Managing Construction Waste – A Sarawak … 8 Managing... · Danida / Sarawak Government UEMS...
Transcript of Managing Construction Waste – A Sarawak … 8 Managing... · Danida / Sarawak Government UEMS...
NREB
Natural Resources and Environment Board
Sarawak
Managing Construction Waste - A Sarawak Experience
January 2004
DANIDA Danish International Development Assistance
Danida / Sarawak Government UEMS Project
Natural Resources and Environment Board
Managing Construction Waste
- A Sarawak Experience
January 2004
Note no. UEMS_TEC_03-27
Issue no. 1
Date of issue 26 January 2004
Prepared THH
Checked ILA
Approved
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Managing Construction Waste – A Sarawak Experience
Tang Hung Huong1
, Ib Larsen2
1. Background
In Malaysia construction waste is generally not properly managed. Managing the
construction waste is normally the responsibility of developers and contractors. This
responsibility is stipulated by the authorities as one of the conditions for approval
of the projects, whether in EIAs or in building permits. However, the conditions are
often formulated in very general terms, which do not give any specific direction to
the developers or contractors. The conditions usually mainly concern cleanliness of
the site.
No precise information is available on the amount, management or disposal of
construction waste. No proper recording on the construction waste and its fate is
normally performed. Today, no dedicated construction waste treatment facility has
been established. Thus, landfilling is the only legal option for disposal, however,
with different scenario and conditions in the local areas.
As the fees charged at landfills are expected to increase, in line with the
environmental improvements of landfill sites, the risk for illegal dumping of
construction waste are expected to increase simultaneously. This is due to the large
amounts of construction waste and the consecutive economic consequences of the
rising fees.
Illegal dumping of construction waste in Sarawak is already substantial. A survey of
illegal dumpsites around Kuching in 2002 identified 62 new illegal dumpsites. An
investigation of its composition indicates that more than half the illegal dumped
waste at the sites derives from construction works.
1 Environmental Control Officer, Natural Resources and Environment Board, Sarawak
2 Chief Technical Advisor for Sarawak Government – DANCED Sustainable Urban Development (SUD)
Project (1999-2002) and Sarawak Government-DANIDA Urban Environmental Management System
(UEMS) Project (2002-2006)
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When properly sorted, construction waste is inert, posing no hazardous treat to the
environment. At the same time sorted construction waste can be recycled at low
costs, and the non-recyclable inert materials can be deposited at separate landfills
dedicated for inert materials at a similar low cost. Therefore, a facility for recycling
of construction waste should be established. This would help improving the
management of construction waste and assist in combating illegal dumping.
2. Construction waste in Kuching
2.1 Generation
Presently, no proper registration of construction waste is taking place in Sarawak. In
order to design a strategy for managing construction waste, it is however, required
to establish an overview of the generated waste amounts and types.
The Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), assisted by DANCED3
(Danish
Cooperation for Environment and Development) therefore in 2001 undertook some
estimations of the amount of construction waste generated. The estimations were
based on size of building area being constructed; international standards for
construction waste per capita and calculation of truckloads of construction waste
from large construction sites. Based on the calculations it was estimated that
approximately 100,000 tonnes of construction waste were generated in Kuching per
year4
.
This amount corresponds to the amount of residential waste generated in the City
per year (95,000 tonnes).
This amount of construction waste is expected to increase dramatically in the future,
in view of the rapid growth of the City. Presently the City mainly grows by
expanding its geographical area. Therefore only minor amounts of demolition waste
are generated. However, when renewal of existing build-up areas takes off, the
amount of construction waste is expected to increase many fold.
3 DANCED was dissolved and replaced by DANIDA (Danish International Development Assistance) since
2002 4 Tang et al. (2003). “Solid Waste Management in Kuching”. Sarawak Government-Danida 2003, p.79
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The composition of construction waste in Kuching was also estimated. The
estimations were based on surveys at a few major construction sites5
. The findings
are tabulated in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Typical fractions and compositions of construction waste in Sarawak
Waste fractions Composition (%)
Concrete 80
Wood 15
Paper, plastics, cardboard 1
Metal 4
Transportation
Based on the observations made during the above surveys at major construction
sites, it can roughly be estimated that 50% of the construction waste does not leave
the construction site at all. It is either used for site preparation, dumped onsite or
open burnt6
.
