KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians have been generating an average of 1.17kg or 36,699 tonnes in household waste daily.
According to last year's data from the Solid Waste Management and Public Health Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp), the majority of food waste ended up in landfills, while some could potentially be recycled.
While this means losses in terms of recyclable resources in an industry that is considered as high value, it would also worsen the garbage generation situation, given that landfills are expected to last for another 25 years, SWCorp pointed out.
"It's true, we have many landfills, but with the growing population, the total waste generated will also rise, hence the landfill's lifespan will be shortened.
"As such, it is crucial that we reduce the solid waste that goes into the trash bin and make recycling our regular practice," said SWCorp Federal Territory Director, Ummi Kalthum Shuib.
SWCorp is responsible for regulating solid waste management and public cleansing in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Pahang, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Johor, Kedah and Perlis.
Forty per cent target by 2025
Elaborating further, Ummi Kalthum said recycling practices could reduce at least five per cent of the total garbage disposed at landfills besides saving costs of disposal and at dumpsites.
"As of last year, the nation's recycling rate was only 33.17 per cent," she said, adding that under the 12th Malaysia Plan, Malaysia has targeted the figure to rise to 40 per cent by 2025.
Despite the increase in recycling rate from 31.52 per cent in 2021, based on figures from the National Solid Waste Management Department (NSWD), it is still unsatisfactory when compared to most developed nations which have achieved at least 60 per cent.
To increase the recycling rate, Ummi Kalthum said participation from every member of the community was vital, especially at the domestic level so that garbage segregation practice becomes a daily routine.
As such, SWCorp through the Komuniti Sifar Sisa (KOSIS) initiative has gone down to the ground to educate the community in solid waste segregation and to cultivate the practice of valuing waste as a resource and reducing despatching solid waste to dumpsites.
"The programme helps PPRs (People's Housing Projects) in composting food out of food waste, segregating solid waste through recycling bins and sending recycled items to recycle centres through redemption of reward points and 'Trash to Cash', which is the conversion of recycled items into cash rewards.
"It does not only train residents to manage their solid waste in a systematic manner, but also helps them generate income through the collection of recycled resources, in addition to cultivating the culture of environmental sustainability practices," she added.
'Trash to cash'
Ummi Kalthum said to encourage recycling practices among PPR residents, local authorities such as Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) also took the initiative to hold campaigns by exchanging the garbage to discounts on house rent through its 1C1R (1 Community 1 Recycling) programme.
"This approach can reduce the burden of PPR residents as under this barter system, residents can collect redemption points that can later be exchanged with rental payments and other necessities," she added.
In addition, she said, SWCorp had also set up a special unit to monitor the Joint Management Body (JMB) last year to organise joint programmes involving strata homes such as apartments and condominiums.
"To date, the special unit has undertaken monitoring activities on 175 out of 1,743 JMB throughout Kuala Lumpur to ensure they comply with Act 672, which makes it compulsory for every household and business premise owner to segregate waste at the source based on categories, in addition to providing special bins for solid waste segregation.
"However, only 36 JMB have complied with the act, that is, 35 in Kuala Lumpur and one in Putrajaya," she said. -- Bernama