With Covid-19 and imposition of MCO,
Malaysian households generate vast amounts of domestic waste. Primarily, food
and plastics.
Khazanah
According to Solid Waste Management and
Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) Malaysians generated slightly over
200,000 tonnes of domestic waste each month since March 18, 2020. Food waste
comprised 30%, while plastics stood at 24.8%, paper (10.5%), disposable diapers
(11.1%), textile (4.8%) and waste from gardens/ parks (4.1%).
People staying at home were using Grab
or other home deliveries. More than 2 million deliveries were made by Grab
between July and September 2020. On-line purchases resulted in higher use of
plastics and boxes.
According to SWCorp, several factors
contributed to large amount of waste being generated:
-
increase
in population;
-
lack
of awareness on proper waste disposal; and
-
socioeconomic
and lifestyle changes
According to Prof. Dr. P. Agamuthu of
Jeffrey Sachs Centre on Sustainable Development at Sunway University, a
long-term solution needs to be looked into. Mechanical biological treatment
(MBT) system is more suitable for the Malaysian waste and climate. This is less
costly than incinerators. Other ways include the ban of single-use plastics,
stricter enforcement on illegal dumping and more dedicated research on
waste-to-energy plants.
There are several measures and examples
that could be followed. Learning from other nations in the tropics (like
Singapore) may provide better solutions for our waste management. Universities
should have dedicated research teams to examine solutions which could be
commercialised. Funding by the Government is essential to make progress in this
area.
Reference:
1.
Rahimy
Rahim. Piles of waste, we want not, 11 March 2021, The Star
2.
SWCorp:
Food waste drops during MCO, rises again soon after, 20 October 2020, Bernama
No comments:
Post a Comment