The remaining construction waste is transported by private transporters engaged by
developers or contractors. Some of the waste is disposed of at informal dumpsites
on private land and some of the waste is illegal dumped at road reserves or idle
land. Only minor amounts are received at the public dumpsite. There are five main
contractors, which transport most of the construction waste. About 50 private tipper
trucks are involved in transporting the waste. Large construction sites require, on
average, 5 trips per day to dispose the waste generated. For smaller construction
sites such as the construction of residential houses, only 0.5 trips per day are
usually required7
. Scrap metal is usually collected for recycling.
Construction waste from small-scale renovation works are transported by a large
number of small transporters. A large part of such waste ends up at the identified
illegal dumpsites.
5 Tang et al. (2003). “Solid Waste Management in Kuching”. Sarawak Government-Danida 2003, p.82
6 Tang et al. (2003). “Solid Waste Management in Kuching”. Sarawak Government-Danida 2003, p.112-
113. 7 Tang et al. (2003). “Solid Waste Management in Kuching”. Sarawak Government-Danida 2003, p.103
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2.3 Disposal
The only legal facility available for disposal of construction waste for Kuching City is
the Matang dump site which is located about 14 km northwest of the Kuching city
centre at Jalan Matang. This facility hardly receives any construction waste8
.
2.4 Composition of Illegal Dumped Waste
The composition of the waste found at the illegal dumpsites has also been also
determined. Based on site observations, it can be confirmed, that the majority of
waste dumped is related to construction activities. On top of the specific
construction waste found (concrete, bricks etc.) around 70% of scrap metals and
wooden crates for packaging are observed to originate from construction sites.
Therefore, it is estimated that not less than 50% of the waste dumped illegally
derives from construction works.
Figure 1 below shows the composition of illegal dumped waste surveyed in 20019
.
Scrap metals
16%
Green waste
3%Rubbish (non
combustile)
10%
Saw dust
8%
Wooden crates
25%
Construction waste
25%
Rubbish
(combustile)
11%
Figure 1: Composition of illegally dumped waste
8 The Matang facility was closed in December 2003, when the new sanitary landfill at Mambong 20 km
south of town opened up for receiving waste. However, the Matang facility still receives construction waste,
as this waste is used for the safe closure measurements for the dumpsite. Construction waste is received at
RM12/tonne or RM40/truck. Nevertheless, the facility still only receives very limited amount of
construction waste 9 Tang et al. (2003). “Solid Waste Management in Kuching”. Sarawak Government-Danida 2003, p. 117
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3. Current Regulation on Construction Waste
Management in Sarawak
3.1 General Legal Regulatory Tools
Regulatory tools set the framework for the actions of individual actors in society.
The regulatory tools can be divided into 3 categories:
Prior approvals – an approval must be obtained before the activity can be
initiated
Rules – Activities have to apply to certain specified criteria applicable to all
similar activities
Orders - specific directions issued to individual activities – when orders are
used as the regulatory tool, the current practises of the activates will remain
legal until an order is issued
Prior approvals can be in the form of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),
License or Permission.
Rules can be prohibitions to perform certain activities, or it can specify criteria for
performing certain activities or specify standards for discharge of the residues from
the activity.
Orders are specific directions to individual construction sites to stop certain
activities or to carry out certain activities.
In 2001, the NREB with assistance of the DANCED scrutinised the existing regulatory
provisions of relevance for construction sites in Sarawak10
. Regarding prior
approvals, EIAs and permissions are used. Permissions are currently required for
construction works (building and occupation permits) and for disposal of waste at
other sites than dedicated landfills. Regarding rules, only prohibition towards
disposal of waste outside dedicated areas is used. Orders can be issued by a
10
Larsen, Ib (2001). “Current Regulations on Solid and Liquid wastes in Sarawak”. Sarawak Government-
DANCED 2001.
