Cradle-to-Grave Vs Cradleto-Cradle
Concepts: New
Technology in Scheduled
Waste Recovery
By Ir. Wong Shu Leong
COVER FEATURE
Hazardous waste (HW) is defined as any
waste (solid, sludge, liquid, and gas) other
than radioactive and infectious waste,
is likely to cause danger to human health or
environment whether alone or when in contact
with other waste. This is due to the chemical
activity or toxic, explosive, corrosive, or other
characteristics possessed by the waste (United
Nations Environment Programme in December
1985). Strict controls are required during the
course of handling, transportation, processing and
disposal of HW to minimise the potential hazard to
humans and environment.
According to the Department of Environment
(DoE) Malaysia, waste that possess hazardous
characteristics that could adversely affect the
public and environment is listed as scheduled
waste (SW). The manufacturing sector is a
significant source of SW, and a great number
of activities, including agriculture, healthcare,
petrol storage and vehicle servicing also
generate SW.
POLICIES AND LEGISLATION
Malaysia has developed a comprehensive set of
legal provisions related to the management of SW
based on the Cradle-to-Grave principle. The first
regulation related to SW was the Environmental
Quality (SW) Regulations, 1989. This document
classified SW generated in Malaysia, and
specifically prescribed the management of the
waste from generation to final disposal. This
included the notification of generation, reduction
by the best practicable means, storage and
labelling, treatment, transportation, disposal
and inventory keeping. The generators have to
ensure the proper SW management at all stages.
The regulation was replaced by Environmental
Quality (SW) Regulation 2005 and amended
in Environmental Quality (SW) (Amendment)
Regulations 2007. The differences between the
regulations of 2005 and 1989 are the changes
in waste codes and additional provision for
special management of SW while the regulations
2007 amend waste code SW 104 by inserting
aluminium as one of the contents in dust, slag,
dross and ash. Under the new regulations, all the
environmental hazardous substances are listed in
77 categories as defined in the First Schedule of
the Environmental Quality (SW) Regulations 2005
in Malaysia, which are classified into five groups
as shown in Table 1.
CRADLE-TO-GRAVE
The Cradle-to-Grave approach (Figure 1) is
currently applied in the SW management system
in Malaysia. A cradle-to-grave waste management
covers various components, including waste
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