Firms can tap new fund to introduce and upgrade recycled building products
Tan Hui Yee, Straits Times 23 Mar 10;
THE building industry got a leg up in its recycling efforts yesterday with the launch of a $15 million fund to help companies adopt more sustainable processes.
Demolition contractors, recyclers and ready-mixed concrete suppliers can now tap the Sustainable Construction Capability Development Fund to introduce and upgrade their recycled building products, said Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu.
If need be, the Government may look into topping up the fund in the future, she said, speaking at the opening of a recycling technology project by local company Samwoh Corporation.
The Building and Construction Authority plans to increase demand for recycled materials by requiring building owners aiming for the top grades of its environmentally friendly building programme to adopt sustainable construction methods.
Currently, those aiming for the 'Goldplus' and 'Platinum' standards under its Green Mark scheme can opt out of these measures by beefing up other areas such as greenery and accessibility to public transport. But the changes make mandatory a prescribed minimum level of effort in this regard.
To give users more confidence in the reliability of recycled concrete, the Government will also, from October, require all ready-mixed concrete makers for the Singapore market to be certified according to new standards.
Ms Fu said the industry has 'a long way to go' in adopting more sustainable processes. 'We need both the regulators as well as industry players, both the suppliers as well as developers and constructers, to come together,' she added.
Singapore imports almost all of its construction materials like granite aggregate and sand, which are major components of concrete. Recent supply disruptions, rising material costs and shrinking landfill space have made the task of recycling demolition and construction waste urgent.
The National Environment Agency said 98 per cent of construction and demolition waste was recycled last year. The problem is that materials like recycled aggregate tend to line the bottom of roads or be cast into road kerbs rather than used back in buildings.
The president of the Ready Mixed Concrete Association and chief executive of Holcim Singapore, Dr Sujit Ghosh, said the $15 million fund could come in handy to pay for the extra monitoring of building projects that use the 'green' concrete his company produces.
This will help reassure building owners and consultants that they are not taking unnecessary risks with such new building materials. Most, he said, still stick to fresh materials as they will not have to calculate various specifications from scratch.
'People are looking at the short-term monetary benefits. Recycled concrete is not necessarily significantly cheaper,' he added.
Samwoh's Eco-Green Park, which was officially opened yesterday, comprises an asphalt recycling plant, a ready-mixed concrete plant with recycling facilities, as well as the first building in South-east Asia to use fully recycled aggregates - made of granite - for one entire level.
The Ministry of Education is considering using recycled concrete in the structures of its upcoming schools.
Separately, the Land Transport Authority yesterday gave the green light for the use of recycled asphalt in roads.
The move could save up to 140,000 tonnes of raw material for road building each year.
New S$15m fund to aid sustainable construction
Chris Howells Channel NewsAsia 22 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE : The Building and Construction Authority is setting up a S$15 million fund to promote sustainable construction.
The fund will focus on developing capabilities in recycling waste from the demolition of buildings and in using recycled materials for construction.
The construction industry has welcomed the latest initiative, but is hoping for more government support for their usage.
The opening of the Samwoh eco-green park demonstrates a growing focus in Singapore's construction industry on sustainable development methods.
This is the first building in the country to be built using recycled concrete aggregate.
And Samwoh wants to raise its production of recycled materials for the construction industry.
However, it notes that this will be a long-term investment due to the low margins and the current slow take-up rate.
The government hopes that more companies can use recycled concrete and building materials to reduce Singapore's reliance on imported raw materials.
Elvin Koh, managing director, Samwoh Corporation, said: "...we have invested about S$10 million (in this eco-park). If you are talking about returns, it might be a bit slow because it is new in the market.
"But we view this as a long term-business. It all depends on the government agencies and how fast they can accept this new concept ."
The eco-concept is also making other inroads.
The Land Transport Authority has rolled out changes to its road construction specifications to allow recycled materials to be used in building roads.
While supportive of these moves, industry players said it is too early to tell whether costs will be impacted.
However, they stressed that more government funding is needed for sustainable construction to take off in a big way.
Andrew Khng, president, Singapore Contractors Association, said: "I am hoping that the government will take the lead forward to push the industries by implementing in their contracts (that) a certain percentage of their contracts component should look at the green products; for the contractors, we need some kind of incentive to push us to go green on our own."
Companies said a public-sector led push to adopt more eco-friendly practices could have a positive impact on their earnings.
Samwoh, for instance, gets 3 to 4 per cent of its revenues from the sale of recycled materials. - CNA/sc/ms
Changes to road building specs
Business Times 23 Mar 10;
THE Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced changes to existing road construction specifications to allow the use of recycled waste materials as alternatives to natural raw materials for use in road construction.
Previously, road construction made use of a mixture of bitumen and natural granite aggregates. With the changes, contractors can construct new road pavements with green materials such as Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP), a processed construction waste material recycled from the milling of defective roads.
Lim Bok Ngam, deputy chief executive (Infrastructure and Development), LTA, said: 'By allowing the use of these recycled waste products, we can reduce our reliance on natural imported construction materials.'
The announcement comes after the success of the Green Pavement trial, started in March last year. A stretch of Tampines road was constructed with a mix of recycled materials, RAP and Incineration Bottom Ash (IBA), to determine if it would be suitable for daily use.
While some roads may have been constructed with a single layer of recycled material, every layer of the Tampines stretch was constructed out of RAP and IBA.
Trial results showed that roads constructed with this mixture of recycled waste materials performed equally well compared to one constructed with natural aggregates.
