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Solid Waste Management in Malaysia

The vast development of Malaysia may contribute greatly in many aspects such as the

economy, education, administration and so forth. But unfortunately there is a downside to

that which is the increase in the amount of waste generated. As of the year 2008, 23,000

tonnes of wastes is produced each day in Malaysia, with less than 5% of the waste beingrecycled. In Selangor alone, waste generated in 1997 was over 3000t/day and the amount of

waste is expected to rise up tp 5700t/day in the year 2017 (Yachio Engineering, 2000 cited in

Muhd nor Muhd Yunus, 2000). This is worsened by the growing number of population and

limited space. Solid waste is also one of the three major environmental problems in Malaysia.

Despite the massive amount and complexity of waste produced, the standards of waste

management in Malaysia are still poor. In addition, these include obsolete and poor

documentation of waste generation data including rates and its composition, inefficient

storage and collection systems, the disposal of municipal wastes with toxic and hazardous

substances, indiscriminate disposal or dumping of wastes and inefficient utilization of

disposal site area.

Currently, the waste management approach being adopted is landfill, however due to the

rapid development and lack of space for new landfills, Malaysian states are switching to

incineration. Solid waste management is a priority area under the 9th Malaysian Plan, as can

be seen by the intention of the government to set up a Solid Waste Department which will be

entrusted to enforce the Solid Waste Management Bill. Under the 9th

Malaysian policies;

National Strategic Plan for Solid Waste Management will be implemented Upgrading of unsanitary landfills as well as the construction of new sanitary landfills

and transfer stations with integrated material recovery facilities.

Legislation to streamline the strategies and measures in the Strategic Plan will beenacted.

A solid waste department will be established to implement these measures and toadminister solid waste policy, planning and management in a holistic manner.

Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 20071. Provides the function and authority to the directorate general in

- Policy, plan, strategies on SWM.- Standards, specification and guidelines.

Mountain of waste : Taken at

landfill in Selong, Johor.

Photo courtesy of Suchen S.K

a self-styled photocrafter for

the book entitled

Wonderland..Beyond The

Bin commissioned by the

Danish International

Development Assistance(DANIDA).

SAB 4943 : Solid Waste Management

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- Monitoring.

- Giving approval and license.

2. Control of solid waste generators and persons in possession of controlled solid waste:

- Waste to be separated, handled and stored

- Licensing and approval system to be put in placed

3. Reduction and recovery of controlled solid waste:- Prescribed recycling and separation of recyclables

- Take back system and deposit refund system

Under the act it is also stated that solid waste management services include separation,

storage, collection, transportation, transfer, processing, recycling, treatment and disposal of

controlled solid waste. Controlled solid waste can be divided into 8 categories which are

commercial, construction, household, industrial, institutional, imported, public and others

which can be prescribed from time to time.

The institutional framework were previously known as Department of Local Government

& Local Authorities and currently known as National Solid Waste Management Department

and Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation under the SWPCM Act

2007. Current planning for the SWM are Immediate Safe closure of 16 landfills that are in critical areas. CDM to be used in safe Closure of landfills. Upgrading of non sanitary landfills. Building new sanitary landfills and regional landfills. Building MRF, incinerators, centralised leachate treatment facilities.

10 examples of household hazardous waste (HHW) are as follows:

Toxic wasteDry cell batteries, leftover paints, fluorescent light bulbs, residue in insecticide

containers and weed killing solutions, bleach.

Medical wasteMedicines/ other drugs, syringes

Electrical deviceshandphones, television, computers, smoke detectors, lamp ballast

Reference:http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/10/25/lifefocus/7256810&sec=lifefocus

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=greeneveryday&file=/2008/6/8/greeneveryday/18309787

http://edp.bysted.zensystems.dk/db/files/solid_waste_management.pdf

http://www.ea-swmc.org/download/seminar1papers/DrNadzriYahaya.pdf

http://www.wmam.org/

http://omicron.ch.tuiasi.ro/EEMJ/pdfs/vol6/no4/Omran.pdf

http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd_aofw_ni/ni_pdfs/NationalReports/japan/Waste_Management.pdf

http://www.gecnet.info/index.cfm?&menuid=83&parentid=30

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_Hazardous_Waste

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