Staff of Alam Flora, Mohd Hisham,29, lifting rubbish from damaged by floods in temporary site collection rubbish to send at landfills in Temerloh. FAIHAN GHANI/The Star.
MALAYSIA is losing hundreds of millions of ringgit every year simply because recycling habits are not keenly practised. According to a report, it is estimated that RM291mil went to waste in 2023 when high value recyclable resources were neglected. The national recycling rate is a mere 33.17% – still shy of the 40% target set for 2025.
Waste Management Association of Malaysia (WMAM) executive committee technical chairman Zamri Abdul Rahman says one of the biggest problems Malaysia is encountering in waste management is the lack of separation at source – especially for municipal waste.
“This has resulted in a low recycling rate for household waste. Thus, the amount of waste is growing at faster rates.
“Meanwhile, dumpsites (sites without proper treatment or environmental protection system) are still used as final disposal—leading to environmental pollution such as leachate contamination of surface and groundwater, odour problems, fire breakouts and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.“Furthermore, facilities are scarce for recycling and sorting of wastes especially for the public who want to recycle their waste,” says Zamri.
According to Kloth Cares data, Malaysians produce more than 2,000 tonnes (2 million kg) of textile waste a day. This makes up 5% of solid wastes that end up in our landfills.- Photos courtesy of Kain Movement
He says the exact amount of waste generated by Malaysia is unclear since the data is constantly increasing. Thus, one can safely assume that the total amount of garbage is substantial.
The Star reported in January that on a daily basis, Malaysians discard about 39,000 tonnes of solid waste, equivalent to about 1.17kg per person. The figures were revealed by Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp).
On average, food makes up the biggest component of domestic waste at 30.6%, followed by plastic (21.9%), paper (15.3%), disposable diapers (8.2%) and hazardous household waste (4.2%).
Other waste includes commingled waste (3.6%), yard/garden refuse (2.9%), glass (2.7%), metal (2.4%), textiles (2.3%), beverage cartons (1.7%), rubber (1.1%), wood (1%) and face masks (0.7%).
A trashy situation
Population growth is one of the biggest factors in the increasing generation of solid waste, besides Malaysians’ lack of concern for the environment and low awareness on recycling as a high-value practice.
Given the lack of recycling, more often than not, garbage would end up getting dumped in the landfills which are filling to capacity.
It is reported that the 137 landfills in the country are running out of space for the disposal of solid waste by 2050.
Data from SWCorp reveals that the amount of waste sent to disposal sites under the seven states that adopt the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007, also known as Act 672, stood at 2.67 million tonnes from January to October 2023. The corresponding figures for 2022 and 2021 were 3.1 million tonnes and three million tonnes respectively.
Environment and waste management specialist Dr Theng Lee Chong points out that out of the 137 landfills, only 21 of them are sanitary landfills, which are more sophisticated in storing, processing and treating waste safely and effectively.
This means over 85% of landfills in Malaysia are just open dumps that accumulate exposed waste there.
“Here, waste degradation takes place. Highly flammable methane gas and carbon dioxide - which are GHG - are generated and emitted into the atmosphere. After degradation, leachate (the wastewater) will seep into the ground.
“If there is an underground water body, surface river or lake nearby, all kinds of contamination will happen,” Theng explains in a radio podcast.
He adds that these “open dumps” would be of better use if they were sanitary landfills.
He says: “Sanitary landfills involve a lot of engineering design in terms of the operation, maintenance and so on.
“These proper landfills have a layer of liner at the bottom of the site where all the leachate (wastewater) is contained to be channelled to wastewater treatment facilities. This will ensure that it will not seep into the underground water.
“Also, there are designs for the release of the gas capture from the waste body and drainage surrounding the landfill,” says Theng.
Raking in bucks from dumps
Pointing out that an alternative to landfills are waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, Zamri commends the government’s move in launching the first-ever Circular Economy Blueprint for Solid Waste in Malaysia (2025-2035) and for planning of 18 possible sites for proposed WTE plants.
The blueprint, announced by the Housing and Local Government minister Nga Kor Ming earlier this month, highlighted several long-term plans and initiatives in the works that would encourage the adoption of a circular economy by both the public and local industries.
The blueprint will focus on five strategic pillars which include governance and legislation; guidelines and procedures; digitisation and technology; as well as infrastructure and facilities. It also focuses on market creation, to promote the national growth of the recycling and solid waste-based industries.
To address concerns about harmful pollutants created by WTE plants—especially those that harness energy through combustion—Zamri shares that the Malaysia Clean Air regulation is on par with European emission standards.
“The main pollution from WTE plants is flue gas from the combustion of waste. The flue gas is treated prior to release through the chimney of the plant. Among the treatment systems are the dosing of lime, the spraying of activated carbon, bag filters to capture fine particulates. The final emission through the chimney will have to comply with European emission standards.”
Zamri adds that hazardous waste is under the purview of the Department of Environment (DoE), which has implemented measures and licensed facilities where hazardous waste is recycled or recovered and for final disposals.
Meanwhile, Theng points out that there needs to be a mindset shift from the grassroots for any type of measures and efforts to work. He says people need to change their attitude to become more responsible in waste management.
“Education is one thing that we should do and continue doing. Waste segregation is supposed to be the basic and crucial step to ease the whole process of waste management.
“With proper segregation, valuable items can be recycled, composted, repurposed and more,” he says after highlighting that it is impossible to have a fully circular economy model without the discharging of any waste.
In summary, tremendous measures and efforts are being implemented by the government as sustainable solutions to handle the burgeoning problem.
However, these grand plans would only be successful if the public also took up the responsibility in reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills through the simple practice of reducing, reusing and recycling.