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number of agencies. An overview of existing regulatory principles is given in Table 2
below:
Table 2: Existing regulatory principles in Sarawak on solid waste
Category Principle Example
Prior approvals EIA
Permission
Conditions in EIAs for construction sites
Permission for specific disposal activities
Rules Prohibition Prohibition against disposal of waste outside
designated areas
Orders Orders and
directives
Specific directions to individual sites on the
manner in which waste should be handled,
prepared and deposited for collection and
removal
3.2 Existing Regulation for Construction Waste In Sarawak
Construction waste can be regulated at all steps of its waste flow: generation
transportation and disposal. In the following, the existing regulation will be
presented, divided into the 3 steps of the waste flow.
3.2.1 Generators (Construction Sites)
According to Section 11a of the Natural Resources and Environment Ordinance
(NREO), an EIA from the NREB is required prior to the commencement of the project
for housing estates larger than 10 ha and for industrial estates. In the EIA
conditions, it is possible to include provisions on the solid waste management.
However, such conditions have only rarely been given.
Waste related conditions usually focus on the cleanliness of the sites after
completion, but do not include the management of the solid waste during the
construction period or the disposal of the solid waste, which are transported away
from the site.
Conditions may include a deposit to be paid to the relevant local council. The
release of the deposit after project completion will depend on the cleanliness (clean-
up) of the site and will currently not depend on the legal disposal of the waste.
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The EIA requirement does not apply to the majority of projects, which are less than
10 ha. However, such projects still require a building permit issued by local
authorities prior to commencement of the project and an occupation permit (OP)
before the building can be occupied. The council may attach relevant conditions to
the permissions. Conditions could include the solid waste management. However,
currently such conditions are rarely given.
When conditions on solid waste are actually given in EIAs and permissions, they are
often of general character, which do not allow for concrete enforcement11
.
According to section 112 of the Local Authorities Ordinance (LAO), the local
authorities may issue orders towards accumulation of waste (accumulation of
deposit). According to section 46 of the Local Authorities Cleanliness Bylaw (LAC),
the local authorities may also issue orders on periodically removal of waste from the
premises. However, the above mentioned surveys did not identify situations, where
these provisions have been utilised towards construction sites.
According to section 9 (4) of the LAC the local authorities can direct premises on the
manner in which the waste should be handled, prepared or deposited for collection
and removal.
The last provisions give the local authorities power to act in individual cases of
obvious unsatisfactory waste management at construction sites. However, using
orders as the regulatory measure restricts the efforts to a case-to-case basis.
3.2.2 Transporters
According to section 9 of the LAC, the local authorities may determine or establish a
system for the collection, removal and disposal of waste of any description. This
provision is the main warrant for the public solid waste collection schemes.
According to section 9 (3), the authorities may appoint any company to undertake
11
EIA conditions currently used may include “Construction waste should be regularly collected and
transported out for disposal at approved dumping ground”. “Waste to be disposed of regularly to the nearest
approved disposal site within the project site or other government approved site”
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these services. However, the public waste collection schemes typically only focus on
domestic waste. For the case of the Kuching City, the waste collection has been
contracted or delegated to a German company, Trienekens (Sarawak) Sdn. Bhd. In
principle the scheme includes construction waste. However, in practise only
insignificant amount of construction waste is collected according the public
collection scheme.
The majority of the construction waste is collected by private transporters.
According to the section 51 of the LAC, the local authorities may determine that
transportation of industrial waste12
require a license from the councils. The
authorities may attach conditions to the license. Such conditions may e.g. relate to
the collection of the waste, to spillage and to the disposal sites that may be utilised
by the transporter. However, the power to impose such licensing as criteria for
transporting the waste has not yet been utilised.
3.2.3 Disposal
Under the Section 42 of LAC, the local authorities may as part of the collection and
removal system for waste, provide disposal facilities. However, according to Section
42(2) the authorities may also refuse to accept waste brought to public disposal
facilities. This is especially relevant for construction waste, which may be rejected
due to the vast amount. This has e.g. been the case for the town of Kapit. In such
case, the local authorities according to Section 43(2) of the LAC may require the
workplaces of premises to construct and operate disposal facilities for their own
wastes.
