Malaysians are generating waste products at a rather alarming rate, much faster than the natural degradation process and they are using up resources at a speed exceeding the rate these materials are being replaced.
Recycling has almost draw the universal acceptance as a form of waste disposal but yet our national domestic recycling rate still hovers at around a mere five per cent.
Last year, about 7.34 million tonnes of solid wastes were generated in Malaysia, enough to fill up 42 buildings the same size as that of the world-renowned Petronas Twin Towers.
Thus waste reduction and recycling is no longer an option but a necessity in efforts to protect both the environment and our life quality.
PUBLIC ATTITUDE
Alam Flora Sdn Bhd Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Siraj Abdul Razack said the focus should be on the generation of wastes rather than their disposal, as the current Malaysian lifestyle of "throw-away and over-consumerist" culture does not help to improve the situation.
"Local authorities spend up to 60 per cent of their annual budget on waste management, which costs Malaysia between RM110 and RM130 to collect and dispose one tonne of garbage," he told Bernama.
That sums up to RM1.98 million to RM2.34 million per day or RM854 million per year at the current generation of 18,000 tonnes of solid wastes per day.
"More than 30 per cent of our garbage is recyclable, and these materials can be prevented from ending up in the landfills and incinerators," he said.
Mohamed Siraj said statistics show only three to five per cent of our solid waste is being recycled while the rest ends up in drains, abandoned properties and landfills.
He said educating people on waste disposal and recycling is rather difficult "because most of them are not comfortable or trained in doing so".
"The best approach to manage garbage disposal is to avoid creating wastes in the first place... followed by education while enforcement is also a good start," he said.
However, some people do realise that if they over-use resources and do not recycle, it can affect everything right from their health to that of their children as well as the availability of raw materials.
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION
He believes new methods and technologies are needed to reduce waste-generation because many cities around the world are beginning to develop and implement sustainable projects.
This include strategies for waste-reducing, for example by using wastes as raw materials for building homes, generating energy or fertilizers, he said.
"Although land in Malaysia is seemingly abundant, taking more and more land to be used as landfills is simply not a sustainable solution to this growing problem.
"Our people can opt for sustainable waste management but this will be a more difficult goal because it involves changing of resources used, consumption patterns and waste treatment methods," he explained.
Citing an example, he said an effective waste-management programme can be found in Copenhagen, Denmark, which has developed a comprehensive programme for managing urban wastes.
Fifty-eight per cent of the city's household, commercial and industrial wastes is to be recycled, 24 per cent incinerated and 18 per cent deposited in a landfill.
To increase the impact of the waste-management system, the Copenhagen City Council adopted new regulations in 1991, requiring garbage producers to separate all wastes at the source of generation.
Today, more than 50 per cent of the city's commercial, industrial, and demolition wastes is recycled. Furthermore, about 50,000 tonnes of combustible wastes, previously deposited in landfills, are now incinerated in plants that convert waste energy.
REDUCE WASTE GENERATION
An average discard of 0.8 kg is generated per person daily with an average value of recyclable materials 20 sen per kg.
This means a person throws away six sen per day or RM21.90 a year, said Mohamed Siraj.
"Therefore Malaysians throw away an average of RM394 million a year," he said.
Mohamed Siraj said recycling is very worthwhile as it saves money for Malaysia. As there are insufficient recyclables in the local market, industry players turn to importing these materials -- basically from other people's refuse in foreign countries.
"A large company could be spending up to RM50 million a year to import junks and other recyclable discards from foreign countries for Malaysian consumption and this money could be well spent in Malaysia if we recycle more.
Mohamed Siraj said everybody shops but not all realized how environmentally important it is to shop wisely and learn to pre-cycle.
"With careful pre-cycling, each of us makes the vital connection between today's consumerism and tomorrow's environment. Small changes in everyday behaviour can have positive consequences for generations to come," he stressed.
One of the ways that the public can do is to bring along their own reusable shopping bags the next time they go shopping to avoid the "paper vs plastic dilemma", he said.
He said the public should do their shopping at outlets that use biodegradable plastic bags and if possible, choose environmental-friendly products made for recycling.
AWARENESS TO PRESERVE FUTURE
"Waste is not a waste until it is wasted," said Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) research officer S. Mageswari.
Stressing that garbage separation at source is very important, she said consumers must make the right choice when making purchases, reducing overall consumption, reducing packaging, switching to refillable bottles and not using carrying bags made from plastic.
She feels that a public information campaign is needed to highlight the environmental and economic benefits of preventing, reusing and recycling discards as well as providing information about how and why to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost.
