Current State of Waste Management in Malaysia >>>

20 cities worldwide have been named the inaugural 20 Cities Towards Zero Waste, an initiative led by the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Zero Waste.

Hapag-Lloyd has announced that Effective February 16, 2026 a completed Letter of Indemnity (LOI) is mandatory for shipments of plastic scraps and metal scraps

Stricter controls on imports of plastic waste into Malaysia come into effect from today (1 July), effectively putting the brakes on ‘waste colonialism’ exports from other countries.

On October 26th, the 5th International Training Workshop of Waste to Energy hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and jointly organized by Zhejiang University host of WtERT-China and Zhejiang University of Technology was held online and concluded successfully.

Malaysia faces issues related to waste generation, collection, treatment, and disposal

LYON, France - A new INTERPOL strategic report on global plastic waste management has found an alarming increase in illegal plastic pollution trade across the world since 2018.

The island of Langkawi, situated in the north west of Peninsular Malaysia, is the one of the major tourist attractions in South East Asia with area of around 360 sq km around 100,000 permanent residents (2010). As a result of tourism the number of visitors to the island could reach more than 2 million a year creating strong pressure on municipal services, especially on the waste management system. Further authors: S. Mohd Razi - University of Leeds, UK

As national leaders continue to negotiate the scope of a post-2012 global emission reduction regime, the role that reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) will play in any such framework is high on the agenda. At the same time, the voluntary carbon market is emerging as a valuable testing ground for REDD, with both public actors and the private sector beginning to inject significant capital into developing avoided deforestation projects, despite the absence of established regulatory frameworks. Baker & McKenzie’s experience advising on avoided deforestation deals in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Costa Rica and Brazil indicates that there are significant legal and practical issues which must be addressed to ensure that the carbon asset generated from such projects is robust, and that the project is economically viable.

During the course of this study (June 2005 – November 2006), the Indonesian oil palm industry production overtook Malaysia to become the world’s largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO). With a total planted area of over 5.4 million ha, the annual production of crude palm oil in 2005 was 13.8 million tons processed in 340 palm oil mills (POM). This major commodity generates export earnings in excess of $US 1 billion annually. Numerous new POM are being planned to meet milling shortages. The number of POM and volume of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) being processed gives rise to large quantities of solid and liquid waste. However, as of the date of the present work, waste management practices in the Indonesian OPI have remained virtually unchanged for over 3 decades as shown in Figure 1.

Following a fast-track development planning process, construction of an advance cell was completed in early 2005 at the Bukit Tagar Landfill, located 40km north of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Design of the Advance Phase was completed by TTKonsult in association with Tonkin & Taylor International. Construction commenced in 2004 and the site opened in April 2005. The site received about 0.5Mt of municipal solid waste in its first year of operation. The amount of waste received has now increased to an average of some 2000t/d. The first major cell of the main landfill has recently been constructed and is scheduled to commence accepting waste in late 2007.

The report warns of the staggering amount of mismanaged plastic waste generated and urges action to tackle this important problem.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) welcomes the stricter control on plastic waste imports imposed by the Malaysian government under the amended Customs Order.

Kuching Integrated Waste Management Park (KIWMP) is located in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. It has three main components; sanitary landfill, secure landfill and a hazardous waste incinerator. This site was identified after an intensive geographical and geological research was carried out. The total area covers 112 ha. Both sanitary and secure landfill were constructed section by section using TRISOPLAST as the base liner which is a highly impermeable and in many respects, a liner of superior to conventional liner systems. This seems fit to the requirement of this “fast track” project which was completed on 30th October 2004. In 2005 at the 19th Sardinia Symposium a presentation about the Park in general has already been given (Damiecki et al, 2005). This presentation will focus on the water and leachate management system.

At tropical landfills, the demands on leachate management are often onerous and most acute in the initial stages of a landfill development. The daily and annual leachate generation rates can be very high, and leachate treatment can form a significant proportion of the landfill operating cost. Therefore, the development of an effective leachate management system is an essential part of the financial viability of a tropical landfill. Once the management system is developed, robust financial projections for leachate treatment throughout the life of a project can be derived. The Bukit Tagar landfill, near Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia, illustrates the complexity of developing viable leachate management systems for tropical landfills, and highlights the importance of the relationships between the design, construction and operation.

Waste can be characterized in many ways, most of the time according to and in line with the adopted waste management method. Thus an appropriate analytical protocol for a waste characterization program is essential in ensuring that correct and appropriate data is provided for decision-making in waste management. Ideally the waste management program should look into all aspects of the waste analysis so as to provide an overall and complete picture of the condition of the waste and not just adopt arbitrary waste analysis protocol that would give irrelevant and inadequate waste characteristics.

SUMMARY: This paper reviews the need for renewable energy, through the use of biogas from sewage sludge to generate energy in terms of electricity.

SUMMARY: Poultry manure disposal is a relevant issue in countries of South East Asia due to the constantly increasing demand for chicken products. Since poultry manure is commonly applied in agriculture for its fertiliser value, there is also a market opportunity associated with it. The price for manure varies depending on the market demand, which leads to transportation of untreated manure over long distances. The risk of this procedure is obvious, as diseases can be spread to a wider area.

The use of biomass for combined heat and power (CHP) production becomes increasingly important. On the one hand it substitutes the usage of fossil fuels like coal, oil or natural gas; on the other hand it is neutral regarding the CO2-emissions into the atmosphere. That is the reason why many countries, especially the EU and the USA have launched very ambitious programs for increasing the usage of biomass, especially for power production.