SUM Singapore Urban Mining

SUM — Singapore Urban Mining.

A collaborative, AI-powered platform that transforms
Singapore's buildings into reusable resources — unlocking new revenue streams
while accelerating progress toward carbon neutrality.

2035

Semakau landfill runs out —
action needed now

98%

of construction materials end
in low-value applications

37%

of global emissions
from the built environment

50%+

of Singapore's building emissions are embodied carbon

THE CONTEXT

Why Urban Mining is essential
for Singapore's built environment.

Singapore's construction sector is at a crossroads.
With landfill capacity running out before 2035 and embodied carbon now accounting
for more than half of building emissions, the industry must move
from a linear model to a circular one — urgently.

The Waste Problem

The Reuse Barriers

The SUM Solution

PLATFORM OBJECTIVES

Six pillars that make
urban mining work at scale.

Digitise building Pre-Demolition Audits in collaboration with Singapore stakeholders to create full transparency on available materials and products.

Digital Product Passports capture and structure product and material data in a common, interoperable template.

Industry forum that builds trust, manages complexity, and enables scale by connecting key market players.

Critical mass through anchor members, with full interoperability with other marketplaces and platforms.

Automatic ESG indicators — waste avoided, CO₂ saved, water preserved, and economic balance in real time.

AI-powered platform that continuously learns to maximise reuse matching across the full SUM ecosystem.

HOW IT WORKS

From inventory to impact — end to end.

Pre-Demolition
Audit

Identify valuable materials and products before demolition

INVENTORY

Digital Product Passports

Capture and structure all product and material ESG data

MEASURE

AI Reuse Matching

Auto-match available deposits with active project needs

DECARBONISE

ESG Outflow Indicators

Real-time CO₂
avoided,
waste diverted,
water saved

REPORT

Governance & Roles

Steering Committee builds trust, orients strategy and share feedbacks

COLLECTIVE

Circular Economy

Closed-loop materials flow and policy generation at scale

IMPACT

PRE-DEMOLITION AUDIT

Know your resources.
Unlock hidden value.

The Pre-Demolition Audit (PDA) identifies valuable products and materials before a building comes down. Combined with Digital Product Passports (DPP), it enables industrial-scale reuse and upcycling — helping to decarbonise new products and buildings.

AI MATCHING ENGINE

Detect. Connect. Reuse.

The platform's AI engine automatically detects matches between available deposits and expressed needs — instantly notifying both the resource owner and the requester. Every reuse operation is traced, contributing to full traceability and ESG impact calculation.

ESG OUTFLOW INDICATORS

Monitor data.
Drive decisions.

Every reuse operation generates real-time ESG outflow data — CO₂ avoided, waste diverted, water saved, and financial balance. SUM turns circular activity into measurable, reportable impact aligned with Singapore's Green Plan 2030.

PLATFORM OBJECTIVES

Work in collective intelligence.

SUM brings key members of the industry into a forum that builds
trust, manages complexity and enables scale. Four roles, one shared objective.

STEERING COMMITTEE

Strategy & Governance

Government agencies, academic institutions, industry representatives, and Upcyclea guide strategy and resource allocation. Open to qualifying organisations.

DEPOSITS OWNERS — SUPPLY

Asset Owners, Developers & Builders

Provide material deposits from demolition or renovation projects. Full DPP characterisation and matching support included. No cost to contribute.

INDUSTRY MEMBERS — DEMAND

Manufacturers, Contractors & Associations

Define material needs and access the SUM deposit pool. AI matching connects members with available resources aligned to their project specifications.

RESOURCE MANAGER

The Shared Orchestrator

The ‘orchestrator’ role shared between all members — coordinating audits, validating DPPs, managing logistics workflows, and reporting ESG outcomes.

SUM STEERING COMMITTEE

Members guiding Singapore Urban Mining’s Strategy

PROVEN GLOBALLY

3 Upcyclea-powered
Urban Mining initiatives worldwide.

SUM builds on successful urban mining programmes already operating
in Europe and Asia — bringing proven methodology to Singapore's built environment.

FRANCE

PIRÉE Urban Mining

France’s first institutional urban mining platform. PIRÉE digitised pre-demolition audits across France, creating a verified secondary materials market and establishing the data methodology now deployed in SUM.

Active since 2023

“Participating in PIRÉE has become a cornerstone of our corporate policy, enabling us to promote the reuse and recovery of our resources. Today, sending 67% of our waste to landfill is simply no longer acceptable.”

Stéphanie Gauthier, Deputy CEO at Alliade, social housing provider

LONDON (UK)

ROMULUS Urban Mining

Powering the City of London’s circular economy initiative. ROMULUS connects demolition projects with construction demand across the Greater London area.

Active since 2024

“The ROMULUS initiative is incredibly important to achieve a fairer and greener London. Because il helps us to understand how to boost circular economy and reuse, reduce waste and support our goal to be carbon neutral by 2030” .

Mete Coban, Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy

OSAKA (JAPAN)

EXPO2025 Urban Mining

Obayashi has been using the Upcyclea’s solution to manage the material recovery from EXPO 2020 Dubaï to EXPO 2025’s pavilions, and to track reusable material from the Osaka’s pavilions after the event.

Active 2025-2026

“The Cartier Women’s Pavilion began in Dubaï and its legacy is being continued here in Osaka. The challenge was to make reuse on a large-scale from a previous expo, which had not been done before.”

Yuko Nagayama, Architect of Cartier Women’s Pavilion, for Obayashi

URBAN RESILIENCE

Urban Mining for
Resilient Cities.

SUM strengthens Singapore's circular economy by reducing imports of virgin materials, minimising landfill use, supporting sustainable growth, and accelerating progress toward carbon neutrality objectives under the Singapore Green Plan 2030.

READY TO ACT?

Join SUM — Singapore Urban Mining.

Whether you're an asset owner, developer, contractor, or policymaker
— SUM needs your participation to reach critical mass and transform
Singapore's built environment.