Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. First of all, I would like to thank the organiser for inviting me to participate and further giving me the opportunity to deliver a keynote address at this important conference on waste management.
2. As Malaysia grows into a fully developed country by 2020 it is envisaged that 80% of the population will be living in urban areas. With this growth, waste management is a key issue that needs to be addressed as we forward the motion to develop in a sustainable manner.
3. Managing of waste has taken centre stage in the recent months with the mass media splashed with stories of illegal dumping of wastes, the discharges of effluents into the river and pollutants escaping from the landfill sites polluting the air and water resources. Our Rt. Hon. Prime Minister himself has shown his deep concern on the status of our polluted rivers and he had again reiterated that we may have first world infrastructures but we have a third world mentality in our attitude towards our environment. We all want development but it should not be done in the expense of the environment.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
4. Waste itself can be broadly classified to hazardous or scheduled wastes and solid wastes. To put our discussion in proper perspective, I like to reiterate that the management of these wastes transverse the jurisdiction of two main Ministries i.e. the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. While the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has almost total jurisdiction over the management of hazardous waste, the Ministry is only partially responsible on the management of solid waste. That is through the EIA process on the development of any landfill sites or the building and sitting of incinerators.
5. These two types of wastes deserve a slightly different approach. The scheduled or hazardous waste is toxic whereas solid waste is not. Nonetheless, the disposal of solid waste in opened dump sites and unsanitary landfills gives rise among others, leachate that pollutes the air and water resources and methane gas causes foul smell and can bee dangerous. Thus, while the environment is very sensitive even to small amount of discharges of hazardous wastes, the solid waste’s impact to the environment is mainly due to its large quantity, which is built up over time.
6. As such, under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the approaches identified to address the issues and problems of solid waste and hazardous waste are focused on different aspects. For solid waste, the concern as mentioned earlier is on the quantity generated. Hence the focus is to reduce the amount of waste produced. The Ninth Malaysia Plan highlights the need to upgrade unsanitary landfills as well as the construction of new sanitary landfills and transfer stations. Priority also be stressed on the reduction, reuse and recycling of wastes as well as greater use of environmental-friendly materials such as bioplastics.
7. Due to its toxic nature, the management of hazardous waste is given priority to ensure these wastes are monitored so as to avoid contaminating the environment, which may bring adverse effect to human, plant and animal health and biodiversity. Hence, the Ninth Malaysia Plan focuses on strengthening the institutional capacity of the relevant agencies through the adoption of a global harmonized system for the registration of imports, transportation and safe handling of the hazardous waste. A framework to facilitate the utilization of approaches and technologies to treat and convert toxic waste into a resources for reuse will also be undertaken.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
8. Having said this, I would now address the main concerns relating the management of waste in the country. Before we talk about waste management, we must look at the amount of waste generated which will give us an idea about what we are talking about and why the concern. For your information, the production of solid waste in the Peninsular increased from 16,200 tonnes per day in 2001 to 19,100 tonnes in 2005 i.e. an average of 0.8 kg per capita per day. This waste comprises of 45% food waste, 24% plastic, 7% paper, 6% iron and 3% glass. Thus our bulk of waste is highly organic in nature and when it decomposes it produces foul smell and leachate.
9. As for scheduled or hazardous waste, an average of 430,000 tonnes is generated per annum. In 2004, 18.8% of these wastes is treated and disposed at the integrated waste treatment facility at Bukit Nanas, Negeri Sembilan whereas 19.7% was treated and stored at the premises of the generator and 2.7% was disposed at clinical waste incinerator. Another 58% is recycled and recovered and only 0.7% was exported for recycling.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
10. To reduce the amount of scheduled waste and solid waste generated, we require different approaches because of the different target groups. For the scheduled waste, the target group is the industries and the private sector whereas for solid waste, the consumer and the population at large.
11. I like to focus on solid waste first. As I indicated earlier, about 70% of the solid waste generated in this country is made up of food and plastics. The production of these two items is mainly due to our unsustainable consumption pattern where we buy food more than we need and we use too many plastics to carry our groceries and other items.
