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Singapore has a Water and Waste high value opportunity in market:
The Deep Tunnel Sewerage System Phase 2 is comprised of a co-located Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF) as well as a Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) which are integrated with one another. The project also includes construction of a 40km sewer tunnel as well as over 60km of link sewers.

UKTI is currently working on engaging the UK supply chain for both water and waste elements of the project and educating companies on the opportunities in the market. Key procurement timelines should be shared and understood this year so that UK companies can position themselves to bid or partner. New exporters can access these market opportunities if they have sufficient time to partner or to register a business entity in Singapore.

Waste-to-energy: The country is proactively looking for innovative and efficient solutions to employ in its future incineration plants

Food Waste: Singapore, has a serious issue with food waste. Even though the country recycles a respectable 60% of its waste, only 13% of food waste is recycled. The Government is trying to implement technological and policy level interventions to tackle the issue.

Innovative technologies: The NEA is looking for companies offering innovative solutions in the waste management sector. Due to manpower issues, the Government is scouting for technologies such as automated cleaning vehicles for premises, automated street cleaning vehicles etc.

E-Waste: One of the major issues affecting Singapore is the high levels of e-waste being generated every year (around 60 million kg in2014). Only a fraction of that is recycled or disposed of properly. In order to address the issue, NEA is studying the option of having a regulated national system to collect, recycle and manage e-waste. 

Other opportunities: NEA is also assessing ways to reduce domestic waste generated in the country. Singapore saw a 1 percentage point drop to 19 per cent in the domestic recycling rate in 2014. Companies could also look at offering solutions that assist households improve their recycling capacity. Another area of focus the re-use of ash produced as a result of the incineration of waste. 

• Water & Waste Infrastructure – Engineering consultancies/ Other specialist consultancies (Project Management, Environmental Impact Assessment etc)
• Supply Chain – Valves/Pipes/Pumps/Cable Systems/Process Equipment
• Waste 2 Energy Technology Companies
• Automation – Bailers, Sorters, automated systems of any kind( including software platforms)

Singapore is a small wealthy city state with increasing issues around land scarcity and rising waste levels.

The country has a land area of approx 700sq km with the Government currently reclaiming a great deal of land to accommodate infrastructure growth 

Ideally Singapore sits along where the major east/west shipping lanes converge making it a natural focal point for trade. As such Singapore boasts a very pro business, open economy that is often seen as the barometer for global trade.  The country is often seen as a natural gateway into SEA’s 600 million residents, boasting a low tax and low political risk environment. 

Singapore is positioning itself as a “Clean Technology” hub for the South East Asia region and engages/invests in foreign companies who are looking to test bed of develop their innovations in the market.

Nicola covers Environment sectors for Singapore mainly focused on water, waste and low carbon solutions as well as energy for the South East Asia region as a whole.

Opportunities for UK companies:

Thai government support waste2energy projects by offering incentives for renewable energy in the form of Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) schemes.

Thailand Overview

The Thai government has an aggressive master plan to provide at least 25% of total domestic energy consumption from renewable sources by the year 2022.

Thailand produces about 14.5 million tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per year.  Over the past 12 years the government has increased the budget for local administrations to collect and dispose solid waste.  However, the disposal of municipal solid waste remains a major problem.  There are about 100 proper landfill sites across the country but these only have the capacity to dispose of 45% of the total waste.  In the rural provincial areas, only 5% of solid waste can be properly disposed.  The rest is disposed by open dumping, open burning or left over at the dumping sites.  The increase in personal consumption that creates MSW indicates that Thailand has high potential in converting MSW into energy.

Asa's profile

Asa is a Trade and Investment Manager at UKTI Thailand.  Prior to joining UKTI, she worked as Business Development Manager at Australian Trade Commission in Bangkok.

Asa has 15 years of experiences in Trade.  Her responsible sectors at UKTI are Energy and Education sectors.  She enjoys working in the recycle and waste management areas and has a love for it.  Asa holds a bachelor and master degree in marketing.

Opportunities for UK companies:

• 3 X Waste to Energy projects are expected to cost between £0.5 – 0.6bn 
• 1 x RDF construction project is expected to cost £30m
• 1 x RDF consultancy project
• 3 x CDW projects in Northern Emirates
• 1 x Land Remediation consultancy project in Northern Emirates
• 1 X Sustainable City in Dubai - £5.0bn

Expo 2020 and Experience Economy HVOs are worth approximately £12bn in total (the environment & water element on these HVOs will be a small fraction of the total).

The UAE market always welcomes new exporters especially those that are willing to invest time to build relationships and are willing to invest in providing proof of concept (POC) of their products/technologies.

Adil Khan

Adil Khan leads on the Environment & Water sectors for the UAE and is based at the British Embassy in Dubai. He has extensive knowledge and contacts in these sectors.

The US market has a number of waste management events and activities across the key areas of interest to UK companies. In the Western US, recycling and waste minimization is a particular area of focus as various municipalities are seeking innovative technologies to address reductions of municipal solid waste into landfills. Opportunities exist for energy from waste, recycling and reprocessing, and to an extent machinery and equipment. 

The US market is an open market suitable for new exporters. UK companies, like any overseas exporter, should have the time and financial resources to commit to the market. This may mean having a physical presence through a local office and staff. Particular cities and states in the US may be more suitable than others areas for export opportunities. A local UKTI officer like myself can explain differences between certain locations across the US market. 

Mike Rosenfeld

Mike Rosenfeld has served as Vice Consul with UK Trade & Investment, the British Government’s international business development department at the British Consulate-General, Los Angeles since 2003. As Senior Advisor for Energy, Environment & Infrastructure, he focuses on the clean technology sector and has significant expertise in renewable energy and environmental technologies. Mike also serves as a member of the UK’s Climate Change Group addressing global warming solutions in the US, the British Government’s Clean Energy Strategy team in the US, and is leading the UK's Low Carbon, Know-How Strategic Initiative across North America, including the US and Canada, as well as the USA Water High Value Opportunities (HVO) Program.

Support and Advice offered for UK companies

Our Digital Trade Advisors can guide you through your digital marketing strategy in order to increase your overseas brand visibility and expand your digital footprint. The advisors will help companies to exploit digital marketing to maximise global presence and optimise your ongoing marketing activity to reach new markets more quickly and meet international consumer demand through SEO, website internationalisation, social media, email, analytics and advertising. 

The Waste Contractors and Recyclers Association of NSW (WCRA) is a registered industrial body of employers that addresses business issues relating to the waste and recycling industry on behalf of it constituent Members. 

Wilson Bio-Chemical (WBC) has developed a commercial system for the conversion of a variety of waste materials into useful products by using clean, dry, saturated steam in large rotating autoclaves. The autoclaving process is the ideal preparatory process for landfill diversion, more efficient EfW operations and renewable energy development. Wilson Bio-Chemical is dedicated to the R&D of Wilson Fibre®. The aim is to discover integrated processes to valorise the bio-degradable fraction from the autoclave process. WBC has been successful in producing high value products at a laboratory scale using steam autoclaving integrated with high efficient fermentation and thermo-chemical technology partners.