Waste management should not remain a conference topic
In this write-up by Ravindran Raman Kutty, an award-winning communications practitioner and a fellow of the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia, he talks about waste management.
KUALA LUMPUR: Waste management is about the quality of life. It is about clean air, water and environment.
“Though you don’t see what you dump, it will come and haunt you one of these days. If not you, it will taunt your children...” so said Antonis Mavropoulos, president of International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), at the ISWA World Congress that was held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, here, from Oct 22 to 25.
The congress was jointly organised by ISWA and the Waste Management Association of Malaysia. About 1,600 delegates from over 60 countries participated in the congress, where they exchanged ideas and opinions to advance scientific and technical knowledge for sustainable solid waste management.
Among the topics they touched on were sustainable solid waste management and human, health and climate change issues. The keynote lectures, plenary sessions, concurrent sessions and case studies kept the participants enthralled during the four-day congress.
The waste management challenge for Asia is set to be intense in the coming years as the population growth doubles. In India alone, 68 metro cities, 58 urban districts, 115 semi-urban districts and 96 rural districts will be emerging by 2035, contributing to 25 per cent of the global population.
The propensity of waste growth will certainly bring remarkable changes to the waste management landscape, too. Globally, the consumption of natural resources will triple due to wasteful overconsumption.
The quality of life is moving upwards. More goods, more consumption, more plastics, more packaging; Asia must learn fast from the mistakes of the west and not repeat them.
Asia must first acknowledge her ground issues. Some of the critical issues which must be viewed seriously by every country in Asia are consumption, income level, urbanisation, migration to cities, carbon monoxide production, industrialisation, migration from agriculture to service sector, education level and poverty.
Cities built around water areas are more vulnerable to littering. Most Asian cities are built on river banks. Asia must combine the marine litter programme with urban waste management so that we can manage environmental pollution. Ocean pollution is so critical that almost every ocean is polluted due to our lifestyle, poor control or enforcement and bad littering habits.
During the congress, several papers were presented by the delegates from Nepal, Mongolia, China, the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Argentina, South Africa, Serbia, Switzerland and other countries. Among the major issues discussed were reducing environmental degradation, climate change, automation of waste management, how to implement the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) effectively, as well as the roles of the government, nongovernmental organisations, waste operators and waste experts.
An interesting case study that attracted the attention of many delegates was that of “Hasiru Dara” (which means ‘Voices of Waste Pickers’). It is an excellent social impact organisation based in Bangalore, India, that focuses on securing social justice for waste pickers through intervention via education, healthcare, housing, pension, skill development, as well as market and employment access. Started by Malini Shekar in 2011, the organisation has benefited more than 8,000 waste pickers.
It is easy to talk. Ideas are plenty. There is a lot of action but hardly is there a combination of all these things. I was one of the participants who repeatedly asked the delegates and some of the waste experts why waste management was still only a conference topic.
Why isn’t there a United Nations or World Health Organisation committee for waste management, along the lines of the Security Council?
Yes, there are bodies like the United Nations Environment Programme, UN Habitat and World Bank. Are they doing enough to address the emerging issues on waste management? To date, we still don’t have a mandate to make environmental education compulsory in developed and developing nations.
Malaysia is still dragging its feet to make environmental education a part of the school curriculum. This, I think, is due to a lack of pressure and urgency on the part of the government. Poor waste management on the part of every citizen, local authorities and city councils is the root cause of all the environmental perils that we are facing.
Waste Management must get the right attention which will bring greater action on the ground. Malaysia has the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 but not all the states have transferred the waste management activities to the federal government as per the act.
This non-action is delaying the unification of waste management in Malaysia. The new government must stop procrastinating and quickly understand the waste management industry by forming a task force to quickly streamline waste management in the country. The waste-to-energy programme must also be implemented in Kuala Lumpur as it has been delayed since 1996. — Bernama
(This commentary expresses the personal views of the writer and does not reflect Bernama’s stand on the issue.)