SAB 4943 : Solid Waste Management

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 being recycled. 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. 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).

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 be enacted. A solid waste department will be established to implement these measures and to administer solid waste policy, planning and management in a holistic manner. Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 1. Provides the function and authority to the directorate general in - Policy, plan, strategies on SWM. - Standards, specification and guidelines.

- 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 waste Dry cell batteries, leftover paints, fluorescent light bulbs, residue in insecticide containers and weed killing solutions, bleach. Medical waste Medicines/ other drugs, syringes Electrical devices handphones, 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