Environmental Impact Evaluation of Rubber Cultivation and Industry in Malaysia

Over the last 10 years, contribution of Malaysian rubber industry to Malaysia export earnings has increased significantly from RM 15.5 billion in 2003 to RM 33.7 billion in 2013. The main objectives of this study are to provide a comprehensive inventory and detailed quantification of the environmental impact and greenhouse gases emission (GHGs) for the major part of Malaysian rubber industry comprising the cultivation of rubber tree from cradle to grave as well as Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) production from cradle to gate. This study was conducted through questionnaire surveys in order to create a very comprehensive life cycle inventories tables representing the actual activities in the Malaysian rubber industry. The results from the questionnaire survey indicated that the GHGs emission from the average annual activities in the cultivation of rubber trees from cradle to grave in Malaysia is 315.54 GgCO2eq and it represents 0.11% from the 2011 Malaysia GHGs emission. The average annual GHGs emission from the production of SMR in Malaysia in this study is 229.41 GgCO2eq and it represents 72.7% from the average annual GHGs emission from the cultivation of rubber trees from cradle to grave in Malaysia

The design of the botanical indoor air biofilter system for the atmospheric particle removal

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) objective generally focus on providing energizing and comfortable environments for occupants and minimizing the risk of building-related health problems. Living green walls are natural air-filters that creates a cleaner and revitalizing work environment that will lead to better IEQ. The research presented here describes the design (the new concept) of the botanical indoor air biofilter (BIAB) and modelling conducted to determine the effectiveness of the system in reducing the indoor airborne particulate matter levels. The BIAB was also evaluated for its single-pass filtration for particles ranging in diameter from 2.5 to 10 Μ along with total suspended particles. The system is comprised of three functional components; a region of vertically grown plants as botanical section, an evaporative cooling pad as cooling section (additional section from a commercial BIAB), and a mechanical ventilation system that supply cool filtered air to surrounding. The complete system recorded highest removal efficiencies of 85% for TSP, 75.2% for PM2.5, and 71.9% for PM10. It indicated that with the additional component in the BIAB system (cooling component), it provides enhancement of the particulate removal due to the ability in absorbing the dust particles and filtration dynamics as the polluted air pass through the wetted cooling pad and the light shower of water

Heavy metals leaching behaviour assessment of palm oil clinker

Technical benefit of incorporation of Palm Oil Clinker (POC) in cement-based applications has been proven in recent studies. The aim of this work was to assess the heavy metal leaching behavior to ensure environmental safety of using POC in cement-based applications. The chemical composition, morphology, total organic carbon (TOC) and mineralogy were determined using XRF, FESEM, TOC analyzers and XRD to select appropriate chemical reagents for complete digestion. HNO3, HF and HClO4 were used for digestion of POC to measure heavy metal content using ICP-MS. The chemical reagents CH3COOH, NH2OH-HCl, H2O2+CH3COONH4 and HF+HNO3+HCl were used for extraction of acid soluble, reducible, oxidizable and residual fractions of heavy metals in POC, respectively. The leaching toxicity of the POC was investigated by the USEPA 1311 TCLP method. The result showed the presence of Be, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Ag, Cd, Ba and Pb with levels of 5.13, 11.02, 2.65, 1.93, 45.43, 11.84, 15.07, 0, 0, 81.97 and 1.76 mg/kg, respectively, in POC. The leaching value in mg/L of As (4.56), Cu(1.05), Be (0.89), Zn(0.51), Ba(0.26), Ni (0.17), V(0.15), Cr(0.001) and Se (0.001) is found well below the standard limit of risk. Risk assessment code (RAC) analysis confirms the safe incorporation of POC in cement-based applications

Implikasi pandemik COVID-19 terhadap tingkah laku masyarakat bagi menggelakkan pembaziran makanan sepanjang Ramadan

