Rubbish, Garbage, Sampah and All - What Is Trash?

After reading the newspaper this morning, I felt extremely compelled to write about a foul topic - rubbish. Yes, RUBBISH! It is all about rubbish today - on the eve of Earth Day. One must not complain about rubbish if one does not take responsibility of what is discarded into our bins daily. Malaysians are recycling less than 3% as compared to more than 30% in other countries and it is evident today that we are facing solid waste management issues.

On the front page of The Star today, we see a bold Selangor State Government setting to implement stern and unpopular measures to stop river pollution and clean up the environment. Kudos for measures such as the immediate closure of dumpsites found leaking leachate, closing animal farms illegally discharging waste into rivers, and stiffer penalties on polluters. Unfortunately, there is also a proposal of two new landfills - the location unknown. Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo said, "They will not be disclosed now to minimise opposition".

The above action resulted in a "rubbish stand-off." The closure of Sungai Kembong and Kundang dumpsites resulted in 20 garbage-laden trucks redirected to Bukit Tagar landfill but was refused entry by the latter landfill. KUB-Berjaya Enviro, which manages the Bukit Tagar landfill, replied to the situation stating that it could not allow anyone to dump their waste without prior approval from the Housing and Local Government Ministry. The rubbish ended up in Ayer Itam landfill in Puchong. The 2 proposed landfills together with Ayer Itam and Bukit Tagar will form the backbone of the solid waste disposal system for the Federal Territory and Selangor as quote by Dr. Khir. This is truly disturbing that we are promoting landfills when we have done so little to reduce waste disposal. I believe Malaysia should consider zero waste approaches which have been put in place in a number of places in the Third World, including Cairo (Egypt), Curitiba (Brazil) and Mumbai (India), which have succeeded in composting and recycling the vast majority of their municipal discards. These approaches have proven capable of reducing the waste going to landfill by as much as 85%!

Nevertheless, there is still hope as we wait for the outcome of the solid waste management strategy after the Cabinet committee meets on environmental issues this April 28. I was glad to see that the controversial Broga Incinerator project in Semenyih was not forgotten. It is said that the 1,500-tonne incinerator, the largest of this type in Asia, will cost 1.5 billion ringgit (about US$395 million) to build and 200 million ringgit (about US$53 million) to operate per year. Not only is it costly and wasteful but a major threat to our health and environment too, as highlighted by many scientific studies linking incineration to ill health and environmental destruction.

We must change our attitudes towards waste disposal and recycling. The next time before you discard litter into the bin, look at what you hold in your hands. They are most likely to be made of paper, plastic, glass, metal or organic waste which are all recyclable one way or another. Yes, I agree with many that sometimes it is just too difficult to recycle when facilities such as recycling bins are scarce and few to come by. A lot more can be done by the Government to promote recycling as a direct and effective method of reducing waste going to landfills.

I urge our newly appointed Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid to reconsider the current approach to solid waste disposal and management. Our beloved Prime Minister YAB Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told the senior government officials to make sure that the projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan are effective as Malaysia have less than 15 years to achieve the Developed Nation status. A safe, effective and sustainable solid waste disposal and management policy is what we should strive for as we look forward towards Wawasan 2020.