Let's Talk Rubbish

Came upon this in the NST today. Thought it's good for all of us to know before it's too late.

Zainul Arifin on Wednesday: It's time to talk rubbish, MPs

21 Mar 2007
Zainul Arifin

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RUBBISH, I thought, excitedly when I saw the opening ceremony of the new parliament session on TV on Monday. Now, before our Yang Berhormats get all flustered and begin mulling contempt charges against me, allow me to explain further.

I hope this sitting will see the tabling, debate and presumably, and hopefully, the endorsement of the Solid Waste Management Bill — which is a nice way of calling the would-be law that will govern our relationship with the things we throw out daily.

Yes, I am talking rubbish and it is one of the more important things on my mind for a long time, and I hope the same goes for our MPs, too.

Hence my excitement, as one rarely hears of anyone talking about rubbish, it’s too un-sexy. Corruption? Yes. Political intrigue? Psst, have you heard the latest? Collusion, cronyism, nepotism? Yes, bring them on. But, rubbish? Surely, I cannot be serious, and in parliament, too.

But I am indeed very serious. Let’s see if we are indeed serious in leaving our future generations some semblance of the beauty and richness we have inherited.

No doubt, we have squandered, plundered and polluted this land of ours over the years, but here is a serious opportunity to make amends.

Newspapers have reported Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting as saying the Bill was approved by the Cabinet last year, and would be tabled in parliament this year.

The issues of recycling and land acquisition for landfills and incinerators would be dealt with under the proposed law. Also issues of solid waste, and these include the rubbish we dutifully place in bags outside our homes, will be under the purview of the federal government.

This is by no means a small issue. Nature now takes little time to pay us back for our recklessness. Landslides, flash floods, polluted rivers, dead rivers, toxic water sources, haze, acid rain, global warming, new strains of diseases, etc, are unfortunate consequences of our actions.

Instant karma, said John Lennon, is going to get you. You pollute, and sooner, or later, you will have to pay for it.

According to Ong, Malaysians recycle 4.5 per cent of their rubbish, as opposed to 65 per cent by people in Denmark. How do the Danes do it?

For one, they are not Malaysians. Far from me to talk bad of my fellow citizens, but we, generally, seem to care little for our environment.

Let me share a secret: if we were to continue doing so, we can kiss Vision 2020 goodbye. One of the measures creeping into the criteria for a developed nation is environmental awareness and how countries take care of their natural resources, biodiversity and the environment.

We can have our GDP per capita up 10-fold or our trade by the trillions, yet again, but if we fail the environment test, we would still have to sit at the kids table.

The other reasons why the Danes, and most Western European countries, are big on recycling and caring for the environment are legislation and education.

Education is fine for the kids, but it will take time to kick in.

For older folks already set in their ways, only the threats of the law and monetary loss, would get us to change.

Hence, we should all welcome the Bill, and write to our MPs and tell them to pass it, post haste.

Many of us throw everything into our garbage bags. Where they go, we don’t care as long as it is not anywhere near us. Out of sight, out of mind.

Reports suggest that Klang Valley residents can fill up the KLCC Twin Towers every few weeks with the things they throw out daily.

Also from the taxes we pay to local authorities, only about RM5 per month is spent on handling our rubbish.

What can we get for RM5 these days? These are some of the issues that I hope the Bill will address.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, during his recent trip to Japan, visited an urban incinerator in Tokyo, and was impressed with its cleanliness and efficiency.

I see the visit as a sure sign that we will have our own incinerator soon as one of the ways to manage our mounting rubbish problem. Landfills take too much space, while an incinerator takes half the size of a football pitch.

But incinerators have had bad Press and no one likes to have them around.

Every aspiring politician will soon be climbing on bulldozers trying to stop their construction.

I have a novel idea. Let us build the first one in Putrajaya, if there is not one there already, to meet the needs of the federal capital. Not in the city centre, of course, but within its confines.

I am not trying to be cheeky or sarcastic, but let’s not have the first one in Semenyih or Broga or anywhere else where the moneyed and powerful hardly pass through.

Let it be a showcase to all doubters that the technology works; it is safe and efficient that our leaders are comfortable enough to have it in their backyards.

Let people visit and see how clean it is. It will be the best public relations exercise for the technology, as well as to convince people to get on with the programme.

Thus, rubbish is on my mind as our MPs sit to ponder and postulate all manners of the law this sitting.

I surely hope it is on the cards.