IPOH: PERAK has given 27 factories, which extract industrial oil and steel by burning old tyres, three months to clean up their act.
State Health, Public Transport, non-Muslim Affairs, National Integration and New Village Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said after the three-month grace period, an all-out operation would be conducted to clean up the industry, including closing down factories which flout the law.
“In the coming three months, they are expected to upgrade their machinery to ensure no pollutants are produced during extraction,” he said after chairing a meeting with the operators and the Department of Environment (DoE) at the State Secretariat building here on Friday.
Dr Mah, however, said the operations by the DoE against errant factories is ongoing.
“Factories found releasing pollutants during the extraction process will still be compounded.”
Stressing he had no intention of harassing factory owners, Dr Mah said they should think of the health of residents staying near their factories.
“After my site visit to a factory in Jalan Lahat recently, I lost my appetite for the day.
“If I cannot eat after visiting your factory, what about villagers staying nearby?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Persatuan Pyrolysis Perak chairman Datuk Chah Kok Hua, who was also present, said the operators had appointed consultants to improve their operations.
“We will submit the report to Dr Mah and DoE when it is completed,” he said.
Chah also revealed that operators were now conducting peer review as part of the self-regulation exercise to ensure that operators followed the law.
“We will work with the government and the stakeholders,” he assured.
Also present during the one-hour meeting was state DoE director Abdul Razak Abdul Manap.