Collective effort in managing waste - The Star

24 June 2017

Rubbish problems reduced but residents should also play their part in keeping Selayang clean

POOR rubbish collection has been the hot topic at Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) fullboard meetings and among the local leaders and community in Selayang over the past four months. But the good news is, the nightmare should be resolved by August.

KDEB Waste Management Sdn Bhd, which took over rubbish collection from MPS four months ago, had faced teething problems.

The company said that although area-wise, Selayang is slightly smaller than the Ampang Jaya municipality, the waste that contractors are collecting from Selayang is twice as much.

Besides domestic waste in residential areas such as Kampung Selayang Baru, Kampung Kerdas, Taman Sri Gombak, Bukit Idaman, Taman Bidara and Medan Batu Caves, there is bulk waste from factories.

The amount was overwhelming and the contractors were unprepared, resulting in rubbish piling up in various areas, including Kampung Selayang Baru, making them an eyesore aside from being health hazards.

However, it seems things are improving and the Selayang population can literally breathe easier.

According to a news report, public complaints over uncollected rubbish in the Selayang municipality has reduced drastically this month.

Up to June 19, there were 104 complaints compared to 441 in April and 371 last month.

KDEB stated that it would allocate 32 compactors in addition to the existing 12 servicing Selayang, to put an end to the problem.

Another 20 roll-on/roll-off garbage trucks will also be delivered at the same time.

MPS president Suliman Abd Rahman had appealed to ratepayers to be patient for another two months and ambitiously announced that the local council would be aiming for near-zero complaints.

He further said KDEB should be given time to get on top of the problem and show results.

He admitted that MPS needed to have stricter rules against litterbugs and to curb illegal dumping.

At the same time, he lamented that it was difficult to prevent people from Kuala Lumpur crossing the border, especially at the Selayang market area, to throw rubbish in MPS’ jurisdiction.

The local council had gotten rid of numerous illegal dumpsites in the area last year and keeping an eye on the hotspots, including Batu Caves.

The presence of a large number of foreign workers is not helping matters. For example, a bungalow in Taman Selayang Baru was found to be housing about 30 foreign workers.

Consequently, garbage trucks end up making two to three trips to clear all the rubbish from just one neighbourhood. And the scenario is repeated in several areas.

This situation was not earlier accounted for by KDEB in its inventory when handed the waste management contract for Selayang.

At Selayang Mulia apartments and many other low-cost flats in Selayang, waste piles up next to the rubbish collection centres as residents leave their refuse on the ground because the bins at the collection point are full.

Exacerbating the problem, many foreigners reside in these flats and they are not educated in the proper method of disposing their rubbish.

Some throw their rubbish along the roadside and the waste is washed into drains and rivers, eventually causing floods.

There is hope yet, if MPS can get the 92 low-cost flats in its jurisdiction to follow the sterling example set by Kenanga Apartment in Taman Gombak Permai, Batu Caves.

Its Joint Management Body (JMB) committee established a recycling programme last year and since then, household waste at the premises had decreased by half.

Even better, residents learned to value recyclable materials as they could exchange those items for cash vouchers that could be used to buy groceries and pay maintenance fees. This in turn helped residents in settling their fees on time, thus reducing such arrears.

Best of all, they enjoy a cleaner environment at the apartment grounds now.

Interesting to note is that Kenanga Apartment too has many foreign workers staying there.

So, clearly the mountain of garbage KDEB faces is not insurmountable and can be conquered. All it requires are the will and some creativity from everyone.

http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/views/2017/06/24/collective-effort-in-managing-waste-rubbish-problems-reduced-but-residents-should-also-play-their-pa/

NGOs call for engagement with ratepayers to prepare for solid waste law - The Malay Mail

15 Sept 2015  By Farahin MH Noor

IPOH, Sept 15 — Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have called for  an extensive public engagement exercise to get residents prepared for the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Act, touted to take effect within the next couple of years.

Ipoh Ratepayers and Taxpayers Association deputy president Victor Sankey said although the move to privatise waste collection was good, it could turn out to be a failure in Perak.

He said he was not aware of whether Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp) had met ratepayers to explain its disposal operations. 

“As far as I know, there has been no public engagement. We are ill-informed about the solid waste management plan. No party has made any attempt to clarify the matter to the public,” he said. 

Sankey said there should be town hall meetings with NGOs, communities and residents associations to ensure efficiency of implementation once the Act was enforced.

“Such meetings will help iron out ambiguities, answer inquiries as well as entertain proposals raised by the ratepayers,” he said.

Perak Consumers Association president Abdul Rahman Said Alli said the implementation of the Act would encourage recycling. However, the implementation mode was wrong, and it should not be  profit-based.

“The company’s priority should be to serve the people because we, the taxpayers, are their biggest funder,” he said.

