Development of an industrial toxic and hazardous waste management model based on end-of-pipe and industrial ecology approaches

This study attempts to evaluate the existing industrial toxic and hazardous wastes management systems in Malaysia and subsequently proposed a new model for enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of the system. This includes analyzing the trends in waste generation, industrial development, industrial production and waste recovery. Evaluation and analysis of policy and management were focused on four main sectors, namely, legislation, institutional, financial and technology (LIFT). Findings of evaluation and analysis as well as other information gathered were used to determine issues and gaps in managing wastes. Subsequently the study developed a model for a better management system based on ex-ante Industrial Ecology model for industrial toxic and hazardous waste management in Malaysia using ecosystem concept and approach within the sustainable industrial development perspective. Trend analysis has been conducted which includes the analysis of waste generation, waste recovery, industrial development and industrial output. Malaysian industry generated 4.1 million metric tons of toxic and hazardous wastes from 1994 to 2003, with an average of 418,230 metric tons per year. It appeared that the growth trend of manufacturing in terms of production index and GDP contribution had a positive correlation with waste generation prior to 1996 and after 1997. The management of wastes in Malaysia could be categorized into three activities namely, treatment and disposal, export to foreign countries, and waste recovery. The analysis of waste distribution supported the suggestion for the ecosystem approach management. This is due to the fact that increasing amounts of toxic and hazardous waste has been recovered following the adoption of waste recycling and resource efficiency initiatives. The amount of waste being recovered has doubled from 120,570 metric tons in 2000 to 250,260 metric tons in year 2003. In terms of percentage of waste recovery represented 34.99% for 2000 and 54.30% for 2003, respectively of total wastes generated with estimated value of RM 2.83 billion. Further investigation and analysis has been performed to determine the applicability of ecosystem approach for toxic and hazardous management in Malaysia. Policy and management analyses were conducted to examine the importance of the factors based on LIFT sectors. These identified factors were adopted as the main components towards the development of an ex-ante Industrial Ecology model for a better toxic and hazardous waste management in Malaysia. The model was created as an ecosystem encompassing four habitats. Each of these habitats has its own role, function and service as well as the networks between the habitats improves the ecosystem efficiency. Essentially the ex-ante model ecosystem focused on managing the flow of waste as a resource with the main target being to increase the cycle of waste to resources and to reduce the flow of resources to waste. In essence it promotes more pro-active roles by industry and business and helps to enhance their environmental image thus increasing consumer confidence in their products and therefore sales. The overall finding of the present study clearly indicates that ecosystem approach proved to be useful. The benefits include minimization of waste disposals to the environment, reduction of dependency on natural resources such as land use for disposal sites and enhancement of efficient monitoring and enforcement activity. Finally all these benefits would lead to increased benefits to government and the society in terms of achieving sustainable industrial development in Malaysia

GREEN TECHNOLOGY POLICY AS A DRIVER FOR SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY IN MALACCA

ABSTRACT Melaka is known as the most historic state and is also a popular tourist destination in Malaysia. With the legacy of old buildings by past occupiers such as A Famosa, Christ Church, St. Paul's Building and others recognize Melaka being one of the World Heritage States. Along time ago, the title of "Sleeping Hollow" state have been called for the slow economic situation and development conditions. Year 2000 to 2010 has shown a lot of environmental development and progress has been made, making Malacca eligible to be developed as a developed state in 2010. Next, Melaka continues to drive development opportunities to achieve green state urban status. The great expectation of the success of the mission is based on the needs of development in line with the will of the state government as well as the whole society. Researchers use qualitative methods where research on the documentation of official government materials as well as the search of information sources from journal articles, books and online data as the main reference. The findings have shown that the mission and strategy of development implementation are indispensable to continue to drive the state's development for the sake of sustainability of the development itself. This study is also expected to contribute to clarifying the importance of green technology in driving the development of Melaka state now and beyond. Keywords: Green Technology, Policy Guideline and Future Developmen

