Review of municipal solid waste management options in Malaysia, with an emphasis on sustainable waste-to-energy options

A beautiful and clean environment is the desire of every society. Malaysia is facing an uncontrolled increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation due to population growth, economic advancement, and industrialization, but the current, most common waste disposal practice of landfilling is not sustainable. The increasing standard of living also saps more energy from the power generation systems in which fossil fuels are the major source of fuel for the plants. Malaysia generates about 0.5–1.9 kg/capita/day of MSW; a total of about 25,000 tonnes/day of MSW is currently generated and is estimated to exceed 30,000 tonnes/day by 2020. Malaysian MSW is mainly composed of 45 % food waste, 24 % plastic, 7 % paper materials, 6 % metal, 4 % wood and 3 % glass, which are commingled, and is thus characterised by 52–66 % moisture content. Currently, 80–95 % of collected MSW is landfilled and 5 % is recycled, while composting and energy recovery are rarely practiced. This paper reviews the solid waste practice in Malaysia and looks into alternative management options for sustainability. Malaysia MSW represents recyclable power and energy potential if properly sorted. This study considered the practice of sorting at the source and the use of combustible MSW components as fuel to generate heat for a hybrid solar, flue gas, chimney power plant

Review and evaluation of municipal solid waste management practices in Malaysia

The review is focused on municipal solid waste (MSW) management practices in Malaysia, waste generation rate, waste composition, and the attitude of the people toward sustainability of waste management practice. Malaysian's MSW management has mainly been landfill where about 80-95% of collected MSW are disposed. Currently, recycling practice is rated at 5% while composting is rarely practiced. Over 30% of collected MSW in Malaysia are recyclable materials but the current status records 5% recovery. Composting has been given poor attention even when over 45% of the MSW generated are organic and biodegradable materials while incineration is still at the early/testing stage. Malaysian MSW is highly commingled because there is no proper sorting thus the waste has high moisture content. Proper sorting at the waste generation point for recovery of reusable materials, recyclable materials and compostable materials will help improve the municipal waste management practice in Malaysia. This will reduce the waste volume sent to landfills and will extend the designed life of the landfills. Awareness on waste reduction is growing but is publicly low implemented which can be attributed to lack of social consciousness