Such waste disposal sites and other waste facilities require an EIA according to the
NREO section 11a. Establishing disposal facilities further require permission from
the local authorities according to LAC section 43(1). Any person who intends to
dispose of solid waste to any other land requires permission from the NREB
according to the NREO section 30.
12
According to section 2 of the LAC, industrial waste includes construction waste
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According to section 51 of the LAC the local authorities may further decide that
waste disposal require a license from the local council. This power has current not
been utilised.
As it appears, a number of provisions are actually available to regulate the
management of construction waste. However, the existing provisions are currently
not much used. This is do large extent due to fact that no coherent strategy and
system for the desired management is in place.
A summary of these regulations is showed in Table 3.
Table 3: Existing regulation on disposal for solid waste in Sarawak
Regulation Section Detail Description
LAC
42 (1)
Local authorities may as part of the
collection and removal system for waste,
provide disposal facilities
42 (2) Local authorities may refuse to accept waste
brought to public disposal facilities
43 (1) Permission by local authorities to establish
disposal facilities is required.
43 (2) Local authorities may require the workplaces
of premises to construct and operate
disposal facilities for their own wastes
51 Local authorities may further decide that
waste disposal require a license from the
local council
NREO 11a Waste disposal sites and other waste
facilities require an EIA by NREB
30 Any person who intends to dispose of solid
waste to any other land requires permission
from the NREB
On the other hand, vast regulation is in place regarding what not to do with the
construction waste. In the following section, we will look into this regulation.
Provisions against Illegal Dumping
A number of ordinances contain provisions towards illegal dumping of waste. The
provisions are often overlapping and some times even contradictorily. Activities that
may require permission according to one ordinance may be strictly prohibited
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according to another ordinance. As a consequence many different departments are
involved in activities towards illegal dumping.
In 2001, the NREB with assistance of the DANCED scrutinised the existing regulatory
provisions towards illegal dumping, and proposed adjustments13
.
Table 4 below states the existing provisions on illegal dumping in Sarawak.
Table 4 Existing regulations on illegal dumping in Sarawak
Agency Provision
Local Authorities
LAO 111/112
LAC 13, 18, 20, 44
Power to issue orders
Prohibition against dumping
Natural Resources and
Environment Board (NREB)
NREO 30
NREO 30B
Prohibition – unless permitted
Prohibition – unless carrying
out an activity otherwise
permitted
Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB)14
SRC 15
SRC 16
Prohibition
Notification
Department of Environment
(DOE) 15
EQA SR 10
EQA 21
EQA 31
Prohibition – unless prior
permission
Power to issue standards
Power to issue orders
Additional specific regulations are inserted in the Water Ordinance, the Veterinary
Public Health Ordinance and the Protection of Public Health Ordinance among others.
Data
Improving the management of construction waste first of all require information on
the amount, types and flow of construction waste. As mentioned above no proper
recording of construction waste is currently taking place.
13
Jensen, Hanne and Larsen, Ib (2002). “Regulation of Illegal Dumping of Solid Waste to Land in
Sarawak”. Sarawak Government-DANCED 2002 14
Sarawak Rivers Board is only involved in those activities taking place along the banks of gazetted rivers 15
DOE is only involved in those activities where disposal of waste has a deteriorating impact on the
environment
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According to LAC section 47, the local authorities can direct enterprises to provide
data on the amount and management of the waste. However, the directions have to
be issued to the individual enterprises and repeated from time to time, making it a
measure unsuitable as background for acquiring the required information.
4 Future Management of Construction Waste
Based on the above situation, a strategy for improved management of construction
waste is required. Such a strategy must include a number of components:
To ensure that a legal cost-efficient, easy accessible and environmental
friendly technical disposal system is available.
To ensure that the required legal provisions to direct the waste streams
towards the established system are adopted.
To ensure that non-desired means of disposing construction waste are made
illegal.
To ensure the provision of sufficient data on the waste flow to manage the
waste streams.
