When can Malaysia have Waste Management Bill?

DAP National Deputy Chairman and MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw urges the Malaysian Government to promulgate Waste Management Bill to deal efficiently with waste and dumpsites in the country, consistent with the modern world.

Dr Tan visited the dumpsite at Taman Beringin, Jinjang North, Kepong, on 4 December, 2005, together with a group of residents to understand the state of pollution and the lack of waste management.

For over 30 years, Jinjang North has borne the main burden of waste from Kuala Lumpur cityfolks; each person generates 2.5 kg of waste per day. The total daily waste is about 3,000 tonnes. The Government has announced the closure of the dumpsite several times, especially in the last two years. The site is still open and scavengers are active. Although it is meant to be sanitary and landfilled, it is not sanitary and not filled satisfactorily.

Residents breathe polluted air, especially near the present dumpsite and the old site a stone's throw away. The Government has shifted many squatters fron the site. It allows new housing estates to mushroom at and near the area. Such is the paradox of human society.

The Government should consider seriously the suggestion to conduct heath survey of hundreds of thousands of people affected by pollution arising from the dumpsites. How can they be compensated?

The leachage treatment plant at the dumpsite has been abandoned. This has become a breeding ground for Aedes and nuisance mosquitoes. The leachage flows into nearby pond, not far from Sungai Jinjang.

In theory, the site has been closed. In practice, it is still opened. Although it is said that only garden waste and construction debris are dumped there, who has separated the waste? Meanwhile, the transfer station nearby processes the waste not deposited at the site and the partially treated waste is transported to Bukit Tagar, a crow's fly from Batang Berjuntai, Selangor. There is no long-term leachage treatment plant at Taman Beringin. Neither is there a visible system of pipes for gases.

We have Environment Quality Act, 1974, but no special legislation to manage waste and dunpsites after closure. Hence, we need Waste Management Bill to overcome all aspects of waste management.