CAP and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), members of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), advocate Zero Waste -- among others in implementing systems to get households and businesses to segregate discards at source and composting organic material, and developing collection programmes to pick up clean sorted out recyclables like glass, metal, paper and plastics.
On NGOs' role, Mageswari said several NGOs and individuals are promoting waste segregation and recycling. CAP is promoting vermicomposting of agricultural waste.
"CAP has also produced articles in Utusan Konsumer highlighting problems of waste/packaging while Sahabat Alam Malaysia has produced a small guide titled "Your Home Guide to Zero Waste: What Do You Do with All This Rubbish".
Mageswari said the waste crisis can be minimized if not resolved, if there is public awareness and political will.
"We urge the government to adopt a waste policy that gives emphasis to avoidance of waste and use of environmentally friendly methods like safe recycling, reusing, composting for waste management," she said.
Mohamed Siraj said awareness should begin at home, school and work while changes could be made along the way that will help preserve the country's resources for future generations.
Alam Flora's role in building a sustainable future is by educating the public to be more responsible through an educational programme called 3R -- Reduce, Reuse and Recycling.
This programme is mainly to create awareness among communities and will become a model to base global efforts on protecting and conserving the environment, he said.
SEPARATE WASTE ACCORDINGLY
As the community progresses, it is time to re-think the way we should dispose our waste, Mohamed Siraj said.
While many individuals and communities have started the effort, many are still in dark on how and why they should separate waste and recycle them.
He said most of them also do not know how dangerous hazardous and non-hazardous waste can be to the environment and health.
As guidelines, Mohamed Siraj said the public could begin by separating wet wastes from dry wastes (recyclable items), dry them up to minimize leachate problem, put them into plastic bags, tie up the bags and put the garbage into lidded bins.
For bulky and construction wastes, the public can contact Alam Flora, the largest solid waste management company before disposing the materials. A "roro bin" will be sent to the customer to dispose construction waste at a minimal fee.
"As for garden wastes, leaves must be put into plastic bags, branches must be cut short and tied up. Dispose garden wastes during (Alam Flora) collection days only," he said.
Hazardous wastes such as paints, asbestos, milk cartons, paper towels and certain electronic items are not safe to throw into the trash bins and those who wish to dispose them can contact us.
On disposing batteries and rechargeable batteries, members of the public are advised to send them to us
Recycling has almost draw the universal acceptance as a form of waste disposal but yet our national domestic recycling rate still hovers at around a mere five per cent.
Last year, about 7.34 million tonnes of solid wastes were generated in Malaysia, enough to fill up 42 buildings the same size as that of the world-renowned Petronas Twin Towers.
Thus waste reduction and recycling is no longer an option but a necessity in efforts to protect both the environment and our life quality.
PUBLIC ATTITUDE
Alam Flora Sdn Bhd Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Siraj Abdul Razack said the focus should be on the generation of wastes rather than their disposal, as the current Malaysian lifestyle of "throw-away and over-consumerist" culture does not help to improve the situation.
"Local authorities spend up to 60 per cent of their annual budget on waste management, which costs Malaysia between RM110 and RM130 to collect and dispose one tonne of garbage," he told Bernama.
That sums up to RM1.98 million to RM2.34 million per day or RM854 million per year at the current generation of 18,000 tonnes of solid wastes per day.
"More than 30 per cent of our garbage is recyclable, and these materials can be prevented from ending up in the landfills and incinerators," he said.
Mohamed Siraj said statistics show only three to five per cent of our solid waste is being recycled while the rest ends up in drains, abandoned properties and landfills.
He said educating people on waste disposal and recycling is rather difficult "because most of them are not comfortable or trained in doing so".
"The best approach to manage garbage disposal is to avoid creating wastes in the first place... followed by education while enforcement is also a good start," he said.
However, some people do realise that if they over-use resources and do not recycle, it can affect everything right from their health to that of their children as well as the availability of raw materials.
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION
He believes new methods and technologies are needed to reduce waste-generation because many cities around the world are beginning to develop and implement sustainable projects.
This include strategies for waste-reducing, for example by using wastes as raw materials for building homes, generating energy or fertilizers, he said.
"Although land in Malaysia is seemingly abundant, taking more and more land to be used as landfills is simply not a sustainable solution to this growing problem.
"Our people can opt for sustainable waste management but this will be a more difficult goal because it involves changing of resources used, consumption patterns and waste treatment methods," he explained.
Citing an example, he said an effective waste-management programme can be found in Copenhagen, Denmark, which has developed a comprehensive programme for managing urban wastes.
