Johor SWCorp detects 55 active illegal dumps

JOHOR BAHRU: The Johor state Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) has detected 55 illegal dumping hotspots in the state which are still active.

Johor SWCorp director Hisham Jalaluddin said Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru, including areas in Pasir Gudang, were detected as the locations with the most illegal garbage dumps since 2017, of which 60 per cent of waste were construction material.

He said SWCorp was always proactive and did not give an opportunity to offenders found dumping rubbish illegally in unauthorised areas.

“Since 2016 until October, we have eradicated 237 illegal waste disposal sites with the help of SWM Environment Sdn Bhd.

“On average, there are 55 illegal dumping recurring hotspots and are still active since 2017, therefore these sites are constantly under our enforcement’s surveillance,” he told reporters after visiting an illegal dumping location on the Ulu Tiram-Johor Bahru road, with SWM Environment and Johor Bahru City Council here yesterday. According to him, intelligence operations and raids are organised to identify the perpetrators responsible for illegal dumping and SWCorp is collaborating with the local authorities, Department of Environment (DOE) and Land and Mines Office.

“Our cooperation is very strong, including in other operations such as fire. It is to ensure that further actions can be taken,” he said.

As of 2018 until October this year, he said his party had opened a total of 56 investigation papers with 27 cases of illegal garbage cases being prosecuted in court, involving fines amounting to RM451,000.

He added that the results of the prosecution and investigation found that offenders often cited the remote location of landfills and the relatively high cost of disposal as reasons for the offence.

“These are merely excuses, they can actually just dump it at an approved landfill ...,” he said.

He said rubbish from the Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri and Kulai areas should be disposed of at the Seelong Sanitary Landfill.