In his usual trademark sarcasm Dr M made a dig HERE at our half-hearted attempts at Solid Waste Management. But there is some truth in his concluding smirk:
Frankly I think the authorities are scared to apply any solution because we are a democracy and no one wants to lose votes.
He would be referring to the BN controlled states, because two Pakatan States, Selangor and Penang have taken bold steps in their campaigns to do away with plastic bags, campaigns that go against the grain amongst our complacent citizenry, ever ready to take the route of least resistance.
Last week I made mention of a Made in Malaysia RRC(Refuse Recovery Centre)-RDF(Refuse Derived Fuel) –WTE (Waste to Energy) plant that gained international recognition and is the only such plant in the region HERE. The word I get is that some quarters in the Housing & Local Government Ministry is looking askance at this Made-in-Malaysia solution/initiative. Is it because the Ministry is making a concerted effort to Federalize Solid Waste Management (SWM). This is of course contrary to Agenda 21 of which Malaysia is a signatory. The UK federalized their SWM, failed miserably and have reverted back to allowing the municipalities/councils to manage their own waste. Municipal Waste Management ideally should be the responsible of each State Government. SWM is big money and I have this niggling suspicion that cronies would be making a bee-line for this big kill. I may be wrong although I hear that a company seeking listing (or already listed in the SC) is the front-runner. If this is so, then it is more like filling the deep pockets of cronies than digging deep into the resources available to manage our municipal wastes!
Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said that if modern technology on the management of solid waste were in place, the lifespan of the landfills could be extended by more than 20 years.
“Sixteen of the 292 landflls in the country had been closed because they were full.”
POLITICAL WILL/SUPPORT IS THE KEY TO ACCELERATE THE SUCCESS OF THE RRC-RDE-WTE NOVEL TECHNOLOGY. CHANGE OF MINDSET FROM DUMPING OR LANDFILLING OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE TO TECHNOLOGY DRIVEN LOCAL SOLUTION IS NEEDED TO ACHIEVE AN INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
A single step.... a start to a long journey to waste control. At least we see a light at the end of the tunnel where everybody has been talking only about saving the environment.
ReplyDeleteI would not bother to give that senile old ex-premier any mileage.He IS rubbish and irrelevant. Did he not fuck-up every institution in this country ? He's frustrated and still thinks of how to enrich his cronies and inject sarcasm in ridiculing all and sundry and regrets his failure in putting the system right for 22 bloody years.He probably is very jealous of head-ways the PR led states are making and getting international recognition and that is killing him slowly.
ReplyDeleteTry as we may.....our ignorance boils down to failure to accepting and developing a mentality that branches away from what we have always thought was acceptable "the asian mentality syndrome" i.e. total lack of discipline and civic conscienceness(sp)being replaced by greater emphasis on religion and coffee-shop attitudes.That's what has been our problem, but we are quick to defend that when accused.
We can till today still see "flying" soiled baby pampers, tissues, finished drink plastic packets and a host of other crap thrown out from moving cars on the highway......and that says alot of our education system....so what can we comment on positively, huh ?
This country needs a total re-think on garbage management. Politics aside, we live in a real third world mentality when it comes to litter.
ReplyDeleteMalaysians at large are not used to cleanliness. Spitting at will and dirty toilets are just a couple of our dirty culture.
Go to the markets. See how filthy and smelly it is.
We cannot put the blame squarely on the authorities, though they are also to blame for not being tough on litter bugs.
Malaysians must learn to dispose rubbish by separating organic and in organic waste. Both these waste products can be recycled and put to good use and at the same time create money making opportunities for whoever dares to embark on such a project.
Though easier said than done, all these begins at home. But even if we do separate our rubbish, where do we throw them? Do we have separate bins for bottles or cans to begin with?
So, lots of baby steps are needed to inculcate a change of mindset when it comes to garbage management and of course, our politicians are aware of it, but need to play a balancing act for fear of losing votes.
Incinerators are currently the most cost efficient method but also a political tool, as seen at the recent Semenyih polls.
So, who's brave enough to embark on a re-think of our garbage management? Who's brave enough to 'talk rubbish' and turn it into an election manifesto?
A GOOD MAN DOES NOTHING.
I came across these postings:-
ReplyDeleteGeronimo: Goodness, Malays who question special rights are traitors? Then what do you call the Malays who allow the invasion of our country by the thousands of illegal immigrants as in the case of Sabah. If this was not bad enough, they were issued with MyKads too.
