Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment______________________________________Vol.

15 (2) June (2011)

Res.J.Chem.Environ

Challenges of Solid Waste Management in Malaysia

Nadi Behzad *1, Rodzi Ahmad1, Pirasteh Saied, 1 Shamshiry Elmira2 and Mokhtar Mazlin Bin1

1. SNML, Institute of Advanced Technology (ITMA), University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM., Serdang, Selangor, MALAYSIA
2. Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI),Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia , 43600 UKM BANGI, Selangor, MALAYSIA
*nadibehzad@gmail.com

people (Dept of Statistics, 2005). It is endowed with natural

resources in area such as agriculture, forestry and minerals.
The economy is exclusive based on agricultural
commodities and now is one of the worlds largest
producer of rubber, tin, palm oil, timber among others.
Currently, the government has aspired to diversify the
economy to manufacturing and service based industries
with the former emerging as one of the largest component
of the countrys economy while of recent, tourism serve as
a major source of revenue for the nation as well (Economic
Planning Unit, 2006).The National Development Policy of
the Second Outline Perspective Plan (1991-2000)
categorically states adequate attention will be given to the
protection of the environment and ecology so as to
maintain the long term sustainability of the country
development. Malaysias vision 2020 is that in the pursuit
of economic development, she will ensure that her
invaluable natural resources are not wasted. In line with the
above, the Malaysian Government through the Department
of Environment has formulated its vision, that is, to
contribute towards nation building in attaining a better
level of health, safety and quality of life through
conservation and preservation efforts, prevention and
control of pollution, and protection and promotion of wise
use of natural resources towards sustainable development
for present and future generations.

Abstract
Malaysia is faced with challenges with respect
to the solid waste management sector because of the
increase of population and tourism, economic growth
for sustainable development and inadequate waste
legislation enforcement, infrastructure and public
attitude among residents. This paper gives an
approach of the solid waste management in
Malaysian with the aim of presenting the state of
waste management practices and problems with
regards to environmental, economic and other
ramifications.
Key words: Solid waste management, , environmental and
Malaysian

Introduction
The quality of the environment in many
developing countries particularly in urban areas is rapidly
deteriorating.
Inadequate
municipal
solid waste
management is certainly one of the major contributing
factors to the degrading of environment quality
(UNPDDESA, 2005).
In general, to improve the solid
waste management service in developing countries, there is
the urgent need to modernize the solid waste management
system through the application of the 3Rs (Badgie, 2010).
This paper discusses the waste management system in
Malaysian and the aim of presenting state of waste
practices and challenges consider to environmental and
economical subjects.

Figure 1 shows a policy decisions for SWM at the

decision makers level in consultation with the states. The
council for SWM at federal level and the committee on
solid waste management at state level can be the platform
for consultative discussions between the various
stakeholders to derive appropriate policies and strategies
for implementation programme. Therefore the operational
and implementation plans on waste collection shall be
undertaken by concessionaires, while the local authorities
have the responsibility for monitoring of performance and
enforcements (MHLG, 2005).

Background: Malaysia is a tropical country in South East

Asia with a land area of 329,847km. The country is
separated into two regions (West and East Malaysia) by the
South China Sea. West Malaysia is the Peninsular, which
constitute 11 states while East Malaysia comprises two
states of Sabah and Sarawak, which are situated on the
Island of Borneo. Kuala Lumpur is the capital city while
Putra Jaya is the seat of the federal government.