Fifty-eight per cent of the city's household, commercial and industrial wastes is to be recycled, 24 per cent incinerated and 18 per cent deposited in a landfill.
To increase the impact of the waste-management system, the Copenhagen City Council adopted new regulations in 1991, requiring garbage producers to separate all wastes at the source of generation.
Today, more than 50 per cent of the city's commercial, industrial, and demolition wastes is recycled. Furthermore, about 50,000 tonnes of combustible wastes, previously deposited in landfills, are now incinerated in plants that convert waste energy.
REDUCE WASTE GENERATION
An average discard of 0.8 kg is generated per person daily with an average value of recyclable materials 20 sen per kg.
This means a person throws away six sen per day or RM21.90 a year, said Mohamed Siraj.
"Therefore Malaysians throw away an average of RM394 million a year," he said.
Mohamed Siraj said recycling is very worthwhile as it saves money for Malaysia. As there are insufficient recyclables in the local market, industry players turn to importing these materials -- basically from other people's refuse in foreign countries.
"A large company could be spending up to RM50 million a year to import junks and other recyclable discards from foreign countries for Malaysian consumption and this money could be well spent in Malaysia if we recycle more.
Mohamed Siraj said everybody shops but not all realized how environmentally important it is to shop wisely and learn to pre-cycle.
"With careful pre-cycling, each of us makes the vital connection between today's consumerism and tomorrow's environment. Small changes in everyday behaviour can have positive consequences for generations to come," he stressed.
One of the ways that the public can do is to bring along their own reusable shopping bags the next time they go shopping to avoid the "paper vs plastic dilemma", he said.
He said the public should do their shopping at outlets that use biodegradable plastic bags and if possible, choose environmental-friendly products made for recycling.
AWARENESS TO PRESERVE FUTURE
"Waste is not a waste until it is wasted," said Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) research officer S. Mageswari.
Stressing that garbage separation at source is very important, she said consumers must make the right choice when making purchases, reducing overall consumption, reducing packaging, switching to refillable bottles and not using carrying bags made from plastic.
She feels that a public information campaign is needed to highlight the environmental and economic benefits of preventing, reusing and recycling discards as well as providing information about how and why to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost.
CAP and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), members of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), advocate Zero Waste -- among others in implementing systems to get households and businesses to segregate discards at source and composting organic material, and developing collection programmes to pick up clean sorted out recyclables like glass, metal, paper and plastics.
On NGOs' role, Mageswari said several NGOs and individuals are promoting waste segregation and recycling. CAP is promoting vermicomposting of agricultural waste.
"CAP has also produced articles in Utusan Konsumer highlighting problems of waste/packaging while Sahabat Alam Malaysia has produced a small guide titled "Your Home Guide to Zero Waste: What Do You Do with All This Rubbish".
Mageswari said the waste crisis can be minimized if not resolved, if there is public awareness and political will.
"We urge the government to adopt a waste policy that gives emphasis to avoidance of waste and use of environmentally friendly methods like safe recycling, reusing, composting for waste management," she said.
Mohamed Siraj said awareness should begin at home, school and work while changes could be made along the way that will help preserve the country's resources for future generations.
Alam Flora's role in building a sustainable future is by educating the public to be more responsible through an educational programme called 3R -- Reduce, Reuse and Recycling.
This programme is mainly to create awareness among communities and will become a model to base global efforts on protecting and conserving the environment, he said.
SEPARATE WASTE ACCORDINGLY
As the community progresses, it is time to re-think the way we should dispose our waste, Mohamed Siraj said.
While many individuals and communities have started the effort, many are still in dark on how and why they should separate waste and recycle them.
He said most of them also do not know how dangerous hazardous and non-hazardous waste can be to the environment and health.
As guidelines, Mohamed Siraj said the public could begin by separating wet wastes from dry wastes (recyclable items), dry them up to minimize leachate problem, put them into plastic bags, tie up the bags and put the garbage into lidded bins.
For bulky and construction wastes, the public can contact Alam Flora, the largest solid waste management company before disposing the materials. A "roro bin" will be sent to the customer to dispose construction waste at a minimal fee.
"As for garden wastes, leaves must be put into plastic bags, branches must be cut short and tied up. Dispose garden wastes during (Alam Flora) collection days only," he said.
Hazardous wastes such as paints, asbestos, milk cartons, paper towels and certain electronic items are not safe to throw into the trash bins and those who wish to dispose them can contact us.
On disposing batteries and rechargeable batteries, members of the public are advised to send them to us
