INGENIEUR
COVER FEATURE
Waste Management
in Malaysia – Another
Paradigm Shift?
By Dr Theng Lee Chong
Environment/Waste Management Specialist
We have been talking about a paradigm
shift on waste management in Malaysia
for over 20 years. It is time to do a
stock check on where we stand now since a
lot has happened in the past few decades. We
have progressed from many aspects, with many
beautiful plans, guidelines and regulations
in place. Some important milestones of
achievements that we have recorded in the history
of waste management are shown below:
Nevertheless, despite all the above, we have a
total of 138 disposal sites throughout the country,
in which over 80% of these disposal sites are
non-sanitary or open dumpsites. These disposal
sites receive almost all the solid waste generated
by Malaysians because we do not have any
other waste management facilities in operation
except for some mini incinerators on islands and
highlands, which were under refurbishment due to
operational failures.
1988 Action Plan for a Beautiful and Clean Malaysia
2004 Technical Guideline for Sanitary Landfill, Design and Operation
2004 Guideline for Safe Closure and Rehabilitation of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Sites
2005 National Strategic Plan for Solid Waste Management
2006 National Waste Minimisation Master and Action Plan
2006 Local Action Plans for Waste Minimisation and Recycling
2007 Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act (Act 672)
2007 Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation Act (Act 673)
2009 Environmental Quality (Control of Pollution from Solid Waste Transfer Station and Landfill)
Regulations
2011 Concession Agreements for Waste Collection signed with three companies
2015 Malaysian Standards (MS) Construction Solid Waste Management - Code of Practice
2016 National Strategic Plan for Food Waste Management in Malaysia (drafted)
2017 Mandatory Waste Separation at Source in Selected States
2018 Enactment of several Regulations under Act 672
2018 Malaysia’s Roadmap towards Zero Single-use Plastics (2018-2030)
2020 Plastic Straw Ban (No straw by default)
2020 Guidelines for Selection of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) Technologies – In Progress
6 VOL 82 APRIL-JUNE 2020