YAN, July 6 — The Kedah state government will come down hard on factory operators violating conditions set by the authorities including the Department of Environment (DOE) which led to air pollution in the state.
Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir said the government would not issue license to any factory operators who abuse their operation or those operating illegally.
“We have received complaints (on pollution from recycling factories in Sungai Petani) and from the complaints we have taken actions, among them illegal factories, which we have ordered closed and their equipment seized.
“Despite that, we are still receiving reports that there are some more illegal factories still operating ...including those brought to court,” he told reporters at a Taman Muafakat Dulang goodwill gathering here today.
Mukhriz was commenting on a report of a local daily yesterday on the poor air quality in Bakar Arang, Sungai Petani suspected to be contributed by several plastic recycling factories in the area.
The report also expressed fears Bakar Arang may suffer the same pollution problems as in Pasir Gudang, Johor believed to be from recycling factories which affected the health of the surrounding residents.
Mukhriz also said earlier some factories were ordered to move to Bukit Selambau under more stringent environmental conditions while their original premises had to be closed.
Apart from that, he also found some factories had resorted to burning wastes at night to avoid getting their polluted emission detected by the authorities.
“Such cases were reported to DOE and they had taken the appropriate actions... I was also informed some operators were abusing Customs code by putting clean plastic materials at the door when the container was carrying undeclared materials,” he said. — Bernama
