareness about Singapore’s ongoing war against waste, since 2005 visitors have been welcomed to the landfill site where they can participate in a surreal conflation of recreation and active waste management while on organised tours – sport fishing, bird watching, stargazing and low tide trekking along the landfill’s shores.
Land-scarce and in league with some of the wealthiest countries in the world, the urbanised city-state of Singapore has –since 1979 – pursued a waste management strategy that is the consummation of Western waste ideology – reclaiming waste’s productive potential and approaching its elimination altogether. Apart from toxic and hazardous materials, non-incinerable waste and recyclables, all solid waste in Singapore is incinerated. Reducing the volume of waste by 90%, a network of incinerators and waste-to-energy facilities work to transform household trash and commercial garbage into dull grey ash while generating upwards of 4% of the energy consumed by 5 million Singaporeans whose air-conditioning demands exceeded 5,000 MW in 2010. 1 Like trash and garbage though, the 600 tonnes of ash produced each day from spent waste has to be put somewhere . In 1987, and at an enormous cost of S$610 million, Singapore began to create the world’s largest offshore landfill.
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