Waste recycling in Malaysia: problems and prospects

Abstract

Recycling of solid wastes should be integrated into the existing and future waste management plans so as to yield the benefits of conservation of natural resources, saving of fossil fuels and prolonging lifespan times of disposal sites. This paper discusses the current status of waste recycling in Malaysia and its future prospects. Although a large amount of Malaysian wastes could be recycled, less than 5% of the total (almost 10 000 t d‐1) is actually separated and recycled. There is a good demand for waste plastics, paper and glass, with resale prices of about US$60 t‐1, US$44 t‐1 and US$32 t‐1, respectively. Recovery of only 5% of the available waste plastics, paper and glass is estimated to yield a total of about US$3.4 million y‐1. Recommendations to increase recycling are discussed in the paper.

Urban Community Willingness to Pay for Improved Solid Waste Management in Malaysian Municipality: A Choice Modeling Approach

“…The success of 3R policy is mainly depending on effective public involvement. The appropriate knowledge of separation of waste can reduce collection time and cost (Hassan & Rahman, 2000). In fact, public awareness and attitudes towards recycling are the most influencing factors for recycling program in the context of most developing nations (Troschinetz & Mihelcic, 2009).…”

Solid Waste Management in Malaysia – A Move Towards Sustainability

“…The budget for waste collection was ranging from 20% to 70%, according to the size of the municipality (Hassan et al 2000). Dumping of wastes in open fields and rivers are common even until today and a study of waste disposal behaviour in Kuala Lumpur indicated that 31.9% of waste were disposed by open burning, while 6.5% were dumped into the river system (Murad & Siwar 2007).Hence the environmental safety concern in Malaysia was secondary and most municipalities had a tough time in finding new disposal sites as, the existing disposal sites were nearly exhausted (Hassan et al 2000). Kuala Lumpur, is on dire need to reduce its dependence on landfills due to its population density and an alternative solution such as incinerator is difficult to implement.…”

“…In Malaysia, waste minimization programs cannot be carried out effectively without a reliable data on waste composition and generation (Hassan et al 2000)1. The amount of Malaysian solid waste being separated at source for recycling purposes was less than 2% in the year 1992 but the senior government officials believe that the actual rate could be as high as 15%.…”

“…There is a lack of policy to promote 3Rs and a low public participation. In 1988, the Action Plan for a Beautiful and Clean (ABC) Malaysia was introduced but had only minimal responses from the general public (Hassan et al 2000). In April 2009, the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water was established to handle green technology development in Malaysia, and the government has encouraged the private sector to invest in green technology to promote the usage of more environmentally sound waste management towards facing the changes in the global environment.…”

The challenge of future landfill: A case study of Malaysia

“…This suggests that the greatest challenge is to provide more waste disposal facilities such as landfill to treat the waste (Hassan et al, 2001). Despite the complexity of waste produced, the standards of landfills in most developing countries are still poor; these include inadequate waste treatment facilities, inefficient collection and storage systems, co-disposal of municipal waste with hazardous waste, inefficient utilisation of disposal space, lack of environmental abatement measures and poor documentation (Hassan et al, 2000). As a consequence, a great deal of contamination, especially to surface water, soil and ground water, occurs, threatening the health of exposed populations and ecosystems (Zhang et al, 2010).…”