Waste Management Conference and Exhibition 2012

Guest of Honour and Official Oppening by

 YB Dato Sri Douglas Uggah Embas

Minister of Natural Resources & Environment

at

Waste Management Conference and Exhibition 2012

19 July 2102

Puan Halimah Hassan

Director General, Dept of Environment

Encik Abd Aziz b. Long

President of ENSEARCH

Mr. K.N. Gobinathan

Chairperson of WM2012

Encik Habib Husin
Chief Operating Officer Malakoff Corporation Berhad

Encik Zamri Abdul Rahman

General Manager, Worldwide Landfill Sdn Bhd

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and Salam 1 Malaysia,

1. I am indeed honoured to be here this morning to officiate at ENSEARCH’s 10th Waste Management Conference & Exhibition with the theme of “Wastes to Opportunities”. I congratulate ENSEARCH in collaboration with Malaysian Society of Waste Management & Environment for organizing this important conference and would like to thank them for giving me the opportunity to be part of this useful and beneficial event.

Distinguished guests, Ladies & Gentlemen,

2. Those of you who were here for the first day of this event should already be aware of the impact of energy needs on the environment and the role that waste management needs to play in both addressing the potential of generating usable energy from waste as well as the need to manage the wastes from energy generation. You would also be aware of the urgent need to upgrade and modernize our wastewater management systems in order to recover potential sources of energy and other resources of value. Today’s programme will cover Municipal Solid and Hazardous Waste and explore the link between waste management and climate change in Malaysia

3. In 2012, it is estimated that Peninsular Malaysia alone generated 25,000 metric tons of municipal solid waste daily. The bulk of this is food (48%), paper (15%), plastic (14%) followed by glass, metals and other wastes. Regrettably, the primary means of disposing of this waste remains through the system of landfills in the country. A total of 165 landfills remain open and operating in Malaysia. Of these, eight are classified as sanitary landfills, with another 11 sanitary landfills at various stages of construction. A further 131 landfills are closed and no longer receiving waste for disposal. Besides these, at present, we have a single Refuse Derived Fuel plant, and 4 thermal waste treatment plants; on Langkawi, Tioman and Pangkor Islands and in the Cameron Highlands.

4. In terms of priority, the preference hierarchy remains clear. Avoidance, reduction, and reuse remain the most preferred options; recovery and treatment are next, with disposal and landfilling being the least preferred options. These options have proven effective in case studies around the world, and are an integral part of our current waste management policy moving forward. Our target is both ambitious and clear. By 2020, we aim to reduce the amount of landfilled waste by 40% and waste-related greenhouse gases by 38%.

5. In terms of scheduled wastes, Malaysia generated a total of almost 3.3 million, metric tons in 2011. This represents an increase of 6.3% compared to 3 million metric tons generated the previous year. In 2011, the primary scheduled wastes were dross/slag/clinker/ash, gypsum, mineral sludge, heavy metal sludge and e-waste.

6. Of the total scheduled wastes produced in 2011, 1.6 million metric tons (50.57%) were managed under special management approval as stipulated under Regulation 7, Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations, 2005. This represents an increase of 38% as compared to 1.2 million metric tons in 2010. These wastes are mostly from power stations and drinking water treatment plants.

7. Of the remaining scheduled wastes, almost a million metric tons or slightly more than 28% were recovered for re-use; most of which was recovered locally. Only a small faction (0.06%) was exported for recovery in other countries according to Basel Convention procedures.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

8. One of the new stream added to the wastes stream today, are the end-of-life electrical and electronic goods (EEE) and e-wastes (WEEE). These wastes are relatively recent addition to the wastes stream which is attracting increasing attention globally as the quantity generated is rising rapidly.

9. E-wastes management is a concern not only because of the tremendous increase in its quantity but also because it has grown in increasing complexity. E-wastes contain a lot of toxic ingredients such as lead, beryllium, mercury, cadmium and brominated flame retardants. These are highly hazardous substances which may pose both occupational and environmental health threats.

10. E-wastes can also be another source of raw material if it can be efficiently recovered through environmentally sound manner. Recycling of e-waste also contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gases because significantly less energy is used when compared with primary mining.

