R&d Journal Paper Submission 280606

Review of Municipal Solid Waste Source Reduction Practice Chia Lin Lin School of Architecture, Management and Surveying University College Sedaya International ( [email protected])

Abstract The main objective of this paper is the investigation of current municipal management practice in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The Sustainable Urban Development Project (SUDP) under Kota Kinabalu City Hall, co-sponsored by Danish Co-operation for Environment and Development (DANCED), has reviewed recent literature on solid waste management in Kota Kinabalu. The results show a rapid increase in the total amount of municipal solid waste and significant changes in their composition. These are related to the increased population of Kota Kinabalu and their lavished spending. The total solid waste generation has reached 164 tons per day (Town and Regional Planning Department, Sabah, 1998). The SUDP thus put the minimization at source to the top of the hierarchy of preferable options and Government seeks to encourage its uptake. The main focus would be the 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). Policies and factors affecting the municipal solid waste reduction plan will be discussed. Key design data and other useful information selected from a variety of reliable sources are presented. The adoption of integrated waste management practices should be emphasized in order to achieve greater efficiency .Keywords: Municipal Solid Waste, Source Reduction, Policy

1. INTRODUCTION Municipal Solid Waste, more commonly known as trash or garbage, consists of everyday items such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, appliances, and household hazardous waste such as paint, cleaners, oils, batteries, and pesticides. Though most of the trash could be rather harmless, the household hazardous waste, which contains hazardous components such as leftover portions of chemical, can be dangerous to health and the environment. Currently, at Kota Kinabalu, the municipal waste management is undergoing a transition period, where the previous service provider – Pacific Garbage Management Services Sdn. Bhd. has been terminated following complaints from residents. Started from 18 November 2003, Municipal Council of Kota Kinabalu will take over the collection and vow to improve the living quality of Kota Kinabalu’s residents. (Khabar DBKK, 19 November 2003) Kota Kinabalu has been practicing sanitary landfill depositing since the operation of the first and only sanitary landfill site in September 1997. The rubbish

collected is brought to the sanitary landfill in Kayu Madang, Telipok, approximately 27 km from Kota Kinabalu. The total area of the sanitary landfill site is 115 acres, of which the landfill basins cover 14 acres, catering for wastes from the municipality and also Penampang and Tuaran districts. KKMC trucks currently transport an average of 164 tons of wastes to the dumpsite everyday. Kayu Madang landfill site is designed to have a lifespan of 15 years, and shall come to its closure by 2012. (Town and Regional Planning Department, Sabah, 1998) Without proper planning and corporation between the local community and the waste handling industry, a new landfill of 100 acres needs to be located and opened every 10-15 years. However, as urban and suburban land become very scarce and the population grows, it is almost unavoidable to have a new landfill next to human habitation. The emotional and physical impacts would be significant. Thus, it is essential to rethink about the ways to minimize waste and to reduce the amount of waste going into the present – landfill.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW According to United Nation Management Sourcebook: -

Solid

Waste

MSW generation in the region has been increasing at a rate of 3 to 7% per year as a result of population growth, changing consumption patterns, and the expansion of trade and industry in urban centers. MSWM operations absorb large portions of municipal operating budgets, of which as much as 60% are for collection and transfer of the wastes for disposal. There is much discussion now of sustainable development through an integrated approach to waste management, including minimization of the production of wastes and maximizing waste recycling and reuse. Throughout the region, cities have been practicing source separation and recycling formally and informally. Sustainable development through an integrated approach to waste management, including maximizing waste recycling and reuse and minimization of the production of wastes are much discussed by all nations. Throughout the region, cities have been practicing source separation and recycling formally and informally. In developed countries such as Japan and United States, specific law has been enacted to enforce the recycling practice across the industry. The basic law for reduction at source is established as the backbone of the judicial. Whereas developing countries mainly rely on informal source separation and recycling of materials with least governmental interference. Market value becoming the drive force.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY As a first step in the investigation, a search of the technical literature was performed to identify pertinent reports, papers, and studies. Concurrently, the project paper of Sunita binti Jobli has been studied to determine the nature of waste composition studies conducted in Kota Kinabalu. A total of 3 reports were made available. These reports were analyzed and provide the basis, in many instances, for the recommended policy. In addition to that, information was retrieved from Town and Regional Planning of Sabah, to have a better insight of the government concern and priority. Review has also been conducted to various national organizations including the United States Environmental Protection Agency and other developing countries to compare the source reduction policy and their effectiveness. As a result of this search, it was discovered that similar efforts to develop waste source reduction have been made in Thailand and Singapore. It has also shown the determining factors for the policy varies with the

waste compositions, available technology and the public awareness and conscious. A key objective in conducting this research was to examine the current policy and to identify area of possible improvement with which the private and public community is comfortable.

