SEREMBAN – Negri Sembilan Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) has disposed of 6,069 tonnes of solid waste within a week of the Aidilfitri celebration up to Sunday at three landfills in the state.
Its director, Siti Yusnita Mohamad Yusof, said the number was lower compared with the Aidilfitri celebration last year, which recorded a total of 6,793 tonnes of solid waste being disposed of.
“Food waste contributed the highest volume at 2,184 tonnes (36%), and of the total, about 76% of food waste was avoidable, such as rice, while another 24% was unavoidable, such as chicken bones.
“Seremban, on the other hand, recorded the highest amount of solid waste disposal, amounting to 4,643 tonnes,” she said here today.
Siti Yusnita added that to ensure smooth garbage collection and public cleaning during Aidilfitri, SWCorp came up with an operational strategy that included 1,134 SWM Environment Sdn Bhd employees and 165 trucks and machinery from May 1 to 5 at 287 locations.
In the meantime, she said, the three solid waste landfills in Port Dickson, Kuala Pilah, and Jelebu were still able to accommodate the total solid waste disposal from seven local authorities.
However, Siti Yusnita said, the federal government is planning to replace the Jelebu and Kuala Pilah landfills with new solid waste transfer stations in the future to ensure more systematic waste services and disposal as well as save land use.
“This transfer station serves as a temporary solid waste collection centre, with collection vehicles such as compactors that will deliver solid waste from each district to the stations and reload them to large-capacity transport vehicles,” she added.
According to her, the landfill in Port Dickson, built with waste segregation and waste-to-energy facilities, will be able to convert solid waste to electricity based on an eco-friendly solid waste disposal system and method, thus improving solid waste delivery services.
Meanwhile, Siti Yusnita said, various methods were being carried out so that the public would reduce solid waste disposal, including through engagements and monitoring house-to-house to encourage them to implement waste segregation at the source, separating food waste from recyclable items.
“Through segregation, households have the choice whether to sell recyclable items at the recycling centres or participate in the KITARecycle programme run by SWM Environment Sdn Bhd and dispose of the recycled items on the collection day,” she said.
She also said that SWCorp has set up drive-through recycling centres in Rembau and Port Dickson to facilitate the public bringing recycled items for sale. – Bernama, May 11, 2022
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