Solid wastes generation in Malaysia recently

reached towards a crucial perspective especially in terms of
the amount and composition. Annually, waste generation
increased by 3% due to many causes such urban migration,
affluence and rapid development (Agamuthu, 2001).
Therefore early management of solid waste involved very
little effort since the waste was generated at a manageable
level and generally consists of organic materials such as
food leftovers, paper, wood and others (Fauziah et al.,
2007). As Malaysia is a developing country and also has
similar problems such as proper technologies, man power,
land scarcity and other facilities which are insufficient to
cope with the ever increasing rate of waste generation

Malaysia has a tropical climate which is generally

warm and humid throughout the year with temperature
ranging from 21 to 32C and a relative humidity of 80 to
90%. Rain usually occurs between November and February
on the east of the Peninsular Malaysia, western Sarawak
and north-eastern Sabah while on the west coast of the
Peninsular, the rainy season occurs in April May and
October November. The country is a multi-ethnic, racial
and lingual society with a population of 26.6 million as of
February 2007 comprising of 62% Malays, 24% Chinese
and 8% Indians with other minorities and indigenous
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Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment______________________________________Vol.15 (2) June (2011)

Res.J.Chem.Environ
Policy/ Funding Level

Policy/ Programme formulation

Project Implementation/Monitoring (SWM FACILITIES)

Operation Planning/ Implementation (waste collection)

Operation and maintenance

Source: (MHLG, 2005) Figure 1: Proposed Institution Arrangement for SWM

could be reasonably addressed by the adoption of the
following waste management options (Badgie, 2010).

especially. The focus is more for the controlling of volume

compare to direct disposal into landfills (Mohd Armi et al.,
2010). According to obtained statistic from MHLG and
World Bank, 2003and 1999, with increasing population
amount of solid waste generation is increasing too in
Malaysia.

Source reduction and reuse of Solid Waste Implement

in Malaysia: It is important that we reduce the amount of
garbage dumped in municipal landfills for a number of
reasons: Landfills are increasingly short of space and
construction of new landfill sites are vehemently opposed
due to their undesirable nature. All items in a landfill are
effectively lost to society and a waste of natural resources.
Lastly, landfill produces vast amount of pollution, both
methane to the atmosphere and leachates to the soil
(DEFRA, 2009). Reducing the volume, toxicity of waste
generated, including the switch to reusable products and
packaging is often opposed by consumer society.

Sustainable Development and Integrated Solid Waste

Management in Malaysia: Integrated solid waste
management (ISWM) can be defined as the selection and
application of suitable techniques, technologies, and
management programs to achieve specific waste
management goals and objectives (Tchobanoglous et al.,
1993 and NAdi.B.2009). The goal of sustainable solid
waste management is the recovery of more valuable
products from waste with the use of less energy and a more
positive environmental impact (Bagchi, 2004). The ISWM
hierarchy comprises of the following elements: sources
reduction, recycling, waste combustion and land filling.
This hierarchy is a useful conceptual tool for goal setting
and planning at the national level, states and municipalities
(EPA). ). Thus, solid waste management has evolved as the
most challenging task and this problem is further
compounded by the rapidly increasing amounts and
complex nature of waste composition which results from
the growth in urban population and changes in their
consumption patterns. Generally, the greater the economic
prosperity and the higher percentage of urbanization, the
greater the amount of solid waste produced (Hassan, 2000).

The benefits of recycling are two-fold. Firstly,

recycling cuts down the need for disposal capacity and
lowers emission from landfills and incinerators as well as
reduces litter. Secondly, the use of recycled materials in
industrial reduces energy use and emission; lessens impact
when raw material is extracted or manufactured and
conserves raw materials (Agamuthu, 2001). Recycling also
provides a supplementary income source for the lower
income group. Some of the municipal managers are
looking to the development of municipal incinerators
around the periphery of their cities as a first solution in
many countries (Chang et al., 2007). But using incinerator
should be base on universal standards in Malaysia t sever
raining and humidity effect on incinerator implementation.

While developed countries are busy in developing

and implementing waste-to-energy technologies associated
with energy recovery, composting for waste avoidance, and
recycling and reuse, developing countries are still
struggling to decide on the best options to treat and dispose
of waste. Thus waste characteristics provide essential data
for planning waste disposal facilities and for formulation of
waste management strategies (Mrayyan and Moshrik,
2006). Malaysias solid waste management challenges

Usually, waste management authorities efforts are

more concentrated on collection, transportation and open
dumping. The need to develop ways and means in turning
our waste into resources is crucial and worth consideration.
Recycling, reuse and recovery of energy is essential as an
integrated approach towards waste management (Salim,
2008, NAdi et al 2010).

