ENGINEERING NOSTALGIA
INGENIEUR
ENGINEERING NOSTALGIA
INGENIEUR
Early Refuse Disposal Systems in Ipoh - 1978
By Cheo Hong Keyong
Figure 1 : Open lorry refuse collector
Disposal and management of solid waste and sanitary systems remained among the main functions of Majlis Perbandaran Ipoh ( MPI ) in 1978 . In fact , MPI was the Sanitary Board Ipoh in 1893 while it was under the British Administration . It became MPI in 1962 and Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh ( MBI ) in 1988 .
In providing town services to the municipality of Ipoh , the collection and disposal of refuse was placed under the Town Cleansing Department of MPI in 1978 . Refuse would be discharged to dump sites without much treatment .
The Town Cleansing Department owned a fleet of 96 refuse trucks consisting of dual tippers ( now obsolete ), open lorries , closed lorries , closed lorries with FOCO cranes , trailer-tipping lorries , trailer non-tipping lorries , wheeled tractor for towing trailers and a few mechanically operated compactors .
These trucks were maintained by MPI ’ s Engineering Department .
Figure 2 : Covered lorry discharging non-compacted refuse
Figure 4 : One unit of the initial batch of six mechanically operated compactors .
The Town Cleansing Department consisted of four administrators , 17 overseers and 860 Industrial Manual Group ( IMG ) labourers . The Engineering Department consisted of seven technical supervisory staff , five clerical staff , 24 maintenance workers , 47 drivers for lorry and tractor , and seven tractor attendants .
With the recent introduction of concessionaires to manage solid waste and public cleansing , the collection and disposal of solid waste has since been transferred to the
Figure 3 : Closed type of refuse collector using FOCO crane to lift large dustbin .
Figure 5 : Compacted refuse being discharged at a dump site
Figure 6 : Present day modern compactor - Petaling Jaya
concessionaire . With that , the chapter of MPI departmental workforce in such services ended .
80 VOL 96 OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2023