30,000 tonnes of waste a day

Minister: At this rate, landfills will be exhausted earlier than planned

MALAYSIA’s solid waste production last year exceeded 30,000 tonnes a day, surpassing the amount initially projected for 2020.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said this was due to population increase, current lifestyle and dietary changes among urbanites.

“At this rate, existing landfills will beexhaustedmuchearlier than planned. For example, a cell in a sanitary landfill has a lifespan of five years. With the increase, the cell will be full before the lifespan ends,” he said.

Abdul Rahman said this while explaining the need for incinerators in response to a question by Anthony Loke Siew Fook (DAP – Seremban) onthenumberof incinerator projects in the country, their locations and total allocation for the projects.

He explained the ministry’s plan to build three large-scale incinerators with a capacity of between 600 and 1,200 tonnes a day.

The plant at Taman Beringin, Jinjang, would have a capacity of 1,000 tonnes a day and be completed via a private funding initiative.

Another plant at Sungai Udang, Malacca, would be able to process between 1,000 and 1,200 tonnes a day while the one at Bukit Payong, Batu Pahat, would have a capacity of 600 to 800 tonnes a day.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby later, Abdul Rahman said a detailed environment impact assessment report would be a prerequisite for the construction of the Taman Beringin incinerator.

He gave the assurance that public engagement would be held to address concerns over the incinerator projects.

Abdul Rahman said the Sungai Udang and Bukit Payong projects, estimatedto costbetweenRM600mil and RM800mil, would be conducted through open tender and an international bidding process.

He said work on the incinerators was scheduled to begin in two years and be completed by 2018.

He added that the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission would monitor the tender process in line with the Government’s policy on projects costing above RM500mil.