4.1 Physical Improvements
First of all, legal cost-efficient and easy accessible facilities for the desired treatment
or recycling of the construction waste have to be made available. Legal provisions
on the management of construction waste will have no meaning if no proper legal
technical option is available.
When pre-sorted properly, construction waste is generally inert and easily recyclable.
At the same time, disposal of pre-sorted construction waste at modern sanitary
landfills is normally not desired, due the high cost of establishing sanitary landfills
and the low potential environmental impact imposed from the construction waste.
Only a certain amount of construction waste is requested by the landfills for internal
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roads, coverage etc. The major part of the waste may instead be recycled and the
remaining non-recyclable part be deposited in less expensive inert landfills16
.
Establishing a recycling plant for construction waste is therefore a major component
of the construction waste strategy for the city of Kuching. The plant is proposed
located at the new state-of-the-art landfill at Mambong, or at the former abandoned
landfill in Matang. Previously constructed landfills cells are still available for locating
the recycling facility here.
Picture 1: Construction Waste Recycling, Denmark
In principle, a recycling plant for construction waste should be economically self-
sustaining. Large parts of the city are located on low-laying totally levelled areas and
large parts are located on unstable ground (peat swamp or soft-clay). At the same
time the city is growing fast, with many development projects taking place
simultaneously. This situation imposes a large demand for land reclamation- and
construction materials. Due to the specific geological features access to virgin
materials in the vicinity at the same time is limited.
16
Lauritzen, Erik (2001).“The challenge of Recycling Construction and Demolition Waste – focusing on
the city of Kuching Sarawak”. In Chong et. al.“Environmental Performance”. Sarawak Government-
DANCED 2001
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However, virgin gravel materials can still be acquired for very low price (RM18 RM
per tonne). This fact reduces the demand for recycled material seriously. The supply
of construction waste for the recycling plant therefore has to be ensured by
legislation, strict enforcement and increased awareness. This situation creates a
delicate chicken-and-egg situation, as nobody would invest in a recycling plant if the
legislation is not in place and the legislation cannot be put in place, as there is no
legal facility available.
An important approach for the strategy therefore is to establish the facility and
adopt new regulation simultaneously.
4.2 Legal Improvements
The possible legal improvements are currently being discussed. Experiences from
regulation of construction waste in other countries have also been collected17
. Some
of the ideas that have been presented are discussed below.
4.2.1 Generation
To improve construction waste management, the waste flow has to be organised
right from the generation of the waste.
The construction waste has to be pre-sorted according to the different types of
subsequent treatment and stored at proper dedicated areas at the site until removal.
The developer should be requested to prepare a detailed waste management plan.
The waste management plan may include:
Documentation of waste storage on site (including a site lay-out map)
Logistic information from waste generation to disposal
Waste amounts and types
transporters engaged and disposal sites used
Internal waste organisation including appointed responsible staff.
17
Madsen, Lisbeth (2001). “Establishment of a Collection and Treatment System for Construction and
Demolition Waste in Sarawak”. Sarawak Government-Danced 2001
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In most countries, the preparation of this plan is the responsibility of the developer,
although the actual construction work usually is contracted to a large or small
number of contractors. The developer will remain fully liable throughout the
implementation of the project. This requires the developer to be very careful when
preparing contracts, and to establish an internal site inspection function18
. The
responsibility of the developer does not abolish the parallel responsibility of
contractors actually performing (or not-performing) the required tasks.
For smaller construction sites, the pre-sorting may be unfeasible. In such cases,
construction waste can often be delivered to the disposal site non-sorted, but this
will typically impose a higher fee at the treatment facility, as the facility will have to
undertake the sorting process.
The requirement of the waste management plan should be imposed as a condition
in the EIAs for large development, and should be punishable in case of non-
compliance. Similar conditions should be imposed in building permits, and
subsequently occupation permits should be depending on compliance with the
waste management plan.
The state government of Sarawak has decided that a deposit shall be imposed on
new development projects. The release of the deposit should similarly be depending
on compliance with the waste management plan.
