Find out more on Earth’s CO2

In September last year, four lorries carrying garbage from the barge jetty to the Pulau Burung landfill on the mainland broke down, causing a pile-up of waste at the transfer site in Batu Maung on the island.

In May, fishermen living near the Pulau Burong sanitary landfill staged a demonstration against what they felt was pollution outside the landfill. They claimed that nearby residents were exposed to the stench and had experienced itchiness. The fishermen also said their income was dwindling.
In that same month, a leak in a leachate pond in the Pulau Burung landfill was believed to have contaminated the sea off Kampung Changkat. Phase I of the Pulau Burung sanitary landfill has reached its full capacity.

Since 2008, some 700 tonnes of rubbish have been dumped at Phase II daily. During festive seasons, the amount of garbage doubles. Pulau Burung was the state’s main landfill. Comprising Phase I, II and III, the landfill’s lifespan was almost up. The first two phases add up to about 162ha of landfill. State Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow admitted that Phase II would reach its capacity by 2012.

Smelly affair: Workers managing the garbage at the Pulau Burong Landfill Phase II in Penang.

“Phase III has been earmarked for a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) which utilises Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) technology to deal with residual municipal waste.
“It’s going to cost RM18mil but it will be worthwhile in the long run. We cannot keep looking for places to turn into landfills,” he said.

A RM10mil leachate treatment plant would also be built in the hopes of cleaning up the environment. Chow said the state was also looking to tap methane gas from Phase I to explore supplementary revenue from the generation and sale of bio-energy and participation in carbon trading under the Kyoto Protocol.

If the renewable energy project in Phase I was successful, it would be applied to Phase II. Theoretically, the Pulau Burung landfill can be used for many years to come once the MBT was in place because its current capacity would be increased four-fold. An MBT system is a waste processing facility that combines a sorting facility with a form of biological treatment such as composting or anaerobic digestion.

“No matter what, we will still need a landfill but the MBT will greatly reduce the waste.
“When Phase III reaches its capacity, we can go back to Phase I which by then would have been rehabilitated,” Chow said.

Apart from Pulau Burung, there was an older landfill in Jelutong and a transfer station in Batu Maung – both on the island. The initial plan was to rehabilitate the Jelutong landfill into a park but that was proving too costly. The Jelutong landfill now serves as a dumping ground for construction materials. Chow said a garbage transfer station would be built there soon to replace the one in Batu Maung.

“The Penang Development Corporation will take back the Batu Maung garbage transfer station for development next year,” he added.

SEGAMAT: About 2,500 to 3,000 tonnes of rubbish are generated each day throughout the state and sent to 13 landfills. Except for Johor Bharu’s two sanitary landfills in Seelong and Tanjung Langsat, the others are just open dumpsites.

Seelong, however, has been identified as one of the best sanitary landfills in the country. The other dumpsites, measuring 15,378ha in the state, are used by 16 local councils but three are expected to be closed within the next two years – in Ladang CEP 1 (Simpang Renggam), Bukit Bakri (Muar) and Jalan Temayoh (Labis).

The state’s garbage collection, disposal and upkeep of drains and cleanliness have been contracted to Southern Waste Management (SWM) since 1997.

The only local council still managing its own rubbish collection was Pasir Gudang while Kulai Municipal Council only uses SWM for garbage collection but not for general cleanliness like drain clearing and grass cutting.

Meanwhile, Yong Peng assemblyman Lim Kee Moi said garbage and waste disposal were among the top grouses from her constituents.

The garbage was now being disposed of at a landfill in Jalan Labis, 30km away but a site has been identified a site in Bukit Payong for future use.

Lim also hoped that the public would recycle more.