Abdul Rahman said he was not against privatisation of services, provided they were carried out in accordance with the law.

“Both the state government and SWCorp must declare the operational cost to the people so they can see the value for money that they will receive,” he said.

Ipoh City Watch (ICW) president Dr Richard Ng said the state government should adopt the Act.

“The people have been yearning to have good waste management services. ICW urges the state government to go for it,” he said.

“The current waste management system is no longer efficient. There are over 2,000 illegal dumpsites in Ipoh alone, and they make up about two-thirds of the whole of Perak.”

Ng said by signing the waste disposal agreement, the local councils could hand over the waste management service to efficient and effective parties.

Solid Waste Management In Perak - Ipoh Echo

Jul 1, 2015

Ipoh was declared a city on May 27, 1988 with the Ipoh City Council or Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh (MBI) headed by a ‘Datuk Bandar’ or mayor administering an area size of 643 sq km and a population of about 720,000 people. It is divided into 23 zones each headed by an appointed councillor and assisted by two officers from MBI, who are normally residents of the zones. With the slogan ‘Ipoh Bersih Hijau dan Membangun’ it strives to make Ipoh a liveable city.

In April 2014, Ipoh was ranked by the US News as one of the nine best places to retire in the world. It declared Ipoh as the world’s third most affordable city after Vietnam and Thailand.

However, many Ipohites are also unhappy with the services rendered by MBI, especially those related to garbage, uncut grass and unclean drains. Residents fear the spread of dengue, as a result. Many have voiced their complaints through MBI’s hotline and Whatsapp while some brought their predicament to their respective councillors and the media.

Mayor Dato’ Harun Rawi recently announced that Ipoh City Council had received 6310 complaints from the public on various issues for the first quarter of this year. Of this 1263 complaints were on illegal dumpsites, farm wastes and dirty drains. The mayor too announced that 5179 or 82.4% of the complaints had been acted upon. On behalf of Ipoh City Watch, I wish to congratulate the mayor and MBI for having achieved their Key Performance Indicator (KPI) of minimum 80% set.

However, we are not sure if the 1629 illegal dumpsites identified at end 2014 have been reduced. This is not to say MBI has not taken action. Some of the problems lie with the perpetrators. MBI should also look into its KPI for enforcement to ensure that the perpetrators are caught and punished to deter others from doing the same.

Having a fixed schedule for garbage collection will help reduce the illegal dumpsites. The Council should also provide garbage bins to residents or enforce a ruling to have residents and business premises to provide their own. Rating by MBI and the health department on eateries should consider garbage disposal and separation of solid waste as criteria.

According to Solid Waste Corporation, each resident generates about 0.7kg solid waste per day. Thus the amount of solid waste generated by the 720,000 Ipohites is about 504,000kg. Based on the recycle rate of about 10%, about 453,600kg x 30 or 13,608 tonnes of solid waste produced each month will end up at illegal dumpsites or the only landfill in Ulu Johan.

Managing the disposal of solid waste by MBI is no easy task, as it involves technical, financial, institutional, economic and social constraints. Thus it is not surprising to see that the number illegal dumpsites will continue to rise until and unless the solid waste is managed properly and people start to change their perception on garbage separation and recycling.

Privatisation of solid waste looks imminent in Perak, one of the two states in the Northern region besides Penang, which has not accepted the terms and conditions stipulated in the agreement to have E-Idaman, the concession company appointed to manage solid waste in Perak. The concessionaire will be monitored by Perak SWCorp pursuant to the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 (Act 672) which was gazetted on August 30, 2007 and enforced on September 1, 2011.

Under the agreement, E-Idaman will take over the solid waste management responsibility from all 15 local councils in Perak. It includes the collection and disposal of garbage, grass cutting, cleaning of drains and providing garbage bins to all residents.

As President of Ipoh City Watch, I am urging the state government to hasten the negotiation process so that Ipohites and Perakeans can enjoy a cleaner and efficient disposal of solid waste.

I visited Langkawi two months ago to see how E-Idaman keeps the island clean. It was so different. I could hardly find any illegal dumpsites. Garbage bins were seen almost every 50m in the town centre. Local councils in Perak can continue playing other roles more effectively developing each area, reduce crime, improve transportation and business opportunity and increase employment rate. These are variables that make Melbourne the most liveable city in the world and Ipoh can achieve that status too in years to come.

Ipoh City Watch is developing a community recycling model involving 250 houses in Jelapang Tambahan with the cooperation of Rukun Tetangga Jelapang and assisted by Perak SWCorp. The project, which began in April, has produced very encouraging results. Some 1376kg or 12.3% garbage has been salvaged from landfill and illegal dumpsites within a period of nine weeks. The success of this model will be shared with other communities so that by 2020 we can help recycle at least 22% of the garbage nationwide.