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Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment______________________________________Vol.15 (2) June (2011)

Res.J.Chem.Environ
not properly managed. These are extremely difficult and
perhaps impossible to value in monetary perspective,
however, they should be given consideration alongside the
financial impacts in policy formulation and decision
making (Hajkowicz, et al., 2005). Waste management
strategies generally involve avoidance, reduce, re-use,
recycling, composting and disposal (Hajkowicz, et al.,
2005).The environmental impact will be reduced if more
waste is avoided, reduced, re-used or recycled rather than
disposed. Environmental impacts related to improper
management of solid waste from Malaysia perspective will
include inter alia:
Damage or loss of biodiversity.
Air, Water, Land and Noise pollution
Loss of recreational amenity.
Loss of aesthetics landscape and scenery.
Explosion hazards

Role of integrated waste management and environment

Integrated solid waste management and its role on
environment: In order to get environmental sustainability,
the implementation of integrated solid waste management
with regards to the environment needs to correlate each
other. The approach between economic and technology is
very important because a country with good economy can
afford to acquire state of the art technologies to make the
process of waste management more efficient thus reducing
pollution and environmental degradation. Furthermore,
decision making process as well plays a pivotal role in
ISWM since decision makers decides on the appropriate
technologies in addressing waste management issues.
These arrays of considerations prior to any undertaking
must get opinion from stakeholders with respect to public
health, social and cultural dimension from the community
to ensure the new technology is appropriate and there will
be no potential future problems with regards to public
health and the environment.

An effective solid waste management system is

very necessary to avoid environmental and health related
impacts which invariably will lead to undesirable
consequences for the countrys citizenry and the ecosystem
in general.
Malaysian population has been increasing at a rate
of 2.4% or 600,000 on yearly basis and this has a
corresponding increase of waste generation of
1.7kg/person/day in big cities as well which makes the
municipal solid waste management very pertinent
(Kathirvale, et al., 2003). Consequently these increases in
waste generation invariably increases the cost of managing
the waste by the municipalities concern and the
government in that local government authorities spend on
average 50% of their operating budget on municipal solid
waste management (Latifah, et al., 2008). Furthermore, it
will lead to the acquisition of necessary equipment,
infrastructure, institutional and capacity building to
accommodate the situation which is very expensive. In that
situation, local government authorities are in most cases
incapable of responding to these demands since the
necessary resources to implement adequate solid waste
management system are generally underestimated. The
absence of these consequently leads to inadequate waste
management with far reaching ramification to both public
health and the environment among others (Badgie, 2010,
Nadi et al2010).

Assessment of the waste management criteria: In

assessing the waste management criteria, community
considers all types of municipal solid waste management
option available and chooses the one most appropriate.
There are many factors that can influence the selection
process on the criteria such as waste generation and waste
composition and both of these factors are major players in
determining for planning waste management. Thus
community can assess the management options such as
source
reduction,
reuse,
recycling,
composting,
combustion, incineration, energy recovery, land filling that
reflect the needs and goals of the community. The criterion
for assessment of management options includes:
Despite not expressed in monetary terms there are
many important non-financial impacts of solid waste when

Criteria For Assessment

Cost
1.
Cost-effectiveness
Potential to divert waste from disposal
2.
Potential risks
Technical capabilities
3.
Ability to fund
Ability to maintain local control
Potential of options as a regional
4.
4.
opportunity
Compatibility of the option with the current
Level of change to the existing system
5.
5.
system
required
6.
Flexibility
6.
Public acceptance
Source: Adapted from (Sasikumar and Krishna, 2009)
1.
2.
3.

