KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Studies by the government last year showed the average Malaysian produced 800gm of solid waste a day. 

Those living in urban areas produced 1.25kg of waste a day.

This led to an estimated 30,000 to 33,000 tonnes of waste being produced a day last year, compared to 22,000 tonnes of solid waste produced daily in 2012. 

Deputy Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique said the ministry viewed this as a major problem because the latest figure exceeded the government’s projected waste production of 30,000 tonnes daily by 2020. 

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“An individual should not be producing more than 80gm of waste daily and what is happening in the urban areas is alarming,” she said when launching an anti-litter campaign in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2014.

She said those who often littered in urban areas were motorists and as such the campaign was aimed at them.

“For a start, we want to ensure motorists stop discarding their waste from vehicles,” she said.

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The campaign, launched at Wangsa Walk in Wangsa Maju, saw ministry staff distributing anti-littering campaign stickers to motorists in the area and at the Sungai Besi toll plaza.

Halimah said the ministry also planned to increase the recycling rates from the current 10 per cent to at least 22 per cent by 2020. 

“On a separate matter, Halimah said the ministry supported the call by the prime minister to abolish the licensing fee for petty traders.