KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians have been urged to change their attitude towards waste management.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s chair professor on environmental sustainability Professor Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang said the rapid filling up of existing landfills required more proactive measures from Malaysians.
He added that it should start with reducing waste at the source, along with the practice of reduce, reuse and recycle (3Rs).
“Solid waste has been a problem in developing countries, including Malaysia.
“In 2016, there were only 14 sanitary landfills, along with 147 landfills.
“With an average of 1kg produced per person daily, how are we going to manage this problem?” said Zaini said recently.
Zaini, who is former energy, green technology and water ministry secretary-general, said Malaysians were not practising waste separation at the source.
“Everything, including food waste, is lumped together in the same garbage bag and subsequently sent to landfills.”
In October 2018, Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad Baharuddin Shah said Malaysia generated about 38,000 tonnes of waste daily.
“From the amount, the waste separation and recycling rate was only 24 per cent, while the remaining 76 per cent went to landfills.”
Raja Kamarul Bahrin said the ministry hoped to raise the waste separation and recycle rate to 30 per cent this year.
Zaini believed people should start reducing their waste at the source, as well as practise the 3Rs concept.
“The lackadaisical attitude towards waste management will only contribute to the increase in domestic waste.
“If we waste less and recycle more, we can save our environment from garbage pollution.”
Sharing his experience while at Tsukuba University, Zaini said he lived in an apartment that required him to sort his waste into 17 bins, according to categories.
“I was surprised that there were 17 bins and they varied according to municipalities.”
On Sept 1, 2015, the government had made it mandatory for the public to separate solid waste at source.
The implementation was pursuant to regulations under Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 (Act672) enforced in the following states and Federal Territories: Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Kedah, and Perlis.
On the Eat Smart, Save Food programme, Zaini said it was conducted to find solutions to encourage people to preserve the environment and subsequently leads to environmental sustainability.