Usaha bagi mencapai kelestarian pengurusan sisa makanan dalam kalangan isi rumah tidak lengkap tanpa menganalisis tingkah laku masyarakat bagi menguruskan sisa makanan. Kajian mengenai persepsi dan tingkah laku masyarakat kurang diberikan perhatian oleh penyelidik terutama dalam isu pembaziran makanan sepanjang Ramadan. Oleh itu, kajian ini telah meneliti jurang kajian dengan menjalankan kajian mengenai tingkah laku masyarakat bagi mengelakkan pembaziran makanan sepanjang Ramadan. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah soal selidik atas talian dan data sokongan berkaitan penjanaan sisa sepanjang Ramadan di seluruh Semenanjung Malaysia. Hasil kajian tinjauan ini mendapati masyarakat mempunyai kesedaran tinggi mengenai pembaziran sisa makanan sepanjang Ramadan pada tahun 2020. Hal ini disebabkan, masyarakat Malaysia yang beragama Islam lebih memilih sambutan Ramadan pada tahun 2020 secara bersederhana dan mengambil kira keselamatan kesihatan dari wabak penyakit COVID-19. Tambahan pula, kerajaan telah menghadkan waktu operasi dan bilangan peniaga di bazar Ramadan untuk mengelakkan risiko penyebaran COVID-19 di tempat awam. Selain itu, kerajaan juga mula mengalakkan rakyat untuk membeli makanan di bazar secara atas talian dengan mewujudkan aplikasi e-bazar. Hasil data sokongan daripada Perbadanan Pengurusan Sisa Pepejal dan Pembersihan Awam (SWCorp) menunjukkan bahawa terdapat penurunan jumlah bagi penghasilan sisa pepejal sebanyak 6.02% sepanjang Ramadan 2020 dibandingkan Ramadan 2019. Keseluruhan hasil kajian ini memberikan maklumat mengenai tingkah laku masyarakat terhadap pengurusan sisa makanan sepanjang Ramadan di Semenanjung Malaysia. Kajian ini juga menjadi garis panduan kepada pihak berkepentingan untuk mengambil strategi yang relevan ke arah mengurangkan penjanaan sisa makanan semasa dan selepas pandemik COVID-1

Toward integrated and sustainable waste management system in University of Malaya: UM zero waste campaign

With the escalated increase in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in Malaysia reaching a shocking 38,000 ton/day in 2017, a sustainable waste management system is much desired. Nationwide, there are 176 landfills but only 8 are sanitary landfill with the rest are open dumpsites. In the campus of University of Malaya, UM Zero Waste Campaign (UM ZWC) was introduced in 2011 to start a long-term campaign to achieve an integrated and sustainable waste management model and ultimately a zero-waste campus. Since year 2015, UM ZWC is fully funded by Sustainability Science Research Cluster of UM (Susci) as one of the living labs of UM as well as by JPPHB under the RMK-11 budget. UM ZWC operating projects including in house composting center, food waste segregation scheme, research composting emission and waste characterization, anaerobic digestion (AD), used clothes collection program, wood waste separate collection, e-waste collection and drop-off recycling collection were initiated under the campaign. Since the inception of the project in 2011 until December 2017, almost over 620 tons of solid waste has been diverted from disposal in landfill with composting, AD, recycling, re-use and energy recovery. A roadmap of UM ZWC was drawn up in 2013, with a goal to achieve 60% landfill diversion by year 2040. In the next 5-10 years, UM ZWC plays a vital role to formalize the recycling collection in UM and further increase the organic waste recycling with green waste shredding and composting. Besides environmental benefits (pollution prevention and carbon emission reduction), UM ZWC brings various benefits such as academic research opportunities for UM, contribute in UM LCCF (Low carbon city framework) target and serve as platform to improve students soft skills and entrepreneur skill. Multi stakeholders participation, support form top management and industrial collaboration are the key factors that are able to drive the development of a sustainable waste management model in UM campus

Life cycle inventory of institutional medium-scaled co-composting of food waste and yard waste in Tropical Country