Carbon emission from vehicular source in selected industrial areas in Malaysia

Vehicle emission has been the major source of environmental pollution for the past 30 years. The urbanization, industrialization and traffic systems growth are causing more air pollution problem in the city creating an uncomfortable atmosphere to live in. Carbon emission is one of the main air pollutants causing problems in the local and global community. This paper discusses the effect of increasing vehicular traffic on the road in a few industrial sites within cities in Malaysia to the release of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere. This paper studies the traffic trend using census data from JKJR and converted into carbon emission using DEFRA GHG Conversion Factors and air quality trend from Alam Sekitar Malaysia in three selected industrial area in Malaysia, which are Shah Alam Industrial Area, Seremban-Senawang Industrial Area and Kuantan-Pekan Industrial Area. Carbon monoxide concentration trend in Shah Alam and Seremban-Senawang fluctuates with the highest concentration of 1.78ppm for Shah Alam and 0.77ppm in Seremban-Senawang in the earlier years and becoming lower in 2010 and 2011 compared to the trend in Kuantan-Pekan, which increased since 2001 to 2011 with the highest concentration of 0.54ppm. Carbon dioxide concentration is highest at Shah Alam ranging from 18067.17 to 88150.01 kg CO2 /km travelled compared to Kuantan-Pekan ranging from 3520.39 to 6953.69 kg CO2 /km travelled and Seremban-Senawang ranging from 3783.29 to 5734.30 kg CO2 /km travelled. Based on the early findings, the increasing vehicular traffic resulted in increment of carbon emission in the atmosphere

Meneroka sektor informal dalam pengurusan sisa pepejal: suatu penelitian terhadap golongan pengutip sampah

Penglibatan golongan pengutip sampah dalam sektor informal pengurusan sisa pepejal kian mendapat perhatian dunia berikutan sumbangan golongan ini dalam menguruskan sisa pembandaran dengan cekap, berkesan dan lestari. Golongan pengutip sampah merupakan antara pekerja sektor informal yang wujud di kawasan-kawasan bandar. Persoalannya, apakah tanggungjawab mereka dalam sistem pengurusan sisa pepejal sedia ada? dan bagaimanakah pekerja sektor informal ini dapat membantu dalam kelestarian pengurusan sisa pepejal? Dalam meneliti tanggungjawab cabaran dan sumbangan sektor informal dalam pengurusan sisa pepejal, kaedah exploratory literature review digunakan untuk menganalisis dokumen atau kesusasteraan yang berkaitan dengan sektor informal dalam pengurusan sisa pepejal. Dapatan analisis mendapati bahawa sistem pengurusan sisa pepejal sedia ada perlu memberi pertimbangan untuk mengintegrasikan sektor informal ini dalam sistem pengurusan sisa pepejal sedia ada supaya lebih bersifat inklusif dan lestari. Walaupun golongan pengutip sampah ini menghadapi pelbagai diskriminasi dan risiko, usaha dan aktiviti yang dijalankan harus mendapat pengiktirafan sebagai suatu pekerjaan dengan menyediakan pelbagai kemudahan dan inisiatif pekerjaan kepada golongan tersebut. Pembentukan koperasi dalam komuniti pengutip sampah misalnya ini telah terbukti dalam mengurangkan diskriminasi dan eksploitasi terhadap golongan pengutip sampah ini. Oleh itu, sudah tiba masanya pihak berkuasa tempatan, sektor swasta, masyarakat dan pengusaha perniagaan menyokong dan mengiktiraf sumbangan golongan pengutip sampah ini kerana usaha golongan ini telah memberikan impak yang positif ke atas pembangunan lestari, pembasmian kemiskinan dan perlindungan terhadap alam sekitar

Barriers to practice of non-hazardous solid waste minimization by industries in Malaysia

The practice of waste minimization plays a significant role in sustainable development as the most acceptable method in the waste management hierarchy. This paper is a case study research on industrial non-hazardous wastes generated from different industrial activities in one of the major Malaysian industrial areas. This study is aimed at identifying the barriers of waste minimization practices in Malaysian industries. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were applied in the study through the use of a structured questionnaire prepared on Likert scale and semi-structured interviews with respondents across thirty (30) factories. Data collected through the questionnaire was analyzed using software and severity index tool. Findings reveal the barriers faced in practicing waste minimization by industries include the lack of time for separation of waste, absence of guidelines, regulations and limited accurate knowledge with severity index range of 62.5<=SI< 87.5, which were considered to be serious issues. Through the application of suitable educational and awareness programs for industrial stakeholders, an effective waste minimization practice can be achieved

Challenges of urban space for sustainable solid waste management in the Langat Basin, Malaysia