4.2.2 Transportation and treatment
As described above, nearly no construction waste is currently received at the legal
disposal or treatment facilities in Kuching. This underlines the size of the task
improving construction waste management.
In many countries, the proper disposal of the waste remains the responsibility of the
developer. Upon completion of the development project, it is a duty of the
developer to document that all construction waste has been delivered to legal
disposal sites. In Denmark, it is the duty of the developer to keep the
18
Copenhagen EPA: “MIljomaessige forholdsregler ved bygge- og anlaegsarbejder” Copenhagen EPA
2001, section 2
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documentation for legal disposal for 5 years. This will typically be in the form of
receipts for payment, whereby the transactions can be compared to the records at
transporters and disposal facilities.
In Denmark, the developer has to notify the authorities on the amount of
construction waste that is expected to be produced before commencement of the
project implementation. The authorities then after the project completion can
request the documentation for the legal disposal of the notified amounts. The
presence of construction waste at a construction site, which is not notified, is an
offence, which may be penalised.
The issuing of occupation permits and release of deposits should be made subject
to the documentation of legal disposal of the construction waste.
The liability of the developer for the legal disposal is often objective, meaning that it
makes no different if a transporter dispose of the waste illegally without the consent
of the developer. This put a strong emphasis on the process of contracting for the
developer.
The objective liability for the legal disposal may be waived if the waste is delivered
to a public collection system. This will correspond to collection systems according
to the LAO section 9. In this case, the authorities take over the responsibility, upon
collection. In other cases, the authorities have established a system of licensed
transporter. Exclusive rights to transport for a limited number of licensees are
sometimes used to ensure high quality performance. When a developer uses a
licensed transporter, his liability may similarly be waived. In this case, the
transporter will typically loose his license immediately when illegal disposal is
observed.
The responsibility of the transporter is not abolished by the objective liability of the
developer. The responsibility of the transporter is typically similarly objective. In
addition to the legal penalty, vehicles used for illegal dumping will often be
confiscated, no matter if the dumping has been done with or without the consent of
the transporting company.
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For small renovation works, the above system with waste management plans and
licensed transporters may seem too complicated. However, proper management of
such small construction sites is still very important, as they accounts for a large
number of the observed cases of illegal dumping. The reason for the illegal
dumping is often, that legal disposal facilities are too distant located for driving
with small amounts. To overcome this problem, many countries has established a
network of easy accessible recycling stations, where small vans for a nominal fee or
free of charge can deliver small amounts of construction waste. However it is
usually required that the waste is sorted by fraction into different containers at the
centre, depending of the type of subsequent treatment of the individual fractions.
Picture 2: Recycle station, Denmark
Driving with such small amounts of construction waste to a local recycling centre
does usually not require a license as a transporter. Only the transport of the waste
from the centre to the treatment plants still requires license.
Figure 2: The proper framework for the construction waste management (for
small generators)
Waste
Generator
Recycling
Plant
Licensed transporters
Pre-sorting site
Individual/un-Licensed transporters
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4.2.3 Illegal dumping
The present regulation towards illegal dumping has to be simplified. This is to avoid
uncertainties among the state agencies on the distribution of tasks and to avoid any
confusion in the public on the entrusted authority. As presented in Table 4, a
number of agencies and provisions are currently involved. A framework for the
revisions has been proposed based on an assessment of the original intentions
behind the current provisions19
.
The proposed framework recommends that dumping outside the dedicated
treatment facilities should generally be prohibited. However, a proper system for
issuing permits for disposal of sorted construction waste under certain specified
circumstances should be developed. Among the circumstances where permits may
be issued are necessary land preparations for development projects.
The framework proposes that the overall authority for the waste management
system should be the local councils. The tasks include the operation of the public
waste collection and treatment system, the environmental performance at the
construction sites, the management of the deposit system for development projects,
the possible licensing system for transporters and the enforcement of the regulation
towards illegal transport and dumping.
The NREB is proposed as the authority issuing EIAs for development projects and
waste treatment facilities and permits for disposal outside dedicated areas. Permits
for minor temporary storages on public areas in relation to small private businesses
may, however, could still be delegated to the local authorities to facilitate daily
administration. The NREB may also be the authority for large cases of illegal
dumping, which may have significant detrimental impact on the environment
whereas the DOE is responsible for scheduled waste.
