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[SINGAPORE] SembWaste, now known as Cora Environment, will invest US$200 million to drive its transformation and growth in waste management over the next five years.

The company, which was rebranded after its acquisition by listed Indonesian energy player TBS Energi Utama, on Thursday (Sep 11) said that the investment will strengthen its core capabilities. It will also support upgrades to its existing facilities, and help launch a new digital platform that can provide customers with sustainability insights through data analytics.

“By aligning resources towards emerging opportunities and developing new capabilities to meet future needs, these initiatives will reinforce Cora Environment’s integrated expertise and enhance its position to deliver longer-term value and stronger outcomes across the waste management value chain for its customers, stakeholders and the wider community,” it noted.

Previously owned by Sembcorp Industries, the company collects and recycles waste in Singapore’s city centre, Punggol, Clementi and Bukit Merah under the National Environment Agency’s public waste collection scheme.

In addition, it works with industrial and commercial clients, as well as operates material recovery facilities and one of the four energy-from-waste plants in the Republic.

Sembcorp Industries announced last November that it would sell its waste management arm to TBS for S$405 million. The sale was completed in March this year.

TBS is an integrated energy company with a waste management portfolio in Singapore and Indonesia. It also owns and operates a company that specialises in biohazardous and medical waste treatment services.

Under its new parent, Cora Environment is taking steps to “pivot itself into the next paradigm of waste management”, its chief executive officer Lee Kok Kin told The Business Times in an interview.

“I think we see ourselves as an ecosystem enabler. What we mean by an ecosystem enabler is (being) able to do more targeted waste management services, instead of the general waste collection that we do today,” he said.

Recycling upstream

One way Cora Environment is trying to do this is by moving recycling upstream. This means having more dedicated streams of waste collection, so that the recycling process can begin at earlier stages of the waste collection journey.

Over the past two years, the company has been piloting a solution where data is used to create profiles of the various types of waste that its clients generate across 23 categories. This information is then assessed to identify what could have been recycled instead of incinerated.

When clients have a clearer idea of the waste they are generating, Cora can propose solutions to help them sort their waste streams better.

For example, if a corporate customer is found to have large amounts of plastic waste, being able to separate that from other types of waste at the dumping stage would keep that stream homogenous after being collected.

“And when it’s homogeneous, I (can) recycle it very quickly,” said Lee. “I can pass it on to my recyclers (right away)… I don’t need to sort (the waste).”

Tenants, landlords and the community could also help sort waste streams more efficiently, he added. “And by doing so, there’s a higher chance of uplifting recycling rates.”

While Cora has the facilities to sort all kinds of trash, the risk of contamination is greater, and there are higher sorting costs as well.

In dedicated waste collection, “there’s no sorting cost – all you need to do is transport it”, said Lee. This can lead to reduced contamination and “better streams of recyclables”, allowing the company to onboard recyclers, who can then recycle more efficiently.

He noted that if recycling can move upstream, companies could get closer to their zero-waste goals and other environmental, social and governance targets.

Adding to the value chain

Besides improving the supply of recyclables, Cora is collaborating with 14 partners which offtake recyclables to be part of an accreditation scheme seeking to improve the transparency and traceability of the waste that is being recycled.

Given that its new parent company has operations in South-east Asia, Cora can explore bringing these technologies and solutions to Malaysia and Indonesia over the longer term, said Lee.

“We could strengthen our position in Singapore, and also perhaps have expansion plans regionally. Singapore is one of the countries in Asean that have energy-from-waste capabilities, so that, in terms of the synergistic possibilities, could allow us to expand… into the region,” he added.

Moreover, he noted that TBS has experience in handling hazardous waste, presenting another potential revenue stream for Cora.

“That may complete or add more value to (our) chain… We collect the rubbish, we incinerate them for energy, we (recycle, and we might also go into) medical or hazardous waste treatment,” he explained. “We present a suite of services or solutions that… could continue to prosper and strengthen the proposition.”