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Saving the environment has evolved from just a campaign to a world movement to reduce carbon emission, greenhouse effect and recycling.
Malaysia generates about 22,000 tonnes of garbage per day with Kuala Lumpur alone producing 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes.
According to the Housing and Local Government Ministry, about 7,772,402 tonnes of waste will be generated annually by 2015.
The type of waste generation in Peninsular Malaysia consists of domestic, industrial, construction, public waste and special waste.
Waste management specialist Dr Theng Lee Chong, who has dedicated his life to studying “garbage”, believes the best solution to waste management lies at source.
He said separation at source and educating the public were vital.
“Waste can be generated anywhere at any time and people often complain their garbage is not collected.
“Local authorities spend 30% to 40% of their budgets on waste management,” he said.
At least 50% of waste in a household is leftover food and kitchen waste while the rest is plastic and paper.
“Our garbage is our own responsibility and the only way we can ever achieve a higher level of awareness is through education,” he said.
He said the Education Ministry should make more effort in advocating awareness on this matter as well as work together with the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
“Most of the awareness campaigns are carried out by non-governmental organisations.
“Based on my conversation with my Japanese lecturer, it will take another 30 years for Malaysia to achieve the level of waste management like in Japan,” he said.
When asked about the two-bin system that was proposed some time back, Theng said there were some problems with the pilot project.
He said when the bins were placed outside, the garbage men took everything before the truck arrived and there were problems with placing the bins inside.
“We need time to adjust to separation of waste at source and, in this case, the system was not easy to do.
“Even in Japan they have dedicated days for each type of garbage but it also faced problems as people did not want to use transparent bags.
“So it presents a big challenge because you have to develop a system with all the waste management elements,” he said.
The system has to be developed according to the local scenario.
The two-bin ruling is a pilot project which is supposed to start in Kuala Lumpur. Each household will be provided with two bins — one for organic waste and the other for inorganic stuff.
The green bin is for organic waste while the grey is for recyclable waste.
The move is meant to encourage the public to separate their waste at source, hence extending the lifespan of the landfills.
Other problems in waste management are illegal dumping and profit-orientated recycling centres.
Construction and industrial sectors are considered as major contributors as they are not willing to pay a higher price to dispose of their waste at landfills.
This is because a tipping fee has to be paid at landfills, so most opt to hire sub-standard contractors to carry out illegal dumping.
The government had come up with the new Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act (Act 627) in August 2007.
The Act was enacted to allow for centralised and coordinated management of solid waste.
It empowers the minister to publish matters which promote reduction, reuse and recycling of controlled solid waste, including possible mandatory source separation of recyclable materials.
Under the Act, the minister is empowered to establish a possible take-back system and deposit refund system for certain products or goods.
“At the moment it is a free market and whoever offers the cheapest price will get more business.
“There are also many commercial sites that are carrying out illegal dumping.
“As for this Earth Day celebration, green or carbon-free products is all a gimmick,” he said,
He added that commercialisation had taken over the real reason behind the cause.
“Some of these products like biodegradable plastic bags are made from starch and here we have many people starving in the world.
“These brown bags made from recyclable items also take a lot more energy to produce, so at the end of the day it all does not add up,” he said.
Ideally, the focus should be on educating people and doing everything slowly as the mindset of the masses need to change.
Theng said the government was working hard and constantly finding something that could be done in waste management.
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