GEORGE TOWN: Environmental-based non-governmental organisation, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), is not surprised to learn that a tonne of rubbish is being collected from the log boom in Sungai Pinang daily.
SAM president Meenakshi Raman said the issue was a long-standing one due to a lack of aggressive enforcement by the government.
"The state Infrastructure Committee chairman (Zairil Khir Johari) was quoted by the media, attributing the pollution situation to the attitude of people who continued to throw their rubbish indiscriminately.
"We often associate littering with people's behaviour but we need to find out why are they doing so.
"Is it a question of lack of education, apathy or is it a matter of poor management of waste disposal and inadequate infrastructure?" she asked.
It was reported that a tonne of rubbish was being fished out from the log boom in Sungai Pinang daily.
The majority of rubbish comprised plastic waste, as well as large items, such as sofas, bed frames and refrigerators. Also found were dead river life.
Zairil had attributed the situation to the attitude of people who threw rubbish indiscriminately.
He had said that despite many efforts taken by the authorities to ensure the cleanliness of Sungai Pinang, this irresponsible attitude put a strain on its efforts.
Meenakshi said Penang's Waste Segregation at Source (WSAS) Policy in 2016 had been enforced since June 1, 2017.
"Why are citizens not complying with the regulations under the Local Government Act where they are required to segregate their waste into two streams - recyclables and general waste before collection?
"We believe with education, adequate waste management planning, supporting facilities including for collection of bulky items, proper implementation and stringent enforcement the problem of waste dumping can be addressed," she added.
Meenakshi said among plans by the state government to address the Sungai Pinang pollution was to build parallel drains that would trap the rubbish from being washed into the river.
She added that this measure and river clean-ups may help reduce the volume of waste but the river pollution would still be a problem if it was not stopped at source.
"Solid waste in the form of trash, bulky waste and garbage in rivers are visible.
"We also need to be aware of other pollutants such as organic waste, sewage, chemicals and microplastics.
"We are all aware of the consequences of river pollution, and thus must take measures to effectively tackle it," she stressed, pointing that it was important to understand what were all the sources of this river pollution.
The Penang government, Meenakshi said, had many decades ago identified the sources of pollution in the Sungai Pinang River Basin and came up with strategies to address the problem, including environmental education to citizens to stop littering.
"It is high time the government starts to aggressively implement these action plans," she added.