Penang Watch

It is a vicious waiting game in recycling in Penang (perhaps in Malaysia too) : government don't want to legislate to compell and regulate recycling -though every responsible resident acknowledge its importance, for fear of voters' backlash; residents proscrastinate because government had not sent out signal that recycling is a must-not a voluntary hobby. Since we have a new state government now : why not take opportunity to legislate on recycling by restructuring the Council rates on waste handling? Households who separate wastes should enjoy rebates while households who do not should pay full costs for waste disposal. In that way our garbage bins and dumps will no longer be filthy -especially after we separate the wet/organic matter from the dry ones; and for good measure dirty metals/timber should also be separated from paper, cans etc so there would not be filty everywhere. If done well the whole waste management would be a lucrative business too. So that's why there are company who want to take up the solid waste disposal business-only that it should not be monopolised to make the system inefficient through lack of competition! 

Tuesday June 24, 2008(Star)
Waste collecting service delayed
By ANN TAN

E-IDAMAN Sdn Bhd has yet to start its service of collecting and transporting household solid waste in the northern region.

Penang Local Government, Traffic Management and Environment Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the service was supposed to start from June 1.

“We are still waiting for E-Idaman to start the service and are also looking forward to the Federal Government adopting a new solid waste management,” Chow said.
Children learning the basics in composting during the World Environment Day celebration at Botanika Outreach.

He was speaking to reporters after attending the World Environment Day celebration organised by the Friends of the Penang Botanic Gardens Society at Botanika Out-reach on Saturday.

Chow said the recycling rate in Penang was 15% and he hoped it would reach 25% to 30% in the future.

Themed ‘Recharge the Environment: Richness from Waste’, the celebration was aimed at recharging the environment via a natural approach - composting.

In keeping with the theme, society members made leaftlets out of dried leaves inked with the programme information. This effectively reduced wastage arising from the use of paper leaftlets that would have been discarded after being read.

Society president Rashidah Begum Fazal Mohamed said the dried leaves would decompose and return to earth after being thrown away.

“Our speakers are showing, literally with their hands, how we can get richness from waste as well as how simple composting is. Hope-fully after this, everyone will make composting a routine activity in our daily life,” she said.