IV. ASSESSING INTEGRATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES INTO DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

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D. Major environmental issues in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur

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3. Solid waste pollution

Solid waste pollution can also be considered as a major source of water pollution in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and the Klang valley. This is largely the result of the inability of City Hall and other local authorities to collect and dispose of solid waste in the most efficient and economic manner. The acute solid waste management problems confronting nearly all local authorities in Malaysia stem, to a large extent, from the low priority given to the problem. The Klang valley region produces over 3,500 tons of solid waste per day from households, commercial premises and industrial areas. About two-thirds (2,000 tons) comes from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. The Kuala Lumpur Structural Plan projection is that the city population will reach 2.2 million in 2000 and the solid waste output will double (Lau, 1988). Land space is usually necessary for the final deposit of solid waste and currently a large proportion of the refuse is disposed of through sanitary landfills. If that waste is dumped indiscriminately without prior treatment or planned operation, the dumping ground will later be unsuitable for other uses. In addition, the surrounding area will be subject to infestation by insects and rodents, as well as dust and smoke pollution.

To keep transportation costs to a minimum, sites are often located very close to urban areas. If dump sites are located far from the city, waste disposal contractors might take the easy way out by dumping the waste on any unused site in the town locality; such cases have occurred in the past. But because the dumpsites are located near residential areas, the problem of depreciating property values has occurred in those areas. Depreciation can also occur in property along the roads leading to the disposal sites.

Several problems have been encountered with solid waste disposal including:

• An insufficient number of approved dumping grounds. As a result of objections from various government agencies, several possible dumping sites have not received approval;
• A shortage of labour for the collection and disposal of waste;
• Indiscriminate disposal of waste, making collection difficult.

The Klang valley region has two main dumping grounds, both of which are located in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur at Jinjang and Sri Petaling. Illegal dumping also occurs in areas, which have not been gazetted; those areas are often rivers, and ex-mining or vacant land. Open storage or dumping of solid waste also encourages unauthorized scavenging and attracts stray dogs and animals, contributes to littering and creates a potential health hazard. Kuala Lumpur, however, is no longer able to provide land for landfill operations and will have to resort to incineration in future.

City Hall appears to be committed to providing efficient and cost-effective waste disposal. Many objectives, policies and programmes have been formulated to deal with the high economic and social cost of waste and its threat to the environment. Since the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur is facing the problem of scarcity or non-availability of suitable landfill sites, it is considering the use of incineration as a means of waste disposal. It is seeking to improve and upgrade the sanitary and engineering standards of existing landfill sites as well as lengthen the life span of each site. Future landfills will be planned, designed, constructed and operated in accordance with sanitary and engineering standards in order to protect the environment and avoid the potential danger of costly corrective clean-up operations. Another objective of City Hall is to ensure that there are no further disposal of solid waste, sediment from mining and earthworks, and untreated effluents into rivers and drains (Lau, 1988).

City Hall discourages heavy, pollutant-generating industries in the city and has sought to relocate such industries elsewhere. Instead, it encourages the growth of non-polluting, non-hazardous, high technology and small-scale industries. While regulating hawker areas, City Hall carries out upgrading of squatter areas, and improvement and resettlement programmes. City Hall also facilitates and intensifies the involvement of the private sector in waste management and environmental conservation as a whole. As solid waste management requires long-term planning, City Hall has integrated solid waste management planning into its city development plan (Lau, 1988).

In general, Kuala Lumpur has adequate laws for controlling and regulating waste management. Among those laws are:

• The Local Government Act, 1976;
• The Street, Drainage and Building Act, 1974;
• The Refuse Collection, Removal and Disposal (Federal Territory) Act, 1981;
• Park (Federal Territory) By-laws, 1981;
• Hawkers (Federal Territory) By-laws, 1979;
• City of Kuala Lumpur (Earthworks) By-laws, 1975;
• The Federal Territory Planning Act, 1982.

Under the Street, Drainage and Building Act, 1974, persons depositing of dirt etc. on streets are liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding M$ 500 (M$ 1,000 for construction waste). Under Part VII of the Local Government Act, 1976, persons committing a nuisance in streams is, on conviction, liable to a fine not exceeding M$ 2,000 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both a fine and imprisonment. Any person who pollutes streams with trade wastes etc., will, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding M$ 5,000 or to term of imprisonment not exceeding two years, or to both a fine and imprisonment. Overall, the enforcement of those laws is reasonably well implemented. However, the penalties need to be increased in order to inculcate civic consciousness among the public, reduce the potential danger to public health and the environment from waste, and lower the cost of cleaning up (Lau, 1998).

The low priority given by the local authorities to solid waste management is attributable to financial and manpower constraints. That has resulted in the common practice of burning waste in the majority of dumping grounds. Uncontrolled burning of that nature invariably leads to air pollution problems in the form of dust, smoke, grit and obnoxious gases, which is an offence under the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations, 1978). While sewage, industrial effluent and solid waste discharges continue to be the main source of pollution in the Klang valley, palm oil and rubber effluent discharges are no longer a major source of water pollution in that area (Koh, 1986).

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