19
Jensen, Hanne and Larsen, Ib (2002). “Regulation of Illegal Dumping of Solid Waste to Land in
Sarawak”. Sarawak Government-DANCED 2002, p 37
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4.3 Incentives
In many countries, recycling of construction waste is promoted by imposing a state
tax on construction waste being landfilled, and by exempting construction waste
delivered for recycling from the tax. However, this tool requires improved
enforcement, rendering the possibility of illegal dumping to avoid the tax
impossible.
4.4 Data
To design and operate a proper construction waste system, comprehensive mapping
and registration of waste amounts and flow is required. A database on construction
sites should be established, encompassing all building projects requiring EIA or
building permit. Entry of data to the database has accordingly to be possible from
the local council as well as from the NREB.
Construction sites should be obliged to report on the expected and generated waste
amounts and their disposal. This should be seen in relation to the discussion on
notification above. When these data are properly keyed into the database, an
overview will be easy accessible for planning and operation purposes and for
enforcement purposes.
The obligation to report on the waste amounts should be included in EIAs and
building permits.
4.4 Products from recycling facilities
To achieve the environmental benefits of the improvements, it is a pre-condition
that the recycled products from the recycling facility can be utilised. International
experiences show that a large amount of recycled construction products can be
utilised for simple low-quality purposes as ground stabilisation for development
projects, bottom layers for road construction etc. Use of the recycled products for
such purposes will increase the lifespan for available virgin resources in the area.
Use of recycled products for more advanced purposes will require elaboration of
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precise specifications and certifications of the products. The liability of the
contractors often abstain them from using secondary materials, which properties
are not fully documented. Researches and tests are required to establish standards
and specifications for such high quality secondary materials. Internationally, the use
of secondary materials is sometimes promoted through legal requirements, which
obliges developers to use a certain amount of recycled material in development
projects.
5. Public Contracts
The public sector; is not only a legal body. It is also a major developer. This opens
the door to another major tool for improved construction waste management: the
state development contracts. Conditions on improved waste management may be
included as standard conditions for contractors and subcontractors in state
development contracts. Contract conditions on solid waste management may
concern most of the issues discussed above. In many countries, improving contracts
has proven to be a faster (and still efficient) tool than adoption of new legislation.
6. Awareness and Private Sector Initiatives
Regulation and establishing of the required facilities can only to a certain degree
lead to the desired improvements. If the efforts are not generally understood and
accepted within the construction sector, the obstacles may easily be too plentiful
and the achievements correspondingly limited. A large part of the improvements
has to be undertaken by the sector itself. It is therefore crucial, that a consensus
among the stakeholders on the need to improve the environmental performance is
achieved. Awareness rising therefore becomes a key element in the strategy. The
awareness raising activities has to be planned in close cooperation with the
construction sector.
The Construction Industry Development Board of Malaysia (CIDB) has already taken
important steps in this direction. A milestone in this approach was the introduction
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of the CIDB 3-stage EMS Certification System for Contractors20
. This type of
initiatives may lead to a steadily increased attention towards the environmental
performance in the sector. CIDB has similarly expressed its interest in supporting
the development of standard conditions on environmental performance to be used
in private contracts on development projects.
7. Conclusion
There are still far to go before a proper management system can be set up for
construction waste in Sarawak. However, an overview of the existing physical and
legal situation has been established. This overview constitutes an indispensable
basis for the continued work. Different options for improving the performance have
been compiled, as discussed above. Based on this work, the next step is to
formulate the actual framework for the future management of construction waste in
Sarawak. It is the hope that the future construction sector in Sarawak will become a
model for how environmental friendly development can be.
20
Lee Jin (2001). The CIDB’s 3-Stage Approach to EMS Certification for Contractors – A Preliminary
Draft. Paper presented at National Seminar on Environmental Management 2001 (EMS2001), 27-28 June
2001, Legend Hotel, Kuala Lumpur