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Industry Spotlight & Innovation
Interview with Chieh Inn Tan, Veolia Country CEO and Director, Singapore
Can you share about the hazardous waste/chemical waste situation here in Singapore? Singapore is one of the world’s leaders in some key industry sectors like petrochemicals, electronics, biomedical/pharmaceuticals and transport engineering. Every day in Singapore, over 2000 companies within these and other sectors handle or use dangerous goods and hazardous chemicals which, in turn, generate a variety of toxic industrial wastes streams. These toxic industrial wastes are managed by NEA through the application of regulations to control and manage risk to the community and the environment. Singapore continues to attract growth in each sector and focus on innovation, which means that there is an expanding demand for the latest standard of hazardous chemical waste management to suit.
What are some of the key features of the Veolia Chemical Waste Treatment Facility?
Veolia’s HCWTF is a fully integrated treatment facility designed to process all forms of hazardous and di cult to treat waste generated in Singapore via a comprehensive range of treatment methodologies and technologies, incorporating automation and productivity optimisation at each step.
The Facility features the latest in process safety and fire prevention for business continuity assurance, as well as a sustain-ability focus through cogeneration for self-sufficient energy generation for all plant operations and Green Mark Platinum status for our new administration headquarters for Singapore located at the site.
Can you explain your approach to safety in more detail?
There are two main aspects to our approach to safety for hazardous waste management. In a hardware sense, the plant has numerous safety features to ensure the safety of our employees, the public and the environment. Some examples of safety features include the plant fire protection systems, fire seals and compartmentalising, hazardous area zoning with associated control regimes and chemical retention basins for the site.
Supporting this safety ‘hardware’ are the soft or process steps to manage waste acceptance planning, analysis and waste acceptance prior to treatment and then the ongoing focus on risk management for overall treatment plant operations.
What are some of the challenges faced by toxic waste generators in Singapore?
There are often challenges related to capabilities and capacities for treatment of certain waste streams, which is why Veolia has designed a diverse platform to offer a broad range of solutions in response.
Veolia also aims to work closely with customers on upstream services in waste reduction, recycling and recovery. By reducing unnecessary waste upstream, we can conserve resources and reduce the need for incineration and landfill. Veolia is also able to offer expertise in water, wastewater and energy to consolidate a total resource management approach at a customer’ssite.
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