By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Jan 18: Local councils in Sarawak are allocating a portion of their revenues to solid waste management, which includes the upkeep of landfills, says Minister for Public Health, Housing, and Local Government Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
Dr Sim, who is also the Deputy Premier of Sarawak, stated that on average, Sarawak collects approximately 718,456 tonnes of municipal waste per year, and that the amount of waste collected by local councils is growing annually.
“The rapid increase in population, economic growth, and rise in living standards in Malaysia as a whole brought together a huge increase in municipal waste, and municipal waste collection will end up in landfills.
“As you all know, Sarawak Councils need to spend a portion of their revenue to manage solid waste, which includes landfill maintenance.
“Based on the data provided by the Councils in 2019-2020, it shows that more than 30 per cent of the Council’s revenue was spent for that purpose,” he said this today prior to officiating at the Kuching South City Council’s (MBKS) prize presentation ceremony of the recycling competition and the ‘Recycle For Life Cycle Poster’ Inter-school Competition 2022 in the Kuching and Kota Samarahan Zones, which was held at the Borneo Cultures Museum here.
He went on to say that if no efforts are made to recover recyclable materials, solid waste management will eventually deplete the Council’s financial resources.
“Therefore, various educational programmes on 3R (reduce, reuse, and recycle) practises in the community are needed to strengthen the community awareness on environmental protection and reduction of waste in landfills,” he added.
Dr Sim continued stating that a total of 111 schools from the entire recycling programme, including 69 schools from the Kuching and Kota Samarahan Zones and 42 schools from the Sibu and Sarikei Zones, collected a significant amount of 330,719kg (219,375kg from the Kuching and Kota Samarahan Zones; 111,344kg from the Sibu and Sarikei Zones) recycled items over a six-month period beginning on May 1, 2022 and ending on Oct 28, 2022.
Regarding electronic waste (e-waste), he noted that 163.3 metric tonnes of e-waste were collected in Sarawak during the e-waste campaign.
Among others present at the event were Deputy Minister for Public Health, Housing, and Local Government (Public Health and Housing) Michael Tiang Ming Tee, MBKS mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng, and Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman Lo Khere Chiang. — DayakDaily