4. PROBLEM STATEMENT Acceleration in urbanization in Kota Kinabalu has resulted concentration of people and pollution. Municipal solid waste management system is insufficient at both ends – the source and the treatment facilities. When Industry and government have typically addressed these concerns with the construction of waste treatment facilities, it is nevertheless an expensive operation that does not completely eliminate the waste. Furthermore, the generation of waste implies a loss of resources, thus a loss of production opportunity and profitability. The pollution prevention or waste minimization at the source would mean a business of recycling which could range from collection, sorting to regenerating, creating jobs for thousand with increased productivity and profitability along with environmental benefits. But not all waste can be prevented and recycled and waste that is generated must be adequately treated to minimize its impact on the environment. Accordingly, the “optimal approach” to industrial waste management is a combination of both pollution prevention (minimization at source) and treatment facilities. What are available options to Kota Kinabalu City Hall? As the literature review illustrate, research has been conducted on pollution prevention in the developed world and to a lesser extent in the developing world, however, they shows a different approach in different countries factoring in the government involvement, waste content and education level. This paper will try to provide an assessment of waste minimization practices around the world, in addition to outlining the options of waste management system in operation.

5. BARRIERS The literature review shows the barriers for the success of waste minimization could be categorized into six groups: 1. Economic Barrier 2. Informational Barrier 3. Technological Barrier 4. Regulatory Barrier 5. Attitudinal Barrier 6. Physical Barrier

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However, these barriers are no isolated incidents as they normally forming intertwining relation and found their existence in the form of issues. Unhealthy Competition with Private Sector The source separation might not be suitable for Kota Kinabalu, where most valuable recyclables are already diverted from the municipal waste stream by waste generators, through private and/or informal systems of waste trading and recycling. As such collection and marketing demands a high cost of resources, financial and managerial. Thus departments which are already overburdened with the duties of public cleansing and waste disposal are not advised to add the responsibility of collecting and selling source-separated recyclables. An additional obstruction to municipally sponsored materials recovery arises from the fact that there are so many individuals and small enterprises, which make a living by recovering and trading recyclables. If source-separated items were set out for collection, it is highly likely that these would be stolen before the municipality could claim them. This represents the physical barrier where the municipal effort does not get enough returns to be self-generating. A significant economic barrier is the capital required for the initiation and full establishment of a waste minimization program (Camm and Nuttel 1995). The cost for initial set up is especially high in Kota Kinabalu given the factors of technological barrier. Thus, without proper economic incentives given to the trades and industry in waste minimization field, it is impossible to materialize the industry in full scope, especially when the disposal cost is still relatively low in Kota Kinabalu. Finally, it is often problematic to reduce the jobs provided by private waste recovery and waste trading by transferring these to the public sector. This is especially important where the public sector of waste management is inefficient or overburdened. Lose of Focus The lack of Internal and external information of waste minimization has caused the lose of focus. As the Kota Kinabalu has initiated the Internally-derived information with the joint-effort of DANCED, producing a waste audit outlining the details concerning volumes and characteristics of waste generated, the points in production where waste is generated, the means of waste disposal currently employed, however did not address the cost of waste generation in terms of treatment, disposal and value of feedstock wasted.

We are still very much lacking in the area of external information which should refers to information about waste reduction, reuse and recycling options, technological options, disposal options, funding options and incentive programs, potential markets for waste, and the economic and environmental benefits of waste minimization (Resource Integration Systems et al 1984) With the new understanding of the municipal solid waste content obtained from the waste audit, we should realize that it would be wiser if the municipal focus on the organic content, and the management and disposal of non-recyclable and plastic. While at the same time, allowing and promoting the growth of recycling trades for those recycling trades that are already established. Public Awareness The economical issues in the long run and the total saving has not been felt by the public, as they get no return from their effort of recycling to the recycling bin in the public, and they are discouraged by the inconveniences caused by the placement of bin from their everyday curbside collection as in single family dwelling and centralized collection in multiple family dwelling. Furthermore, an attitudinal barrier exists when a firm is apprehensive about taking risks or is unwilling to make changes. This reluctance often originates from the attitude “that if it ain’t broke, why fix it” (Batstone et al 1989).

Lack of Legislation Regulatory barriers result from a lack of pollution control regulations, weak enforcement, or weak and insignificant penalties for non-compliance. This barrier is pervasive in developing countries where there are few environmental laws and poor enforcement (Yap and Heathcote 1995). In Malaysia, for example, the benefits of source reduction are recognized, however, there are not enough provision in the Environmental Quality Act 1974, nor is it in the municipal by-law, that it provides the necessary legislative control over the matter. In general, our focus of regulations still remains on a ‘react and cure’ approach.