12. How do we address this problem? It is none other than to change our life style. Buy enough food for our every day consumption and use less plastic bags. The government cannot do much to change our eating habit. The government can only provide awareness campaigns. We have to do it on our own. What the government can do is to restrict the use of plastic by the shopping complex and grocery shops. But we need the cooperation of the mall operators in particular the hypermarkets. If these super and hyper markets no longer provide free plastic bags, I believe we can reduce the number of plastic bags going into the landfill. This has been successfully done in may developed countries aboard especially in Europe.
13. To also be in line with the ‘polluter pay principle’, waste collectors such as Alam Flora may charge the household by weight or volume on the amount of waste they collect. Thus, the more waste produce, the more one has to pay. This may assist in reducing the amount of waste generated and in particular food from being wasted. But this can only be done when enough awareness is filtered down to the public or not it could have a negative connotation, where people will resort to dumping their waste into rivers for example.
14. Now I like to concentrate on scheduled waste reduction. In hazardous waste management, the industries can reduce their generation of waste through best available practice or best available technology which is environmentally friendly, where waste can be use as a resource or recycled.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
15. The amount of waste generated by the industries is an indication of the level of manufacturing process and technology being used. The more modern and environmental friendly the technology and process used, the less toxic and less amount of waste generated. Sometimes all that is needed is a slight change in the production process, which would increase the efficiency and productivity and greatly reduce the amount of waste generated.
16. This is not merely a theoretical concept. We have demonstrated that it works. For example the standards for palm oil effluent were gradually increased as better technology was available. As a result, with the new technology, the effluence discharge is less hazardous and able to comply with stringent standards. SIRIM too has done several studies among SMIs that changing manufacturing process which adopts cleaner technology does make a lot of difference, both in term of resources utilization and the generation of wastes. Industries should continue to invest in research and development for better and cleaner technology in their manufacturing process. This will not only produce less waste but also increase their productivity and profit margin.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
17. We to as I have mentioned earlier need to reduce the generation of waste. The Government has been emphasizing on the 3R approach all along. The Government recognizes that we have not reused and recycled our waste as much as we are capable of. The Ninth Malaysia Plan reported that despite the concerted effort taken under the National Campaign on Recycling, the amount of solid waste recycled is less than 5% of the total waste disposed.
18. This figure is way too low and we must address the problem. We must have a holistic approach. Just providing for recycling bins and segregating our waste at source is not enough as the waste collector too must have a system in place in the collection truck. Thus, all parties must get together, and the formation of the Cabinet Committee on Solid Waste chaired by the Hon. Deputy Prime Minister is timely and cross-sectoral issues can be addressed.
19. As for the recycling of scheduled waste, it is much more complex and complicated due to the hazardous and toxic nature of the waste. Some of these wastes can be recycled and use as fuel for other industries. However, there are some strict conditions for the utilisation of such waste and only certain industries are involved. This is to ensure that the utilization of such waste do not give rise to other hazardous substances,
20. Nevertheless, the finite or limited supply of raw materials for the manufacturing sector and their high prices makes it essential for us to have a paradigm shift in our attitude toward waste. Waste can no longer be treated as something that needs to be disposed off. With new technology, hazardous wastes that have high calorific values can be further utilized as fuel. Those that have valuable metal content must be recycled to maximize its potential. Some by products from the treatment of waste are used as raw material in road construction. Thus we must not rest on our laurels and carry out our business as usual attitude.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
21. While we put high priority on ensuring these scheduled waste to be managed in a safe and efficient manner, we must take a step further. We must not only ensure that the scheduled wastes are treated and disposed safely but most importantly is to treat and convert them into safe and valuable products to be used in other sector of the economy. With such approach we are able to achieve our sustainable development aspiration. Towards this end, research and development must continuously be carried out and private sector effort to recycle and reuse waste must be supported with professional advice to make their effort feasible.
22. Although recycling has not achieves substantial success for solid waste management, hazardous waste recycling on the other hand has been quite successful. There is an increase in the recycling of hazardous waste from 29% in 2001 to 58% in the year 2004. This lead to the decrease in the quantity of waste treated and stored in the premises from 59.9% in 2001 to 19.7% in 2004.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
23. To conclude, approaches taken towards the management of waste can be seen within two perspectives, an economic perspective and environmental perspective. Economically it makes sense and saves cost if waste can be recycled or reuse instead of sourcing for natural raw material. Environmentally, less waste generated will reduce the pressure exerted on the environment. Thus a holistic waste management approach will ensure we have a safe, clean and healthy environment.
Thank you