Tag: waste

Categories
Economics Environment

[1263] Of new waste management bills

Finally, on the surface at least, sensible new policies:

People who waste more will have to pay more and every household will have to start separating recyclable items from other waste.

These are two of the implications of the Solid Waste Management and Public Clean-Up Bill, which the Housing and Local Government Ministry expects to table in parliament in two weeks. [Start sorting out and recycling your waste. NST. June 17 2007]

To be honest, I have not read the bills. The website of the Parliament is not so helpful and its search function is not working at all. Therefore, I am quite unclear what the bills are specifically seeking for other than the establishment of a government-owned centralized waste management entity. It is hard to form some sort of opinion without proper information.

I am unsure how the service providers are going to enforce that pay-as-you-go system. Under that model, the providers would need to identify which trash belongs to whom. It is easy imagine that waste owners would try to dump their waste at public space and then disown the trash to escape the need to pay for trash collection altogether. The property rights of the waste must be properly enforced to ensure the success of the model.

Another matter concerns recycling. The bill wants to make recycling mandatory but I prefer to provide consumers with incentive to recycling rather than coercing them. A good system would reward those that separate their trash by charging them less. In other word, offer them discount and this discount should include the cost of waste separation.

Those that failed to do the same should pay a premium. This premium would include the cost of separating the trash and some sort of penalty.

I wonder though if a waste management service provider has the economies of scale and the technology to separate trash at least as good as that being done by the consumers. If it does, perhaps it makes sense to do the separation on the other side of the equation rather than on the consumer side.

Apart from the payment schedule and recycling, another issue is this:

Along with the bills, the interim agreements between concessionaires of solid waste management facilities, which were arranged under the national privatisation of solid waste management programme, would be turned into concession agreements.

However, once this was done, the concessionaires would be subjected to strict key performance index and have to meet standards set by the government. [Better solid waste services once bills passed. NST. June 13 2007]

I am surprised that these waste management service providers are operating without any proper contract!

The introduction of contractual relationships would indeed improve the situation for all of us because with contracts, the service rendered by these management firms could be used to assure fund providers of repayment for any borrowing made by the firms to strengthen their business.

Categories
Environment

[1028] Of 2006 top Malaysian environmental issues

With a little over 24 hours before 2006 comes to a close, let us revisit all the green issues mentioned in two other entries — entry [775] and [879]:

  1. Smelly tap water in the Klang Valley in February. Not just smelly, it smelled like shit. The smell was caused by ammonia released from several improperly managed landfills. The landfills later were shut down, at least, according to reports. See [756].
  2. The tabling of the Water Services Industry Bill in April. Proposed death penalty to polluters. See [765].
  3. With the shut down of landfills, a related problem ensued: shortage of landfills in April too. See [775].
  4. Big flood in the northern states early in the year. See [775].
  5. Flash flood in Shah Alam. Local residents were positively angry. See [775].
  6. Deforestation in various states. TV3 played an active role in informing the public. See [709] and [720].
  7. The Malaysian Nature Society’s Save Belum-Temengor campaign. See [885]
  8. The drive towards biofuel. See [775].
  9. Proposed mega palm oil estate by Indonesia on Borneo. It affects Malaysia because, well, it would be on the border. See [775].
  10. Proposed nuclear energy for Malaysia. See [775].
  11. Bird flu. See [775].
  12. Landslide at Genting Highlands. See [775].
  13. Damage to Sipadan coral reef in May. The accident forced the Sabah state government to halt construction of a huge facility at Sipadan after coming under attack from the public. See [791].
  14. Metal smelter in Bakun. See [879].
  15. Cancellation of Broga incinerator. See [879].
  16. Haze. And yeah, I told you so. See [879].
  17. In practical terms, the extinction of leatherback turtle in Malaysia. See [855].
  18. Sustainable forestry program. See [853].
  19. Congestion tax in Kuala Lumpur in August. It came back in December after the Kuala Lumpur mayor made a comment on it. This is a progressive policy but the public transportation system must be improved first. See [854].
  20. Growing rhinoceros population in Borneo. See [879].

That is a compilation of issues that started between January and some time in September 2006, inclusively. But of course, a year does not end in September and so, the complication continues.

  1. El Niño is officially back in September. See [883] and [886].
  2. The hunt for a killer crocodile in October. The act of revenge turn for the worse and became a merciless culling of crocodiles. The effort was criticized by greens and the culling immediately stopped in October. See [896].
  3. Temporary ban lift on commercial usage of paraquat. Something smell fishy. See [897].
  4. Legalization of turtle eggs collection by Terengganu state government in October. See [912].
  5. 300MV coal power plant in Sabah, as reported in November. See [975].
  6. New Orleans of Malaysia. See [1018].
  7. And perhaps, finally, after all these years, climate change. See [1017].

Will 2007 be a better year? Will the haze return?

Stay alive and find out next year.