MIRI, Dec 22: There is a serious need to address reducing waste going to the landfill as it was estimated that RM17 million were spent on waste management annually.
Based on record, Miri City Council (MCC) Mayor Adam Yii revealed that the City Council received 78,586.28 tonnes of waste in the year 2019, with an average of 220 tonnes of waste generated on a daily basis.
“This, if converted into monetary basis, the expenditure spent for the waste management (collection, transportation, disposal and treatment) is around RM17 million.
“Therefore, if 73.6 per cent of waste can be recovered or recycled via compulsory waste separation, MCC can save an estimated amount of RM12 million and utilise the money for other development purposes such as infrastructure development and others,” he emphasised in a media release today.
A study on Integrated Solid Waste Management in Miri in 2018 he added, indicated that the waste composition in Miri City was 39.8 per cent food residue, followed by plastic (19.6 per cent), papers (14.2 per cent) and other types of waste (26.4 per cent).
This matter was raised following his site visit to the Lambir’s Waste Transfer Station and Bekenu’s Sibuti Sanitary Landfill together with the City Services (CS) Standing Committee and Green Community and Environment Development (GCED) Standing Committee on Dec 17.
“It was visible that the waste segregation is very poor and the Miri City Council urged everyone to play their part to segregate and reduce wastage.
“The city council should seriously look into the reduction of waste going to the landfill. This will help to prolong the lifespan of the cell,” he said.
Following the visit to familiarise on the operations and maintenance of the waste management facilities, MCC has decided to improve the leachate containment pond at Lambir’s Waste Transfer Station while the proposed construction of another cell at Bekenu’s Sibuti Sanitary Landfill will be prioritised in the list of projects under 12th Malaysia Plan.
“The council will design a long-term solution for the leachate pond at Lambir’s Waste Transfer Station while waiting for the new transfer station to be ready.
“As for Sibuti landfill, the city council will need to look into the proposed construction of Cell No. 5 urgently,” he highlighted on the matters planned to improve the two waste management facilities.
The committee, Yii added, also aims to identify possible methods of waste reduction, either through active promotion of recycling activities or intervention of new technologies to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill. — DayakDaily
