Govt expediting transition of solid waste management to circular economy

Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said the move would be carried out through two principles, namely the zero waste to landfill which involved reducing dependence on landfills through the exploration of the latest technology and the development of downstream industries to process solid waste.

The other is waste to energy (WtE), which he said, was a plan by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) for states which enforced the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act 2007 (Act 672), he said during a question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to an original question from William Leong Jee Keen (PH-Selayang) on plans to build a waste incinerator for energy in Malaysia. Leong also wanted to known measures taken by the government o ensure the construction and technology of waste energy treatment plants do not pose a danger to health and the environment.

In tandem with the development in the technology of solid waste treatment based on cyclical economy, Reezal Merican said the solid waste treatment facility by the ministry was not limited to incinerator technology only, but also suitable for other technologies such as Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and Anaerobic Digestor (AD).

He said construction of an Integrated Waste Treatment Facility (IWTF) project in Ladang Tanah Merah, Negeri Sembilan, had been completed and it was now undergoing testing and commissioning process.

There would be three more WtE projects, namely in Rawang, Selangor; Bukit Payong, Johor; and Sungai Udang, Melaka, which are now in the final negotiations on the concession agreement.

He said there were three more locations for the project in the ministry's plans, namely in Seelong, Johor; Semeling, Kedah; and Gebeng, Pahang.

The integrated facilities in these three locations are expected to be offered through open tenders from 2023 to 2027, he added.

He said several conditions were set to ensure the construction of the integrated solid waste management facility would not risk and be harmful to health, like for the proposed technology to be proven effective in the field and in compliance with the conditions and requirements under the Environmental Quality Act (Act 127).

"For example, the gas produced by the WtE incinerator plant will be treated by the air pollution control (APC) system and the quality of its emissions will be monitored on-line by DOE using a continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS).

"Apart from that, installation of public display panels is mandatory on every WtE incinerator, for the public to know the quality of the gas emissions," he said.