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Curbside pickup integrated the allocation of separated compostable materials should be encouraged as part of the waste management program. Community drop-off centers should be provided if curbside pickup is unavailable.

6. PRIMARY TOOLS FOR GOVERNMENT TO USE IN PROMOTING WASTE REDUCTION AND MATERIALS RECOVERY Promoting Existing Trades Recycling has made a vital contribution to job creation and economic development. Recycles creates or expands businesses that collect, process and broker recovered materials as well as companies that manufacture and distribute products made with recovered materials. Municipalities could support the source reduction by: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Support source separation, recovery, and trading networks with information sharing (especially of market information) and forums of stakeholders. Facilitate small enterprises and publicprivate partnerships by new or amended regulations for cooperatives, loans to smallscale businesses, amendment of inhibiting zoning and control regulations, low-rent space for stockpiling depots, etc. Assist waste pickers to move out of manual picking by instituting retraining programs or subsidization of sorting/redemption centers; control harassment of itinerant buyers and waste dealers by police. Export recyclables if there is high demand in neighboring countries and non-toxicity is assured.

Targeting Organic Content, Plastic and NonRecyclable 1.

Promoting Composting Organic materials such as kitchen waste, yard waste, and wet or soiled paper that cannot be recycled should be composted to produce a useful product. Compost - A sweet-smelling, dark brown humus material that is rich in organic matter and soil nutrients. Mandatory composting programs and use of economic incentives can be used to encourage composting. Compost can be produced from biodegradable solid waste in large plants, bagged and sold. This approach is used in many European countries, including the Netherlands, the former West Germany, France, Sweden, Italy and in a large plant near Miami, Florida. Enclosing the facilities and using filters to deodorize the air inside can reduce odor problems.

2.

Promote innovation to create new uses for goods and materials that would otherwise be discarded after initial use.

Promoting Public Participation The experience of Madison, Winconsin (population of 201,000) illustrated that the curbside recycling has helped to reduce the annual cost of solid waste services by reducing the pick-up frequency, routing, and save money on land reclamation, as the life span of landfill being extended. All these cannot be achieved without a proper propaganda and education effort such as: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Efficient and economical collection of recyclable materials should be promoted by the design of collection routes, schedules, and fees. Controlling collection costs could be achieved by efficiently integrating collection of recyclables with refuse collection. To minimize collection costs, some communities are collecting recyclables in the regular refuse vehicle by using bags of different colors to differentiate recyclables from garbage To maximize participation in a drop-off program, a large number of sites are needed: people are willing to drive their recyclables only a few miles. If the location of drop-off centers is well publicized, residents and businesses will find it easy to participate. Other steps to promote conveniences should be to locate the trash and recyclables at the same point as it reduce the wary of residents and save them the time to travel. Simplify separation and recovery procedures should be the key to success. Simple receptors such as ‘Igloo’ should be included where the opening are designed according to specific materials, for example, long slit for paper, and round opening for bottles. These could help to overcome the separation contamination.

Education 1.

Study waste streams (quantity and composition analyses), recovery/recycling systems (statistical information for analysis and publication), markets for recyclables, and problems of existing practices to decide

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2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

where there may be a facilitative/regulatory role for the municipal authority. The understanding of the above will helps in the field of research and promotion of science and technology that could contribute to a recycling-based society. Reduction of the stigma attached to waste work. Promoting voluntary activities of residents by realizing them of the facts of them being the waste generators, increase their understanding of the responsibility they should bear and roles they can play. To change the public attitude of over consumption The disposal cost saving of recycling programme should be published and make it known to public. This shall bring awareness to the public of the total cost saved in disposal fees, the avoidance of future cleanup costs, the costs of future land acquisition or facility development and transportation. By bring the facts that the residents are going to enjoy the benefits of recycling economically and environmentally, it would helps to build awareness among community. Other motivational techniques include: school education programs, recycling containers, and telephone hotlines. Literature on how to source-separate should be kept short and simple and distributed widely and often. Residents need to know exactly what is expected of them when recyclables should be placed at the curb, the location of drop-off centers, and the materials that can be received. Buyers have standards for the quality of the recycled materials they use. Standards for quality must be as important as cost considerations, or the recycling program is not likely to succeed. To ensure material quality, Education programme should include the directive as of how to prepare the materials and what materials cannot be recycled. Highlight the problem of over consumption, with the goal of reducing production and consumption of unnecessary goods, packaging and throwaways

Legislation 1.

2.

