SHAH ALAM - Latest technology and innovations can help the nation to better manage landfills, say experts.
KDEB Waste Management Chief Executive Officer Datuk Ramli Mohd Tahir said there were 7,000 tons of daily domestic waste in Selangor while 35,000 tons of waste across Malaysia.
Most of the time, all waste is collected and sent to the landfills and this process should change, Ramli stressed.
"Talking about landfills, once we dump this waste, it will fill up the land and probably take up about five to seven years before it is filled-up.
"At the rate we are collecting waste now, this land can probably last for six to seven years and that requires 100 to 150 acres of land to make it a landfill.
"So how long are we going to run away from residential areas to make a landfill," he said in a Wacana English Edition programme titled 'Ramadan: Feast or Waste?'.
Instead of collecting tons of waste, Ramli opined that the waste can be churned and transformed into money.
"If we are going to incenerate this way where heat can boil water, water can produce steam, steam can run turbines and turbines can produce electricity.
"In a way it can be generated and channeled to a whole residential area or Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) powerplant, for example.
"So 90 percent of waste end up at the plant and probably 10 percent at the residential area. In this case, we save land, create energy and we discharge a proper way disposal for a whole lot," he reasoned.