The main objective of the present study was to provide a comprehensive LCI of medium scale composting of food waste and yard waste at institutional level, based on substance flow analysis (SFA). A secondary objective was to present the composition and assess the quality of the final compost product from composting of typical Asian organic waste (food waste and yard waste). The experiments were designed to represent a batch situation in an institutional medium size composting scenario with input material of food waste mixed with grass clippings and dried leaves. Two composting runs were carried out with the intention to showcase the heterogeneity of organic waste and study the effect of windrow size on the performance of the process. The input and output material were sampled and characterized in order to quantify the substance balance of the process. SFA was performed by means of the mass balance model STAN 2.5 to compute unknown parameters (gaseous emissions). SFAs have been performed for C, N, K, P, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb. The composting windrows were fed with 212.4 and 393 kg, respectively. VS content reduction is greater in composting pile with larger size (Run 2). The loss of C during composting was recorded in the range of 0.146-0.166 kg/kg ww. The C losses via leachate were insignificant (0.02% of the total input C). The total N loss during the process was 0.005-0.012 kg/kg ww. The leachate generation was measured as 0.012-0.013 kg/kg ww. The flows of selected heavy metals were assessed. Heavy metals were of minor significance due to low concentrations in the inputs (food waste and yard waste). Heavy metals were found to be released to the atmosphere. However, majority of heavy metals remain in the finished compost. The C/N reduction during the process was in the range of 10-23%. In general, the compost composition was considered to be within the ranges previously reported in literature and thus ready for application in gardening. The LCI presented in the present study can be used as a starting point for making environmental assessments of medium-scale co-composting of food waste and yard waste in tropical environment. No major environmental problems were identified from the process, except for the emissions of GHGs

Assessment of GHG Emission reduction potential from source-separated organic Waste (SOW) management: case study in a higher Educational Institution in Malaysia

In Malaysia, the greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions reduction via composting of source-separated organic waste (SOW) in municipal solid waste (MSW) has not been assessed. Assessment of GHG emissions reduction via composting of SOW is important as environmental impacts from waste management are waste-specific and local-specific. The study presents the case study for potential carbon reduction via composting of SOW in University of Malaya (UM). In this study, a series of calculations were used to evaluate the GHG emission of different SOW management scenarios. The calculations based on IPCC calculation methods (AM0025) include GHGs emissions from landfilling, fuel consumption in transportation and SOW composting activity. The methods were applied to assess the GHG emissions from five alternative SOW management scenarios in UM. From the baseline scenario (S0), a total of 1,636.18 tCO2e was generated. In conjunction with target of 22% recycling rate, as shown in S1, 14% reduction in potential GHG emission can be achieved. The carbon reduction can be further enhanced by increasing the SOW composting capacity. The net GHG emission for S1, S2, S3 and S4 were 1,399.52, 1,161.29, 857.70 and 1,060.48 tCO2e, respectively. In general, waste diversion for composting proved a significant net GHG emission reduction as shown in S3 (47%), S4 (35%) and S2 (29%). Despite the emission due to direct on-site activity, the significant reduction in methane generation at landfill has reduced the net GHG emission. The emission source of each scenario was studied and analysed

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) ISO 14001 Implementation in Construction Industry: A Malaysian Case Study

This study seeks to explore the crucial part in EMS implementation; i.e. environmental aspects and impacts, Good Environmental Practice to be developed in construction site, as well as the level of awareness or understanding amongst site staffs on ISO 14001 EMS implementation in their organizations. Data were collected via interviews, surveys and site visits. A number of environmental aspects and impacts, and Good Environmental Practices based on ISO 14001:2004 have been identified. The level of understanding of the site staffs on ISO 14001 EMS requirements has been found to be good except for matters concerning Schedule Waste Management. In conclusion, the successful implementation of ISO 14001 EMS mainly depends on staffs‘ understanding

Evaluation of urban highway environmental noise pollution

The increase in number of urban highways constructed around residential and community areas around the city, has inevitably caused major noise pollution problems to city dwellers. The objective of the study was to assess the level of noise exposure and its impact to residents residing around the vicinity of urban highways. Noise level recording was carried out at selected areas to determine the noise pollution levels and the adequacy of mitigating measures that has been implemented. Traffic volume along the highway was recorded and categorized into six major classes of vehicles. Subsequently, the Leq, L10, L50 and L90 noise index percentiles were identified and data analyses were done on the data samples. Simultaneously, a public survey was conducted to gauge the existing public's attitude and degree of awareness with contemporary motor vehicular noise pollution. The study revealed that the noise level exposure experienced by the residents exceed the DOE's guidelines on a daily basis whilst the measures taken was inadequate to curb the noise menace emitting from the neighboring urban highway