MALAYSIAN GOVT CLOSES 17 UNSANITARY LANDFILLS, UPGRADES 32 OTHERS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 (Bernama) -- Seventeen unsanitary solid waste
landfills are being closed while 32 others are being upgraded to sanitary
landfills equipped with a leachate treatment plant, Deputy Housing and Local
Government Minister Lajim Ukin said Monday.

He said this was to ensure that landfills in the country were
environment-friendly and safe.

"The government will only develop sanitary landfills equipped with a
leachate treatment plant to ensure that the discharged leachate meets the
Department of Environment's standards and will not pollute rivers and other
water sources.

"Unsanitary landfills identified as a cause of environmental pollution will
be closed permanently," he said in reply to a question by Senator Dr S.
Ramakrishnan in the Senate.

Dr Ramakrishnan had wanted to know of the measures taken by the government
to educate the public to recycle waste and overcome the issue of landfill
shortage in the country.


Lajim said enforcement by 2013 of the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing
Management Act 2007, which would compel households in the country to separate
different types of solid waste at home before it was collected by the
authorities, would increase the rate of recycling among the people and increase
the life expectancy of existing solid waste landfills.

Replying to a supplementary question from Dr Ramakrishnan, the deputy
minister said the government had no plans to give incentives to consumers and
traders who made optimum use of recycled materials to reduce solid waste output.

"However, certain local authorities have taken their own initiative to give
discounts for licence renewal, etc," he added.