Dr Richard Ng

Longgokan Sampah Sampai Bila? - PerakNews.Com

6 Jun 2015

Sejak empat tahun lalu, hampir saban hari Nancy Joseph, 64, dan keluarganya, di Taman Pertama, Ipoh, terpaksa menghidu bau busuk yang menusuk hidung, yang datangnya dari longgokan sampah haram berhampiran rumah mereka.

Tikus, lalat dan nyamuk seolah-olah menjadi rakan sepermainannya sehingga dia dan keluarga sepakat membina pagar konkrit bagi menjauhi binatang dan serangga berbahaya itu, yang sering berkeliaran berhampiran rumahnya.

"Sofa lama dan pokok pisang turut dilonggokkan, tetapi yang paling memualkan ialah sampah-sampah basah seperti lebihan makanan turut dibuang di sini, baunya jangan ceritalah," itulah keluhan warga emas ini, yang sepatutnya menghidu udara nyaman dan segar sambil berehat di rumahnya.

Pengalaman Nancy mungkin turut dirasai ramai lagi warga bandaraya Ipoh, lebih-lebih lagi mereka yang tinggal berhampiran tapak longgokkan sampah haram.

Malah apa yang dialami keluarga Nancy mungkin turut dirasaikan oleh keluarga lain di seluruh Perak atau mungkin Malaysia, selagi terdapat manusia yang kurang bertanggungjawab, tiada kesedaran sivik dan mahu ambil mudah, tanpa memikirkan keselesaan orang lain.

Di kawasan pentadbiran Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh (MBI), pernah suatu ketika bilangan tapak sampah haram melebih 2,000 tetai kini semakin berkurangan hasil kerja kuat serta kerjasama masyarakat setempat yang bertanggungjawab.

Apakah MBI atau pihak berkuasa tempatan lain tidak menjalankan tanggungjawab mereka? Pengalaman Nancy mungkin boleh menceritakan segala-galanya.

"Di taman saya ini, kakitangan MBI akan kutip sampah sebanyak tiga kali seminggu, dulu hari Isnin, Rabu dan Jumaat tetapi sekarang hari Selasa, Khamis dan Jumaat.

"Mereka juga akan membersihkan kawasan longgokan sampah haram di sebelah rumah saya, tapi, selepas setengah jam pihak MBI bersihkan, sudah ada orang buang sampah semula, sambil lalu, mereka campakkan sampah," cerita Nancy.

Berdasarkan cerita itu, bukanlah pihak berkuasa tempatan seperti MBI tidak menjalankan tugas, cuma sikap kurang bertanggungjawab dan kurang kesedaran sivik menjadi punca di kalangan warga tempatan.

Ahli Majlis MBI, M Veeran yang ditemui ketika program gotong royong perdana di Taman Pertama baru-baru ini mengakui bahawa pihaknya telah melaksanakan pelbagai program untuk membersihkan kawasan longgokan sampah.

Beliau memberi contoh, di kawasan Zon Buntong sahaja, kira-kira 50 tapak sampah haram dibersihkan tetapi ia tetap berulang-ulang walaupun pihak MBI meletakkan papan tanda larangan membuang sampah di tapak berkenaan.

Sebagai antara Ahli Majlis MBI yang paling aktif kerana kerap menganjurkan pelbagai program kemasyaratan di kawasan jagaannya, Veeran mahu melihat sekurang-kurangnya Zon Buntong menjadi contoh kepada zon-zon lain.

Sehubungan itu, beliau merayu penduduk taman-taman perumahan supaya mengubah sikap untuk bersama-sama menjaga kebersihan kawasan tempat tinggal mereka sendiri, untuk kebaikan mereka dan keluarga sendiri juga.

"Saya cabar warga bandaraya Ipoh, kita mensasarkan negara maju pada tahun 2020, cuma lima tahun lagi daripada sekarang, apakah hanya negara sahaja maju tetapi mentaliti kita masih ketinggalan 20 atau 30 tahun ke belakang," tegasnya.

Communal bins to be provided for festive spring cleaning - The Malaysian Insider

4 June 2015

In conjuction with the Hari Raya celebration, Petaling Jaya City Council's Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Department will be conducting a spring cleaning campaign in several areas in the city from June 6 to July 5.

The department, in a statement, said that it will be providing two three-tonne Roro bins in each selected area for free for city dwellers to dispose of bulk waste.

The service is provided on a "first come, first serve" basis until the capacity of the Roro bins are reached.

Only bulk waste such as furniture, electrical items and household items are allowed to be disposed of in these bins.

Domestic waste, food remnants, garden waste and commercial waste are not allowed.

The public can contact the department at 03-7954 1440 for further information. – June 4, 2015.