What do you call the Malays who remove the immunity and powers of the royalties? What do you call the Malays who called the royalties "binatang"? Do you consider them loyal subjects?
Comparing the "questioning of the special rights" and putting our country at risk with the invasion of foreigners, it is quite plain where the truth lies. I hope I will wake up from the nightmare soon.
There's a chinese saying in ref to idiots like him -"Even in death when all organs stop functioning, his lies still froth out of his mouth"!
They tell a lot of stories but then, why, I cannot understand, this Mamak can get away with all the evils and name-calling to everbody that even the royalty could not do anything to him???
Indian's spell???
One of the things that winds me up is that some people throw loads of food away in their garbage. This wet stuff is what produces methane when it's dumped on landfills. Apart from the environmental implications, throwing food away is a moral issue, in fact, I'd go as far to say it's a crime against humanity.
ReplyDeleteOver production of food to give affluent consumers such a wide range of choices is one of the many negative effects of globalisation and is totally unjustifiable in a world where so many millions are dying of starvation.
Aiyoh, growing and feeding animals for food is the biggest environment pollution on earth today. Even cooking bloody animal meat takes lots of gas. If humans can stop eating meat and eat food directly, that itself can prevetn of damage to earth. Give that eaky cavemen habit of eatin animal for food lah!
ReplyDeleteChe Det,
ReplyDeleteWe are the beneficiary of the economic growth, thank you Tun for that, but PLEASE, when we talk about Waste Management, we flunk tremendously. Let's take down the memory lane, Pekan Anak Bukit (close to home) use to have a Pasar or Pekan NAD, locally known, open for business every Sunday Morning. When i was a kid, the rubbish after the pasar nad was over in the afternoon, it was collected by than Sentri boat (Sanitary Board)near the current railway track and either burn or send to dumpsite in Jabi. But now, 45 years has passed, the Pekan Nad moves behind the old dilippidated Majlis Bandaran Anak Bukit building, and guess what, the rubbish are still collected and send to the dumpsite. 45 YEARS HAS PASSED. And now, Alor Star becomes Bandaraya and Anak Bukit is the Bandar diRaja and the Federal Government offices moved to Anak Bukit. Now, lets take a look back at the country's situation:
290 over dumpsites in the country
7 incinerators bought and none are working (public funds), 5 new (RM200 million, no track record)
1 transfer stations, 3 years completed, not working (public funds)
big incinerators - hundreds of millions spend (public fund)
9 new sanitary landfill (290 million, public funds)
Another RM250 million a year to rebrand this service into 2 sector, policying (police) and operation (operators). Wonder who is going to take responsibility when the judge and the accused is sitting on the same side. Did any one ever wonder how much is RM250 million divided over by the 18000 tons/ day of waste generated? Thats RM38 per ton or RM648,000 per day for just employing and monitoring about 2000 to 3000 person per day. If this amount is being trickle down to the real operators, the country would have sparkling clean couple with the cukai pintu being collected by the municipalities.
"Corporate games" of David Cooperfield have to go. "vegetation" carpet and green facades does not eliminate problems, rather procastinating the "time bomb". Our far sighted PM talks about transfromation, reduction in GHG, Renewable Energy, recycling, resource recovery,rakyat didahulukan etc., this words now become RHETORIC when certain privelege persons were given the "fast track" in so called solving the environmental issue and taking advantage of the unsuspecting public chasing the stock market returns through "the story lines" in the media.A very pathetic situation indeed. And this will not go far in building our capital market to be ready for developing Green Initiative market.
9. When 90 over percent of the NEM ix expected to be PFI driven, and yet there are more announcement of public spending being announce in the certain projects even if they are ways of solving it without the good public and limited fund being used.
So Che Det, there's more to talk, but lets look at the basic challenge, Rakyat di Dahuluklan,Kejayaan di Utamakan, means the HIJRAH needs a Mind set Change and Political Will.
SentryBoat.
we already have a lot of solutions but donno why the government doesnt support it...if i'm not mistaken..last year a local company made an effort to convert trash into fuel...what happened??..greenbase something..???
ReplyDeleteAnon212am,an organisation in Seminyih is doing this and supplying power to parts of Kajang town.
ReplyDelete