Urbanization process in the Langat Basin, Malaysia, grow rapidly for the past three decades. The land use change urban areas of the basin increased from 2.3% in 1974 to 32% in 2010. While the population experiencing rapid growth from 665,395 in 1991 and increase to 1,492,422 in 2015. The vibrancy of economic activities with increasing of population, leads to increasing generation of solid waste in the basin. Solid waste generation increased from 332.7 ton/day in 1991 and increased to 1,641 ton/day in 2015. The current practice of waste management in the Langat Basin still focus on disposals to landfill. Previously there are nine landfill supporting the needs of the basin, however there are only three landfill left. The landfills closed were due to pressure from the development of residential, commercial and industrial areas. The demand for new landfill will compete for space with other economic activities and security of ecosystem services. Land are so precious, thus priorities will not be given for landfill in the Langat Basin. Hence there is a need for change of waste management. Priority should be given to resource recovery with waste recycling, waste reduction and waste reuse as the main approach, with support of other strategic plan such as designing product and system as well as using incinerator to ensure reduction of solid waste flow to landfill. These approaches and strategies will able to reduce dependency of space for new landfill in the Langat Basin in the future

Forest management for eco-tourism: understanding the community perspective of co-management

Forest management for eco-tourism needs to emphasis on the participation of the community to ensure that eco-tourism products remain sustainable. Without active involvement by the community, eco-tourism products face the risk of being destroyed by the ravages of overzealous economic development activities. Of paramount importance is the need for a balance of economic development and sustainable forest management. The forest inhabitants and the community need to be in symbiotic relations in order to survive in the forest. This study seeks to understand the community perspectives in co-managing the eco-tourism forest in RBFRSP. For that reason, three community representatives, including two Penghulu and a Tok Batin were interviewed to seek their perspectives on co-management. The results, in a nutshell, indicate that the community is not ready for co-management

Homeownership conceptual framework for urban livability

House is a basic need for individuals and families. Difficulty in owning a house has always been one of the major issues debated by the government, people and private sectors in Malaysia. Current economic conditions have made house purchasing almost impossible to many people due to drastic increases of house prices since 2000. The increases was influenced by macro and micro factors based on demand and supply of houses. Among them are migration of rural population to urban areas that leads to increasing demand for owning and renting a house. Hence, developers and investors have taken this migration process to their advantage by increasing their housing and rental prices to gain more profit. With the increase of home values, homeowners were also burdened with rising costs of maintenance which includes assessment of property tax, costs of maintenance and service. The increasing of house prices and the cost of home ownership will affect the population livability in the city. A conceptual framework has been developed. First, to identify the parameters that affects the ability of prospective first home buyers for middle-income earners in the home. Second is to evaluate the housing access indicator parameters on affordability of homeowners in reference to population livability in the city. The outcome of this study is the development of capability parameters to own a house and housing access for livability. This study findings highlight important criteria required to ensure home ownership to improve livability of urban community. Finally, the criteria could be used in developing a guideline for the government and developers to comply and support to the need of the National Housing Policy

Effect of Calcination Temperature on Dielectric Properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 Ceramics

AbstractThe effect of calcination temperature on the properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramics was studied. CCTO ceramics were prepared using solid state reaction method. The raw materials of CCTO were wet mixed for 24 hours and was dried overnight. CCTO powders were then calcined at three different temperature which is at 900̊C, 930̊C and 985̊C for 12 hours. The calcined powders were compacted at 250 MPa and then were sintered at 1040̊C for 10 hours. X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD) analysis showed the formation of CCTO phase and secondary phases of CuO for C900 calcined powder but single phase of CCTO was obtained by C930 and C985 calcined powders. Single phase of CCTO also were seen for all sintered samples. Observation on Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs showed abnormal grain growth or large grain size was seen in C900 sample and finer grain size was observed for C930 and C985 sintered samples. C900 sintered sample obtained the highest dielectric constant (10,462) and the lowest dielectric loss (0.061) measured at 1 MHz

Challenges for source separation of food waste and turning waste into compost for island-based hotels

The practice of turning food waste into compost among hoteliers in Malaysian islands is still far behind compared to the government’s target of 8% by 2020. This paper aims to identify challenges associated with implementing sources of separation of food waste, turning waste into compost, and proposing relevant actions using island-based hotels on Langkawi Island as a case study. This study adopted the mixed-method approach. The researcher distributed sets of questionnaire surveys to 42 hoteliers, followed by observation and interviews with 23 hoteliers. This study identified the lack of space, existing facilities, expertise, funding, adequate knowledge and support from the hotel management affected the activities separation and composting of food waste at their hotel. The study also suggested five key actions for achieving sustainable food waste management for the hotel sector in Langkawi via separate and compost food waste strategies. Those actions are (1) monitor by establishing a unique team of the hotel staff; (2) cooperation with the contractor of taking waste hotel; (3) systematic waste collection with fixed schedule; (4) waste audit and waste mapping; and (5) adequate infrastructure. This study provides information and guidelines to help hoteliers reduce food waste, save hotel operation costs, and maintain the hotel’s focus on environmentally friendly practices