NOVEMBER 20 — First off, congratulations are in order for the Selangor state government for finally approving the Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) facility next to the Jeram landfill in Kuala Selangor.

This will include a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant, a recycling plant, anaerobic digestion plant, compost plant, construction waste recycling site and a research and development centre. In all honesty, it is a brilliant plan that is long awaited in dealing with our issue of solid waste.

It clearly shows that even with the 3R programme marketed by the state government, there is still a need for better waste management centres to make up for the 3 per cent increase every two years.

At the same time, I am sure that this centre will be coupled with the Selangor waste sorting project which will ask residents to sort their household waste into two simple categories – recyclables and non-recyclables, rather than the hassle multi coloured plastic bag system implemented everywhere else.

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This will be the second time a WTE plant has been mentioned this month, the first being hopefully a similar setup proposed in Taman Beringin, Kepong. Of course, neither of these are the first that will be completed.

The first integrated WTE plant will be in Bukit Merah, Port Dickson, which is already under construction.

National Solid Waste Management Department (JPSPN) director-general Ismail Mokhtar says that this in the final stage of the tender and will be announced by the end of this year.

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The plant in Kuala Lumpur will generate enough electricity to power 57,000 houses for every 1,000 tonnes burned. And according to the piece published on Nov 6, with 2,700 tonnes collected and sent to Jinjang Selatan daily, there won’t be a shortage of trash.

I have yet to see the power production for the plants in Port Dickson or Kuala Selangor, but hopefully these will also be able to generate power for households as well.

WTE technology has, of course, been under attack from a certain NGO which has now made their Facebook page private to bar questions. Additionally, it is quite surprising that they have not mounted a similar challenge against the one in Selangor and Negri Sembilan, for some odd reason.

Among their latest ploy in the press to protest this project, their chairman Lee Chong Tek said that the proposed KL plant’s ability to generate energy equivalent to the ones in Japan was questionable due to the lack of population.

Well, the Japanese also have 21 such plants, whereas we are only planning on having three now, so the seven times less figure should even the figures out.

Also considering the fact that we generate an average of 1.9 kg of solid waste daily compared to the 1.1 kg for the average Japanese, I would believe it safe to say that there will be no shortage of trash.

Another argument is that we should focus on recycling. Well, the Koreans recycle 45 per cent of their trash, and they still have 35 WTE plants.

Also, Ismail has said that the Jinjang Selatan station is overcapacity at 2,700 tonnes, how is that even possible?

At the same time, there needs to be more enforcement to undo illegal dumping sites – as highlighted by Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, as well as the state of Selangor which announced it discovered 166 illegal dumping sites.

Personally, it seems to me that there is a disconnect between the NGO and the facts on the ground brought forward by JPSPN, the states of Selangor and Negri Sembilan, and even the rest of the countries which have embraced WTE technology.

Perhaps everyone else is wrong and they are the only ones right. Who knows.

What I do know, however, is that we need integrated, long term solid waste management plans. We need to rely less on landfills and move forward in both recycling and WTE technology in order to deal with the increasing demand on our waste management system.

We have leisurely delayed discussing this matter because of our continuous dependency on landfills, whereas our close neighbour to the south in Singapore has established four such plants to deal with their waste in perpetuity out of necessity.

The truth is, we are playing catch up. And with current technology, proper maintenance and even educating the general public on the importance to reduce, reuse and recycle in all shapes or forms, we will create a better future for ourselves, and the growing population of generations to come.

*This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.