KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) is formulating a solid waste management transition policy geared towards a circular economy with emphasis on sustainable consumption and production (SCP).
Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Abd Muttalib said this was one of the measures taken to help achieve the national recycling rate of 40 per cent by 2025.
“Apart from developing the waste executive geographical information system (WEGIS system), we will continue to implement the Trash to Cash reward system,” he said during the oral question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) would also continue to organise awareness campaigns as well as expand its educational programmes to promote cleanliness and the 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) culture among the community.
He said this in response to a question from Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof (Bersatu-Alor Gajah) on the ministry’s plans in ensuring effective and proper waste segregation in efforts to protect the environment.
In reply to a supplementary question from Mohd Redzuan on the details of the success of solid waste management in the country, Ismail said currently there are eight sanitary and 14 non-sanitary landfills, four thermal incinerators, two transfer stations in the country in addition to four waste to energy (WTE) plants in Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan.
“And the issue we face is that only seven states have adopted the Solid Systems and Public Cleansing Management Act (Act 672). So we need to review this to get the other states to accept it,” he said.
In reply to a question from Datuk Dr Sharuddin Md Salleh (Pejuang-Sri Gading) if the government would impose fines on those who take garbage from urban to rural areas for disposal, Ismail said the existing Trash to Cash initiative was a better way of disposing waste.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
