Solid Waste Management: Addressing the Hazards and Measures to Tackle Waste Disposal

Solid waste management is defined as the control of waste generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing and disposal of solid wastes consistent with the best practices of public health, economics, financial, engineering, administrative, legal and environmental considerations. Solid waste is sewage other than hazardous waste. There are 8 categories of solid waste which are commercial waste, construction waste, domestic waste, industrial waste, institution waste, import waste, public waste and any waste not categorized.
There are currently international agreements such as the Basel Convention and the Bamako Convention deal primarily with the inter-state transport of hazardous waste. The principal recommendation is that a project be developed to further investigate the magnitude of the global waste generation and management problem with a view towards developing a draft treaty for submission to the UN Environment Programme.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known simply as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). It does not, however, address the movement of radioactive waste. The Convention is also intended to minimize the amount and toxicity of wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation, and to assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes they generate.
The Bamako Convention is a treaty of African nations prohibiting the import of any hazardous (including radioactive) waste. The Convention was negotiated by twelve nations of the Organization of African Unity at Bamako, Mali in January, 1991, and came into force in 1998. The Bamako Convention uses a format and language similar to that of the Basel Convention, but is much stronger in prohibiting all imports of hazardous waste. Additionally, it does not make exceptions on certain hazardous wastes (like those for radioactive materials) made by the Basel Convention.

The technology and system that Malaysia used for solid waste management are by implementing National Strategic Plan for Solid Waste Management which upgrading of unsanitary landfills as well as the construction of new sanitary landfills and transfer stations with integrated material recovery facilities. Moreover, legislation to streamline the strategies and measures in the Strategic Plan will be enacted. A solid waste department will be established to implement these measures and to administer solid waste policy, planning and management in a holistic manner.

The government will consider the adoption of a comprehensive waste a management policy including the installation of incinerators for safe and efficient disposal of waste as well as to formulate strategies for waste reduction, reuse and recycling (3R). The government also makes immediate safe closure of 16 landfills that are in critical areas by upgrading of non sanitary landfills, building new sanitary landfills, building incinerators.

The law and policy in Malaysia in controlling waste from residential and industrial areas is currently effective. The laws implemented are National Strategic Plan for SW Minimization in 2005, National Policy on Solid Waste Management in 2006, Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act in 2007 which confer executive authority to the Federation for matters relating solid waste under Article 74(2) and Article 80.

Furthermore, under National Policy on Solid Waste Management established a holistic, integrated, cost effective solid waste management, emphasis on environmental protection and public health, utilized proven cost effective technology and priority on 3R. Under Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007(Act 672), it requires approval for any construction, alteration or closure of prescribed solid waste management facilities, require license to carry out solid waste management services, manage or operate solid waste management facilities, prescribed recycling and separation of recyclables and require generator to reduce generation of solid waste. By existence of these law and policy, it can be effective to control and manage solid waste currently.
The challenges faced by the government agencies in conserving the environment in the country are adoption of policies which gives preference to economic development rather than a sustainable approach to balanced economic development and environmental protection, lack of coordination between various government agencies endowed with decision making in planning and economic development, characteristics of the civil society which they failed to realize that environmental protection is not a matter exclusively to be dealt with by the government but a matter that requires full social participation to ensure successful results and lack of resources such as manpower and expert professional and finance. In suggesting and recommend regarding legal protection of the environment, various questions need to be addressed. How to solve the challenges that are being posed to us?; how to consolidate economic and social development?; how to increase production in order to increase economic growth but without compromising the need to reduce social inequalities?; how to develop sustainably without affecting natural resources as source of development without compromising the ability of the future generations to develop? These questions must not be asked not only out of academic or intellectual interests but are to be discussed during policy formulation process as well.
Until recently, economic growth had failed to give sufficient attention to social and environmental effects thus resulting in increased poverty and environmental degradation. The challenges faced by most states irrespective of whether it is a developed or developing nation is to accelerate a fair increase of income and promote access to financial resources and cleaner technologies, to join economic growth with improvement of the environment and social well-being. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that not all natural resources are renewable as such it could be finite if not utilized properly. The challenge gets tougher when we take into account the rate of population growth and the need to resolve social inequalities, inherited from colonialisation. Rational economic growth and social justice must be the objectives of planning and implementation of different stages in the process of sustainable development.
Policies and strategies for the improvement of the environment require continuous strengthening of an institutional and legal framework with official environmental standards besides subscribing to numerous international treaties. Nevertheless efforts in terms of enacting codes of regulations, as a basis to define secondary standards to facilitate updating and improving the regulations as well as it enforcement must be continuous and not carried out on an ad-hoc merely to address an immediate need only. The environmental protection legislation must focus on conservation of natural resources rather than merely focusing on corrective measures. This law must include prevention of environmental damage by development activities, for planning environmental policies. It must include amongst others, the development planning process to focus on features of land and natural resources, environmental impact assessment to prevent negative impacts of production activities and construction works, and the management plans for protected areas.
The government must be prepared to promote active public participation to assure successful implementation of environmental policies and legislation. Most countries realize the importance of public participation in development planning since this will instill a sense of belonging and ensure adherence by the general public. The law can only be effective if there is concurrence at all the strategic level of the government such as. the local , state and federal government in prevention of pollution and restoration of the environment. The Federal government must be given more powers in dealing with environmental problems rather than leaving it to the discretion of the states in order not to encroach the powers of the powers in dealing with land and natural resources as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
The aspect related to overlapping of powers between the environmental protection agencies can be resolved by establishing one-stop center at the Federal government level to implement environmental protection measures as well as enforcing of regulations. There must be a clearly defined environmental policy that is enforced not only by legal mechanisms, but also through adoption of different mechanisms, that operate as part of the economic performance of the nation as well as part of a code for social responsibility.