11. Thus, electrical and electronic products need to be managed throughout their lifecycle. Therefore, involvement of manufacturers and importers in in implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is important. Extended Producer Responsibility means that producers bear a certain degree of responsibility for proper recycling and management of the products that they produced even after the products are used and disposed of".

12. In this regard, there is a need to develop capacity to manage recovery efforts in a sustainable manner. Technologies are evolving rapidly in terms of products, waste streams, and recovery processes. We also need to develop schemes on the collection and segregation of e-waste, including take-back schemes, the initiation of pilot repair, refurbishment and recycling schemes.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

13. In Malaysia, the quantity of e-waste generated from the industrial sector in 2009 was 134,000 metric tonne, covering 7.86% of total waste generated. While in 2010, the e-waste generation increased by 17.9% to 163,000 metric tonne, covering 8.68% of total waste generated.

14. With the amendment of the Scheduled Waste Regulation in 2005, Malaysia has so far managed to handle the e-waste generated from the industrial sectors in an environmentally sound manner. However, we are still working on the management of household e-waste as it requires an effective and efficient collection system. Based on the report from The E-Waste Inventory Project in Malaysia in 2008 funded by Ministry of Environment Japan, the amount of e-waste generated from household, business entities and institutions sector, in 2006 was 653,000 tons, in 2007 was 695,000 tons and in 2008 it was 688,000 tons. On average, Malaysia generated about 700,000 tons of e-waste from household, business entities and institutions sector. Therefore, there is a need for proper collection, segregation and recycling of e-waste system to be established in order to manage the wastes in an environmentally sound manner.

15. To assist DOE in formulating the way forward for household e-waste, pilot project is being carried out in one of the states under JICA funding. This E-waste pilot project is aimed at developing an appropriate, effective e-waste collection system from households. The pilot project is expected to be used as a model for expanding to the nationwide collection system. In the Pilot Project, e-waste from household will be collected by appliances shops, mobile phone shops and hypermarket chains and send to participating e-waste recyclers for recycling. Data collected from this project will be used for nationwide model collection system and policy development by the Department of Environment.

Distinguished guests, Ladies & Gentlemen,

16. Malaysia is well on its way to achieving the indicator that was announced by our Prime Minister, YAB Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak in 2009 at the 15th COP of UNFCCC in Copenhagen. Malaysia’s effort to reduce its carbon emissions intensity of GDP by up to 40% of its 2005 levels by year 2020 has already made important headway. It is interesting to note that one of the major contributors to the reduction is in the area of waste management, for example harnessing palm oil waste to generate electricity.

17. Malaysia is also currently developing a National Carbon Disclosure Programme. Under this programme, corporate and government agencies will be encouraged to measure and report their carbon emissions. This programme is envisioned to be implemented on a voluntary basis at the outset to enable corporations to build the necessary capacity and to put the needed institutions and frameworks into place. This programme is envisioned to be trans-sectoral and the active involvement of entities in the waste management sector will be very much welcome.

18. While Climate Change is currently addressed under several different policies in a number of different government ministries, this issue is part of the broader ambit of Sustainable Development. Therefore, the issue of sustainable development has to be addressed in parallel with waste management. Present efforts such as the zero burn technique, biogas trapping, and the reduction of waste discharge in the rubber industry are a testament to this linkage and the co-benefits that are achieved. ENSEARCH theme for this year’s Annual Waste Conference; “Wastes to Opportunities” further builds on this symbiotic relationship and supports the three pillars of sustainable development ; economic growth, environmental protection, and social equality.

19. It is indeed encouraging that ENSEARCH has continued in its efforts to enhance sustainable practices through its Annual Waste Management Conference. This “Wastes to Opportunities” conference is a constructive step forward as it provides a platform for stakeholders and society to engage in the issues involved in transforming waste into a profitable industry. I am confident in the near future we will see the emergence of industries converting waste into wealth. We hope to see more constructive engagements like this to promote technological advances and effective practices already in use around the world that can be brought to local context via this forum. I look forward to more collaborations and feedback from ENSEARCH, other NGOs and civil societies for innovative better and more effective waste management industry in our country.

20. On that note, it now gives me great pleasure to officiate ENSEARCH’s 10th Waste Management Conference & Exhibition.

Thank you.