On behalf of the Government of Penang, I would like to welcome everyone here to Penang Green Council’s (PGC) Zero Waste Barter Trade programme held in conjunction with World Environment Day 2019.
One man’s trash is said to be another man’s treasure. Bearing that in mind, perhaps we could practice sharing instead of simply throwing away our pre-loved items. After all, many of the items we no longer need have barely been used or are still in good condition. Wouldn’t it be good if they can then be useful to others? By exchanging and sharing, we will not only bring joy to others but also do our part in reducing waste that will be sent to landfills.
For your information, Penang has only one landfill – Pulau Burong – and two solid waste transfer stations at Batu Maung on the island and Ampang Jajar on the mainland. The Pulau Burong landfill serves the entire Penang state and is the final destination for all household and industrial organic waste.
On average, 1,800 metric tonnes of waste are disposed at Pulau Burong on a daily basis. If this trend continues, the long-term sustainability of the landfill will come into question. As it is, the lifespan of Pulau Burong landfill is now down to 37 years.
This same concern applies nationwide. There are currently 150 solid waste disposal sites around the country, with about half or 74 of them expected to reach the end of their lifespan by 2020. In 2018, four waste disposal sites in Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu and Kelantan have ceased operations upon reaching the end of their lifespan. This brings the total number of landfills that are no longer in operation to 165.
As you can see, dealing with waste is a major problem for us, particularly as our population is projected to grow thus resulting in more and more waste in the future. How will our future generations deal with it? In Penang it would be extremely difficult to find new land for a landfill.
In order to address this growing problem, the State Government introduced the waste segregation at source policy in June 2016 as a means of diverting and reducing the amount of waste we send to landfills. This policy is aimed at reducing the cost of waste disposal while developing the recycling industry.
I am pleased to say that Penangites have responded favourably. Our overall recycling rate has increased from 39.22% to 42.69% in 2018, which is way ahead of the national average. However, much more work needs to be done and while recycling helps to reduce waste, we should also look at means of minimising the creation of waste and maximising existing resources.
As for hazardous waste, there are currently no laws regulating the disposal of household light tubes and batteries. That said, we must be aware that these items cannot be treated as general waste as they contain chemicals that will pollute our water and soil. Therefore, I commend PGC for initiating the TUBA collection programme to provide the public with proper ways to dispose light tubes and batteries. I also hope this will help raise more awareness in handling e-waste, particularly as we head towards the Penang 2030 vision of a “Family-Friendly Green and Smart City to Inspire the Nation”.
We also need everyone’s collective effort to practice the 5R concept of Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose and Recycle. This also requires us to take a moment to really think about what we purchase. Do we really need it? Will it end up becoming unnecessary waste?
It is also important to take waste segregation at source seriously by separating our household waste into general waste and recyclables. Our ultimate goal should be to achieve a zero-waste lifestyle. Although this is not an easy achievement, the effort towards it will make a big difference to the future sustainability of our environment. In the words of Michael Jackson, we can “heal the world” and “make it a better place”.
Lastly, I would like to thank you for having me today. Happy trading and may we achieve a zero-waste Penang together.