JULY 4 Nurul AshikinMost people never heard about Seneca Meadows Landfill. It is in the United States of America. Most importantly, it serves the City of New York as in taking the trash from the Big Apple.
Before Malaysians become all excited about landfills here in our country, they should consider the 275 feet of waste the residents over in Seneca County deal with daily. The situation is not great as the waste releases a stench so powerful it makes those not used to it throw up. Literally have everything come out of you. Those living there have learned to live with it, I don’t know whether I want to live there or in any place in Malaysia with landfills. And if incinerators are not approved for Kepong, then it will stink even more, and I pity the Malaysians who have to live next to a landfill.
Some people have said the Bukit Tagar landfill is the best, and we have no need to worry about incinerators. Berjaya is a public listed company and has commercial priorities. So, I am not quickly going to agree with some people saying there is zero-problem in Bukit Tagar, which is why there is no need for any incinerator.
Populations grow, and garbage will increase with the people, even with recycling.
Better recycling will give us less waste, but the waste remaining meaning the waste which cannot be recycled.
So a choice must be made, to send to a large landfill or incinerate. Landfills will always be large and produce methane, and are risks to waterways. The drinking water can be compromised. Incinerators will have regulatory issues too, but if strictly enforced they do not take up too much space or produce methane.
Transportation to landfills is cost hole over time. If now it is 50km away from the city, when there is more housing and development, any possible incinerator will be further away. What will a landfill 100km away from Kuala Lumpur cost the city?
Bukit Tagar costs RM49 per ton, clearing up to 3000 tons a day. Beringin is RM32 per ton for up to 2500 tons daily. Those places require up to RM145,000 a day to clear the trash into the landfill. So being scared of the cost of incinerators which will be in the millions ignores if the landfill charge is calculated for the long term, it will also be high.
Studying in the US, there was not that much stigma attached to incinerators. Friends joke about how social science students will only get jobs at the incinerator because what is the point of a history degree. But a large landfill is no joke.
I was scarred looking at pictures of landfills in countries like Philippines and Indonesia. Of course the modern landfill is not like those places, but to imagine landfills as perfect solutions is very short-sighted.
Telling people that it’s OK to die from stabbing rather than a shooting is kinda like informing people that death is not a problem, just the manner. Which is how trash is. Recycling is great, but this thinking that landfill is equivalent to recycling is dangerous.
I don’t want people to live in a Malaysian version of Seneca County.
This is exactly why New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to end landfills, even while supporting recycling. He wants to make New York City meet a “zero waste to landfills” goal by 2030.
Let’s keep the support for recycling go on. But after that, we still have to choose a method. It is wrong to package recycling and landfills as complementary. Only thing complementary to recycling, are reducing and reuse, the other parts of 3R.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
