Figure 2: National Recycling Rate 2005-2018,
Solid Waste Management Malaysia Compendium 2019, SWCorp
in reducing Government spending to manage
solid waste disposal, minimising reliance on site
disposal and at the same time helped cut down
the production of carbon footprint. Outstandingly,
as seen in Figure 3, in 2018 the percentage of
plastics waste recycled recorded the secondhighest
(30.79%) after waste paper (40.80%) as
compared to other solid waste materials. On top of
that, a comprehensive Communication, Education
and Public Awareness Plan on active promotion
of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle (3Rs) principle
with participation from the public, private, and
community stakeholders has been developed and
continuously deployed by KPKT.
On the other hand, in 2018, the Ministry of
Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and
Climate Change (MESTECC) unveiled a roadmap to
reduce the usage of single-use plastic in Malaysia
to zero by 2030 [7]. For 2019, the Ministry
enforced a pollution charge on single-use plastic.
Effective March 15, 2019, a 20 cent pollution
charge was imposed on customers for each plastic
bag purchased within the Federal Territories.
Similar efforts were introduced in selected
states such as Selangor and Penang. The move
was initially implemented on selected days and
gradually increased to every single day in a year.
The roadmap also targeted business premises to
only provide plastic straws upon request. Although
the total plastic straw ban would be in place for
several years, an initial effort should be carried
out now.
Apart from managing local plastic waste,
there are emerging issues currently under the
spotlight of two Ministries; KPKT and MESTECC.
The importation of plastic waste saw a significant
increase from RM241.7 million in 2015 to RM739.8
million in 2018. This is fuelled by Beijing’s ban
of plastic waste imports into China, which came
into effect in 2018 and opened up a gap in the
market. Between January and July 2018, Malaysia
imported more than 450 thousand tonnes of
plastic waste, 40% more than for the whole of
2017 [8]. It is an international issue and one of the
key challenges for this country waste management
system. Not all plastic waste that ends up here
can be recycled. Thus, Malaysia is now stuck with
tonnes of plastic waste that will end up in landfill,
a huge financial and environmental cost to bear
with.
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