Sorting and collection of domestic waste will be implemented this September 1 nationwide with the concept of 3R - reduce, reuse and recycle - in mind.
National Solid Waste Management director-general Datuk Dr Nadzri Yahaya said that relevant concessionaires would collect different types of recyclable waste once a week apart from the usual solid waste collection.
”The effort of sorting out waste at source is a voluntary initiative for all states that have privatised their solid waste management and public cleansing under the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act that came into force on September 1 last year in Peninsular Malaysia.
‘We call for all households and industry players to take heed and support reducing, reusing and recycling,” he told reporters after launching a 3R awareness programme by the Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) and Scientex Foundation at Pantai Puteri here on Saturday.
Dr Nadzri said that rubbish that was sorted into categories like paper, glass, metal, plastic, organic and bulky item would make recycling easier and more effective.
”We are in the process of acquiring new lorries for the collection of recyclable items and bulky waste, such as old mattress and furniture,” he added.
In Malaysia, he noted that plastic waste ranked the second highest with 24 per cent out of the total waste disposed, compared to only 10 per cent in Indonesia, 16 per cent in Vietnam, 19 per cent in Netherlands and 14 per cent in Germany.
With a low recycling rate of only 5 per cent a year, Dr Nadzri said Malaysians need to work harder and be more enthusiastic to practise 3R if compared to neighbouring countries, such as Singapore that managed to recycle an average of 58 per cent of total waste.
In a separate development, Dr Nadzri said that six out of 16 landfills that had safe-closure earlier that had been upgraded into green parks were almost ready for public visit.
The safe-closure and upgrades, he said, included installing a high-density polyethylene liner to keep out rainwater and contain the leachate,” he said, adding the department also built a system to capture methane gas at the landfills.
Some of the landfills that had earlier been closed and upgraded were at Sua Betong in Negri Sembilan, Chamang in Pahang and Rimba Terjun in Pontian, Johor.
He also said that work on the RM1bil sanitary landfill with incinerator facility in Sungai Udang here was expected to start by July.
”The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of the site has been completed and a project contractor has also been chosen,” he said, adding the project takes about a year to complete.