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Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment______________________________________Vol.15 (2) June (2011)

Res.J.Chem.Environ
Current solid waste management in Malaysia is a challenge
that must be planned, handled properly and orderly.
Strategies to control the generation of solid waste are
among the best and appropriate way. Control over the
production of solid waste can help reduce solid waste being
sent to landfills. In Malaysia implementation management
of solid waste should consider to the peoples attitude
towards waste generation in Malaysia as the countrys
socio-economy growth and affluence is inversely
proportional to the public awareness on environmental
issues particularly with regards to solid waste. In Malaysia
solid waste analysis and data for major town basically have
not been well documented (MHLG, 2005).

4. Nadi, B., Mahmud, A. R., Ahmad, N., Shariff, A. R., Arvinpil,

A., & Hosseinzadeh, S. a. (2009). Application Geospatial
Technology in Disaster Management. Journal of Environmental
Science and Engineering, 4, 65-70.
5. Nadi, B., Mahmud, A. R., Ahmad, N., Farjad, B., Arvinpil, b.,
Amani, A., et al. (2010). Managing of Urban Solid Waste by
Geoinformatics Technology. International Geoinformatics
Research and Development Journal, 1(1), 70-80.
6. Nadi, B., & Shamshiry, E., & Rodzi, A. (2011). Response
Surfaces Model For Optimization of Solid Waste Management.
International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications
(IJCEA); ISSN: 2010-0221. Vol.2, No.1.2011

Conclusion

7. Nadi, B., Mahmud, A. R.,(2010). Geospatial Modeling for

Urban Solid Waste Management. ISBN 978- 3-639-28392-1.
VDM Verlag Dr. Mller GmbH & Co. Germany.
8. Shamshiry,E., Nadi,B., Mokhtar ,M., Komoo,I., and
Hashim,H., (2011). Urban solid waste management based
ongeoinformatics technology. Journal of Public Health and
Epidemiology Vol. 3(1), January 2011.ISSN 2141-2316 2010
Academic Journals

In Malaysia and any countries whenever reach to

sustainable development that the decisions related to solid
waste management should be table out to the public from
grass root level which signifies the participation of all
concern. This approach will involves the people at all
levels and further serve as educational forum for the public
there by taking informed decision in relation to waste
management as well serve as learning opportunity on all
issues related to solid waste and its implications if
improperly managed.

9. Hassan, M. N. 2000. Policies to improve solid waste

management in developing countries: Some insights in Southeast
Asian Countries. Proceedings of the second
international
conference on solid waste management : Perspective of the
twenty first centuries, March 22-25, Taipei, Taiwan and Roc.

By all account, Malaysias solid waste

management strategies have to certain degree improved on
the environmental quality, public health and socioeconomic development as detailed in the countrys Vision
2020. This is mainly attributed to growing interest of the
government on environmental issues particularly solid
waste, and therefore given the necessary attention it
deserves in the management mechanism for a clean and
healthy nation.

10. Latifah, A.M., Mohd, Armi Abu Samah, Nur Ilyana Mohd
Zukki (2009). Municipal solid waste management in Malaysia.
Practices and Challenges. Waste Management. (29):2902-2906.
11. MHLG.2003. Annual report, section 4- local government,
Kuala Lumpur. Technical Section of the Local Government
Division.
12. Mohd, Armi Abu Samah., Latifah Abd Manaf., Kang Wee
Siang., Mohamad Pauzi Zakaria and Wan Nor Azmin Sulaiman.
2010. Municipal solid waste composition: past, present and future
trends of Malaysia environment. International Symposium and
Exhibition on Geotechnical and Geosynthetics Engineering:
Challenges and Opportunity on Climate Change 7-8 December
Bangkok, Thailand. pp 407- 411.

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13. Salim, R. 2008. Towards waste management challenges after

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3. Nadi B.,Ahmad ,R. ,A sharif,A noordin (2009)Use of

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