A wholly-owned Sembcorp unit bought 40 per cent of SembSita, a joint venture vehicle formed to acquire Pacific Waste Management, around June 2000. Pacific Waste was then the second-largest waste-management company in Australia.
Sembcorp wanted to use the acquisition as a launchpad to expand into regional markets where landfills were used commonly for the disposal of rubbish. Its waste-management business was then still relatively small. Today, Sembcorp considers waste management as part of its utilities operations. These operations are mainly in providing energy, water, onsite logistics and solid-waste management to industrial and municipal customers.