Children live among piles of trash with their families here.
Compared to 25 years ago, awareness of environmental issues among the public and businesses in Malaysia has increased significantly, with more environment-related terminologies and concepts being introduced, from “reduce, reuse, recycle (3R)” to “sustainable development”, and now “ESG” and “circular economy”.
The mainstreaming of these concepts across all businesses is particularly important to ensure that business entities play their part in caring for the environment while generating profits or wealth from their operations.
Similarly, from the Government’s perspective, significant progress has been made in many areas, with numerous comprehensive plans, guidelines, policies, blueprints and regulations developed over the past few decades.
Ironically, despite these advancements, many people may not be aware that there are a total of 136 waste disposal sites across the country, nearly 85% of which are still non-sanitary or open dumpsites.
A filepic showing Theng taking photos of the Bukit Beruntung landfill for research purposes; in the past two decades, he has visited over 50 landfill sites to see and capture the types of waste disposed. - Photo by NORAFIFI EHSAN / The Star
The lack of budget allocation for final disposal has led to the mismanagement of most of these sites, resulting in serious impacts on both the local population and the surrounding environment.
Currently, the Government is planning to shift from conventional landfilling to waste-to-energy (WTE). The Housing and Local Government Minister (KPKT) Nga Kor Ming had announced the Government’s plans to build 18 WTE plants across the country by 2040, claiming that this initiative will be able to turn waste into wealth.
‘Waste to wealth’ should be interpreted carefully
We often hear terms like “waste-to-wealth”, “trash-to-cash”, or even “waste-to-money”, but is this truly the case? Can waste be seen as an untapped resource? Can we consider waste as a revenue stream? When we segregate and sell recyclables, such as old newspapers and plastic bottles, to recyclers or buy-back centres, we receive incentives, thus creating a small form of “wealth”.
When companies operate recycling plants to convert plastics into recycled resins or produce fertilisers from food waste, they are likely generating much greater “wealth” from waste. The potential wealth from waste can increase further when a company signs a long-term concession agreement awarded by the Government, such as providing waste collection services in a state or building and operating a WTE plant.
Waste specialist Dr Theng Lee Chong is the coordinator for environmental projects between Malaysia and foreign governments.
Nevertheless, the “Waste-to-Wealth” concept should be interpreted carefully, as the examples mentioned above only represent part of the whole picture. Valuable items such as old newspapers and plastic bottles are segregated for a small financial return, but little attention is given to items with no apparent value, such as food waste, used disposable diapers, and even hazardous materials like fluorescent lamps and waste batteries.
These items are often discarded into general waste bins, ending up in disposal sites where they contribute significantly to pollution.
Similarly, on the other side of the story, when companies generate revenue from long-term contracts for building WTE plants or providing waste collection services, the real burden falls on the shoulders of the Government or taxpayers.
The Government has revealed that approximately RM3bil is spent annually on solid waste management and public cleansing in Malaysia. If waste is still portrayed as a source of wealth at the same time, this is highly misleading and contradicts the reality.
No government in the world has made waste management its primary source of income or wealth. Waste management remains a significant cost for all countries, whether developed or developing.
Therefore, the Government should be mindful that
promoting “waste-to-wealth” from their perspective is misleading. Instead, they should educate the public on the actual costs involved in proper waste management and emphasise that waste is a responsibility.
Wastes that have no value shall not be neglected
Let’s take a closer look on the values of wastes as a whole, we will then realise that only limited types of waste carry positive values:
Waste with positive value*
Black and white papers, magazine papers, old newspapers, carton boxes; some types of plastics (e.g. PET, PE, PP), aluminium cans; recyclable metals, industrial E-wastes, certain type of glass bottles, certain type of household E-waste (e.g. air-conditioners, computers, mobile phones); certain type of food wastes (e.g. husks from food industries).
Waste with low or negative value*
Most of the food wastes; wood and green wastes; contaminated papers, tissue papers, carbon papers; paper straws, cups and containers; certain types of plastics (e.g. PS, PVC); plastic laminates; leather; rubber; certain type of household e-waste (e.g. washing machines and refrigerators); used batteries; non-recyclable metals; used beverage cartons; disposable diapers, lady napkins; medical wastes; agriculture wastes; fluorescent lamps; construction debris; tiles and ceramic; textiles; household and industrial hazardous wastes (e.g. insecticide spray cans, chemical wastes and more).
It is obvious that many types of waste require proper management, particularly safe disposal, to minimise their adverse environmental impacts. However, it is common for people to focus more on the value of waste, rather than how it should be properly managed, especially when the waste has little or no value, or when it requires payment for safe disposal.
Putting too much emphasis on the potential monetary returns from waste may lead to neglecting the need for proper disposal, causing low- or negative-value waste to be dumped in disposal sites. This highlights the dangerous side of focusing too much on the wealth that can be derived from waste, which may eventually reduce the willingness to invest in proper waste management in the long run.
Be holistic when driving towards ESG
Waste management is a crucial and integral part of the ESG framework. Thus, fostering innovative thinking to create markets or turn waste into valuable items is essential.
Nevertheless, it is important to have a clear understanding that the focus should not solely be on the potential value of waste. Instead, a holistic approach is needed to ensure that all waste is managed properly, nothing is overlooked, and, most importantly, there is a willingness to pay for appropriate waste management when necessary.
Waste cannot be wealth for everyone, and not all waste can generate wealth. If it were otherwise, we wouldn’t have so many dumpsites across the country still requiring significant funds to manage.
While “waste-to-wealth” may be a viable concept for businesses, it is not a reality for governments. We certainly do not want to create more waste and then believe it benefits the poor.
* Note: Some materials could fall in between negative and positive value subject to many factors including the logistics of collection, impurity, quantity and quality of wastes.
