{"id":6127,"date":"2019-01-09T20:04:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T20:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/2020.ecoknights.org.my\/?p=6127"},"modified":"2020-02-13T07:23:55","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T07:23:55","slug":"garbage-separation-drive-turning-out-to-be-a-wasted-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/garbage-separation-drive-turning-out-to-be-a-wasted-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"Garbage separation drive turning out to be a wasted effort?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Category: <\/strong>News<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: Wednesday, 09 January 2019 20:04<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rubbish bins turned upside down in the garbage area of a condominium in Kuala Lumpur. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

PETALING JAYA: Public apathy coupled with the indifference of the authorities has raised questions on the success of the mandatory waste separation, more than three years after it was announced in September 2015.
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The public was initially given a grace period of six months, with enforcement slated to take effect in June 2016.
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But many don\u2019t seem to care. And neither, it appears, do the authorities.
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Yasmin Rasyid, from environmental group EcoKnights, says one of the problems lies with the garbage collectors.
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\u201cAmong the feedback we received was that garbage collectors aren\u2019t doing their part. When they collect garbage, they mix everything up.
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\u201cSo those who separate their waste see this as a wasted effort on their part.\u201d
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She said there was also a \u201cbig gap\u201d in terms of education, age and awareness.
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Citing her own neighbourhood, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, as an example, Yasmin said many were receptive to the idea of separating their garbage.
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\u201cBut the pick-up rate for waste segregation is pretty low in other areas.
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\u201cWe are still working on understanding what separates those willing to segregate their waste and those who are not interested,\u201d Yasmin told FMT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The waste separation rule was formulated in 2014 under the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007, and enforced in September 2015.
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The move would have affected millions of households in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Pahang, Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Perlis and Kedah.
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But Yasmin, who founded EcoKnights in 2005, said some members of the public lacked the proper tools, such as recycling bins.
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\u201cAt the federal level, they have not sorted this out.\u201d
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She said in Petaling Jaya, the city council (MBPJ) started a pilot programme where each household was provided with a separate bin to place their recyclable waste.
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\u201cThe community has grown used to the idea. Maybe some people need proper bins to encourage them to separate their waste, but in actual fact, it is a no-brainer. You just separate reusable waste from non-reusable waste.
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\u201cThe latest complaint we received was that the bin is too small. But it does not matter how big the bin is, as long as you separate the waste \u2014 that is what matters,\u201d she said.
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The project referred to by Yasmin was introduced by MBPJ in 2017 in Section 11, Petaling Jaya. Residents were required to place recyclable waste in large, clear plastic bags to be collected by MBPJ once a week.
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New plastic bags were placed in letterboxes for the following week\u2019s collection.
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It was reported that prior to that, Section 20 or Damansara Kim was the first to participate in such a project.
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Having pioneered the waste separation effort in her neighbourhood, Yasmin said she was hopeful that post-May 9, the federal government would have a more centralised method of handling waste.
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Turning waste into something useful
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One of the reasons why landfills continue to be a \u201cpopular\u201d way of disposing of trash is the limited availability of avenues to turn recycled waste into something useful.
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\u201cWe found that trash collected by gross pollutant traps is sent straight to the landfills. And I have people knocking on my door telling me that they can create all sorts of usable objects out of such waste.
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\u201cBut the problem is, no one is interested in cleaning up this trash. To some, these are precious resources, but because the majority of people don\u2019t have the capacity to wash and shred them into reusable components, they end up in landfills.
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\u201cThis is the missing link. I am trying to find interested parties \u2014 startups and those with technology \u2014 to treat such waste.
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\u201cRight now, we have an abundance of \u2018resources\u2019 but we don\u2019t have an efficient way of processing them,\u201d she said.
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Yasmin said it was time for the local authorities to take enforcement seriously.
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\u201cThey need to engage with the guys who have the technology to process waste. We, as NGOs, can handle the communication, awareness and engagement. The local government should come in with enforcement.
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\u201cIt takes one generation to make these changes work. In the past, we had very good waste programmes; I grew up with some good ones.\u201d
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She said the public was often confused with new programmes whenever a new minister took over.
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\u201cWhat we need is a blueprint to keep the country clean and citizens more responsible.
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\u201cWe have some of the best policies in place. But who is keeping track of their effectiveness?\u201d
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Sharing her experience on the usage of recycling bins, Mariam Ahmad, a housewife, who lives in an apartment in Gombak, said there were bins which were designated for waste separation on each floor of the condominium block, but these were not being used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Garbage collectors often lump segregated items together. (Bernama pic) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe separate our waste as much as we can.
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\u201cBut one day, I noticed that the recycling bins were turned upside down. I turned them over so I could put my separated trash into the bins. But a few days later, I saw the bins turned upside down again.
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\u201cIt was then that I realised that these bins were not being put to use by the condo management,\u201d she said.
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Another resident, Jacob John, from Wangsa Maju, said he had been separating his household waste, but found it difficult to dispose of the reusable waste.
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\u201cNo permanent location has been provided by the government since they made the announcement. We don\u2019t know where to dispose of waste which we have separated.
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\u201cThere is a centre operated by the local community, but I think they cannot handle the amount of waste being channelled to their bins.
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\u201cMost of the time, I see waste overflowing from these bins, or just left outside of the bins. It creates a mess over time.\u201d
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He said the garbage collectors also would not separate the reusable items.
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\u201cThey all end up together with the non-reusable waste.
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\u201cThe previous garbage truck operators used to separate trash at a nearby open space. But this batch of operators don\u2019t seem to be doing that,\u201d he said.
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Student Gabrielle Fong agreed that the majority of Malaysians still found waste separation a \u201cforeign\u201d idea.
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\u201cThe bins are there, but people are still confused as to what type of waste goes into which bin.
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\u201cSome just cannot be bothered. Maybe they fail to understand that what they pollute will end up harming them one day.
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\u201cI think there is still much that can be done in terms of awareness.
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\u201cThe government needs to keep this separation-of-waste programme going if they are really serious about reducing waste at landfills,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: https:\/\/www.freemalaysiatoday.com\/category\/nation\/2019\/01\/06\/garbage-separation-drive-turning-out-to-be-a-wasted-effort\/<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Category: News Published: Wednesday, 09 January 2019 20:04 PETALING JAYA: Public apathy coupled with the indifference of the authorities has raised questions on the success of the mandatory waste separation, more than three years after it was announced in September 2015. The public was initially given a grace period of six months, with enforcement slated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6130,"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6127\/revisions\/6130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecoknights.org.my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}