Concessionaires who have won contracts to provide solid waste management and public cleaning services in the country will now be monitored by men in uniform.
Enforcement officers from the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (PPSPPA), who will carry out the monitoring, will also carry electronic handheld devices to serve notices and compounds on-the-spot.
Concessionaires who fail to perform their job accordingly will be penalised, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung.
“We will given them a grace period to collect or clean the waste within the same day of when it has been scheduled.
“If they fail to do their job, we will penalise them by deducting the monthly payment due to them,” Chor said in a press conference after launching the PPSPPA enforcement uniform at the ministry here Thursday.
There are three concessionaire companies currently engaged to provide solid waste management and public cleansing services in Peninsular Malaysia, namely Alam Flora Sdn Bhd, SWM Environment Sdn Bhd and Environment Idaman Sdn Bhd.
These companies are reported to be awarded with RM800mil a year to upgrade their services.
Selangor, Penang, and Perak are the only states that have yet to adopt the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleanliness Act 2007 (Act 672), which came into force last month.
Chor said the ministry will embark on a public education initiative to encourage Malaysians to pick up the habit of separating their trash according to their recycling properties.
The maximum fine for those caught for littering is RM1,000.
“But we are not going to focus on punishing the public yet because we want to give them a chance to embrace recycling as a way of life by educating them first.
“On average, citizens in advanced countries practice separation of their trash for recycling and at the end of the day, about 40% of these waste could actually be recycled.
“We hope we can attain this level of recycling in the country,” said Chor, who also launched the national 3R (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) month campaign Thursday.
