KOTA KINABALU – The state government needs to build biogas digesters and fast track waste segregation in Penampang, said Kapayan assemblyman Jannie Lasimbang.
She said Penampang alone has been disposing about 4,800 tonnes of solid waste a month (57,600 tonnes a year), but the district has yet to implement waste segregation.
“The limited number of disposal options for organic and non-organic waste in Kapayan is serious. Shopkeepers in Beverly Hills and Bundusan areas have been putting up with the stench for years.
“Since the garbage collection site in the Beverly Hills commercial area shoplots (Penampang) is in the parking area, shopkeepers have been complaining of the bad smell. I had planned to build a proper garbage collection site last year, but the present site is deemed expensive and not suitable.”
She said the Team Alam Sekitar Kapayan, under her purview, has been conducting a programme to segregate trash and promote the practice of 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) and composting.
This programme is for villages and apartments in Penampang, and has been conducted in collaboration with the Tzu Chi organisation and Kivatu Nature Farm.
For village areas, she said, residents do not have many options to dispose of their waste so they would either burn, bury, or throw away their garbage at any location available to them.
“Biogas digesters for organic waste and the recycling of non-organic waste provide a good opportunity to create economic activity while revamping waste management, but residents have to segregate their trash.
“We constructed a biogas digester at Taman Kendara 1 here to help and educate the residents and the community that biogas is suitable for disposing biodegradable waste from raw materials such as agricultural waste, dirt, municipal waste, plant materials, and food waste.
“I want to urge the ministry to come up with an implementation plan and enact a by-law to this effect, since it has repeatedly expressed the need to comply with the Sustainable Development Goals.
“Will the Local Government and Housing Ministry build biogas digesters to dispose of waste and manage organic garbage such as food and kitchen waste in housing and village areas?” Jannie questioned.
She said that biogas is a renewable energy and also eco-friendly, and biogas digesters represent a simple, low-cost technology that encourages a circular economy.
“Biogas digesters should be provided not only in Penampang, but all over Sabah. I hope the Sabah government will adopt this technology to turn waste to resources.
“With the biogas digesters, we can create a cleaner Kapayan with efficient waste management, as well as a community that is responsible and involved in environmental sustainability,” she said. – The Vibes, January 11, 2021
