Mayor doubts Mirians ready to separate household waste

MIRI: This resort city is not ready to adopt the household waste separation campaign already practised by council authorities in Peninsular Malaysia.

Its mayor Lawrence Lai said to implement such a practice, the council need good infrastructure and management for support.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Lai personally viewed such household waste separation effort as a good campaign in line with Miri moving towards being a green and vibrant resort city.

“I’ve received a number of public enquiries to find out whether Miri City Council (MCC) is to implement the campaign which is a practice since last September in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Malacca, Perlis, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Kedah and Johor,” Lai said.

“What I can say now is that MCC has yet to receive any directive from Ministry of Local Government for such a campaign.”

He viewed the campaign as impracticable as the city’s people were not ready for it and Miri had yet to have the supporting infrastructure.

“The campaign is good for proper waste management but we need a huge budget for the necessary infrastructure,” he said.

The council has to set aside a budget for dustbins and examine its existing waste management to make the necessary adjustments.

At the moment, it is looking for land to relocate the Lambir Waste Transfer Station.

“If we find the location for the transfer station, we will propose a waste separation infrastructure and MCC might then consider adopting the campaign,” Lai said.