KUALA LUMPUR: SOLID Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (PPSPPA) will work with the relevant authorities, including local councils and various agencies, to improve the waste management system in the country.
In its Comprehensive Action Plan for Solid Waste Management 2015-2020, PPSPPA has outlined strategies to manage waste based on type such as food, household, electric and electronic (e-waste), plastic, industrial, construction, diapers and refuse-derived fuel.
PPSPPA chief executive officer Datuk Ab Rahim Md Noor said among the strategies are providing facilities to manage the waste efficiently and educating society.
“Food waste, for instance, should be separated from other waste. It could be made into compost but if the discarded food is mixed with other solid waste, it will be hard to treat.
“Food waste dumped in a landfill releases greenhouse gases that destroy the ozone layer.
“Thus, we want to educate the public that separation of solid waste is important as it will reduce the cost of handling waste disposal, and it can serve as a new source for producing bio-fertilisers.
“However, creating awareness is not enough as there is no specific collection system for food waste yet. In fact, we lack a food waste treatment centre.
“So we plan to provide bins for food waste and enforce the food waste collection system at residential premises, shoplots and public institutions.
“We will team up with local and international agencies to learn the food waste treatment technology.
“We may implement a pioneer project relating to food treatment facility soon,” he said.
Rahim said the corporation would give food waste top priority as it is the biggest part of solid waste produced in the country.
He added that Malaysians discard 15,000 tonnes of food waste out of the 33,000 tonnes of domestic solid waste daily.
He said the corporation has plans to provide sufficient recycling and treatment centres for other types of waste.
“Other strategies include building more e-waste recycling centres and adding more recycling bins for plastics at public areas.
“The corporation has difficulties managing construction waste as most local councils have no data and facilities for such waste.
“We may build a facility where the council can store and manage the construction waste properly,” said Rahim.
The comprehensive plan, which was launched last month, was aimed at transforming the mindset of the people, and providing an integrated, cost-effective and sustainable solid waste management system.
The corporation has targeted Muar, Pekan and Langkawi to be the first three towns to become the cleanest.
PPSPPA also plans to build its first ecological industrial park in Langkawi.
“The park will feature a primary industry and waste generation centre to enable primary industrial waste to be reused by secondary industries,” said Rahim.
He said PPSPPA officials recently visited Kota Palembang, which is the cleanest city in Indonesia, to study the effectiveness of mind transformation programme implemented by its government to encourage Palembang folk to recycle, reuse and reduce waste.