APRIL 14 — I read with extreme concern that a fire broke out in Cenviro Sdn Bhd (Pusat Kualiti Alam), in Bukit Pelanduk, Port Dickson as reported in Malay Mail on April 12, 2024.
To my understanding the fire was the third fire at the centre. The first thing that crossed my mind was why does Cenviro Sdn Bhd (Pusat Kualiti Alam) not learn from the fires that happened in the years 2015 and 2019 but allow the same fire to recur?
Kualiti Alam was set up in the late 1980s after a study conducted by a Danish firm Dames and Moore. As a result of the study DOE enacted the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 1989 to properly manage scheduled wastes generated in Malaysia.
Cenviro Sdn Bhd (Pusat Kualiti Alam) is a company licensed by the Department of Environment (DOE), to handle scheduled wastes. It has great responsibilities when it accepts wastes from industries to treat in the centre. Cenviro Sdn Bhd (Pusat Kualiti Alam) was to render all waste collected innocuous before their final disposal or burial.
I expect Cenviro Sdn Bhd (Pusat Kualiti Alam) to carry out thorough analysis to ascertain the content of the wastes collected and to take measures to segregate the wastes stored and also foresee any possible side reactions within the wastes.
It is not good for the management to assure the public that they are monitoring the air quality after the fire. In a fire of chemical waste, the same chemical or new chemicals resulting from the combustion would be released into the atmosphere.
In a fire it is not within the control of Cenviro Sdn Bhd (Pusat Kualiti Alam) to do anything on the resultant waste that was airborne. Under such circumstances, a waste management company has instead generated unmanaged wastes.
The company did not reveal the waste that triggered a fire in the waste storage. There was also no information on the quantity of the waste involved. From the photograph published, I would only deduce the fire could involve hundreds of tons of the waste.
I would suggest the Department of Environment conducts a thorough investigation of the fire to prevent the same fire from happening in future and also prevent fires involving other scheduled wastes. The DOE could get experts from the industry to assist if necessary.
The public does not want more pollutants in their air.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