After consulting the major stakeholders, advocate, where advisable, selective waste reduction legislation on packaging reduction, product redesign, and coding of plastics. Waste Control means promoting or enforcing laws to encourage less consuming

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

and throwing away. One of the successful example would be: Pay as you throw - Variable garbage collection rates, based on volume or weight, could serve as an incentive to reward those who generate less waste and separate their recyclables at the source. This could discourage the use of throwaway goods. Buy-Back Center for products and packaging that are not practical to collect in curbside or other recycling programs will encourage end-user to bring back the products or packaging to buy-back center, thus facilitate collection, reuse, recycling, or proper disposal. City Hall setting an example by legislation promoting procurement of products containing a high content of recycled and recyclable materials, and includes these in government contracts. These could help to stabilize the market and thus making recycle business a profitable venture. Government activities that could have an impact on recycling should be identified and modified to promote it. City Hall should make a step to set up recycling center or at least providing suitable sites for recycling and other similar facilities. Consideration should be given to the compatibility with surrounding land uses. Local building codes should be revised to encourage or enforce accessible storage space for recycled materials. Household hazardous waste should be prohibited or at least discouraged to go into the municipal solid waste stream. City hall could implement a separate drop point where these waste being separated. Reference can be made to existing laws in countries such as:Japan • Food Recycling Law • Construction Materials Recycling Act • Waste Management (Disposal) and Public Cleansing Law US • Pollution Prevention Packaging Act • Solid Waste Disposal Act India • Recycled plastic Manufacture and Usage Rules

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7. CONCLUSION Effective waste management should be based on communities, industries, and individuals taking responsibility for their own wastes. A good formulation of municipal solid waste would need to have the majority consent of the public and to their convenience to promote the participation and eventually the success of the programme. The full range of waste management options has to be considered, based on a comprehensive study of the total waste stream, which has been carried out under The Sustainable Urban Development Project (SUDP). An incorporation of community's waste management plan and financed as integral components would be given the priority as it helps to sustain the programme in the long run. Local condition of existing recycling industries should be considered as to avoid unnecessary redundancy of work and leaving municipal focusing on the necessity. These could be achieved by establishing the hierarchy in the quantities and types of waste to be managed through various methods. Objective would be to attain the highest and best use of the discarded/recovered material. A complete assessment of environmental and health effects should be made for all waste-management processes considered. Waste management programs with these goals decrease the environmental costs of natural resource extraction, minimize pollution, conserve energy, and provide a framework for continued wise resource use. In this connection, by maximizing the recycling of waste, and minimizing waste production, we hope that in the long run, the city will achieve a sustainable community.

REFERENCES 1. Sunita Binti Jobli. 2000. Design of Kota Kinabalu Recycling Collection System: UPM 2. Town and Regional Planning Department. Sabah. 1998. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Sabah Coastal Zone Profile 3. Environmental Litigation Associates (ELA). Institute of Environmental Technology http://www.ela(IET). iet.com/content2.htm 4. Ministry of the Environment. Singapore. 2000. Annual Report 2000 5. United Nation. 2000. Solid Waste Management Sourcebook 6. Sharleen Singhal and Suneel Pandey. 2001. Solid Waste management in India: Status and Future Directions. TERI Information Monitor on Environmental Science 6(1): 1 – 4 7. Ministry of the Environment. Japan. 2003. The Basic Plan for Establishing a SoundCycle Society 8. Environment Protection Department. Hong Kong. 2001. Recovering and Recycling of Municipal Solid Waste in Hong Kong 9. Camm, R.J. and P. Nuttal. 1995. Waste Minimization: Incentives and Barriers,” In A. Rossiter. Waste Minimization Through Process Design. Mc-Graw-Hill. 10. Resource Integration Systems, and Victor and Burrell Research and Consulting. 1984. Barriers to Reduction, Recycling, Exchange and Recovery of Special Waste in Ontario. Waste Management Corporation; Toronto, Canada. 11. Yap, A. and I. Heathcote. 1995. Low Waste Industrial Technologies: If it is a Low Hanging Fruit, Why Doesn’t Industry Pick it? In Yap, N.T. and S. K. Awasthi. Waste Management for Sustainable Development in India. Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd.; New Delhi. 12. Batstone, R., Smith, J.E. and D. Wilson. 1989. The Safe Disposal of Hazardous Wastes: the Special Needs of Developing Countries. The World Bank; Washington, D.C. 13. Maclaren, V., Soemantojo, R. and J. Dooley. 1995. Reduction, Reuse and Recycling of Industrial Waste in Jakarta and Vicinity. University of Toronto; Research Paper No. 49; Toronto, Canada

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