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Call for policy on disposal of e-waste
Malaysia, which
generates almost a million tonnes of potentially toxic electronic waste, needs
a national policy on its disposal urgently before it can impact the
environment.
According to Eric Ku, cofounder and COO of
iTrain Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the increased use of popular electronic gadgets like
handphones and computers has created the waste which are not being disposed
properly.
E-waste is one of the scheduled wastes
stipulated by the Environmental Quality Regulations 2005 under the
Environmental Quality Act, 1974.
The waste is usually toxic because it contains
heavy metals. “At present, the e-waste almost touches one million tonnes per
year with majority of it contributing from household wastes. Mobile phones
leads the e-waste followed by other household items such as blender, washing
machines, toasters etc,” he told The Malaysian Reserve in an interview
recently.
He said mobile phone usage in Malaysia has
increased by 16% points to 63% of the population in 2013 from 47% in 2012.
“When a person buys a new phone, what do they do
with their old phones? Current trend in Malaysia is that a person owns more
than one phones, and the rest just keep their old mobile phones under their
cupboard or desk.
Very few people exchange their phones with new
ones,” he said.
To address this rising issue of e-waste, the
government under the Department of Environment (DoE) and Japan International
Cooperation Agency has mooted a pilot project on e waste management set in
Penang on June last year.
The project aims to figure out possible e-waste
collection system that is expected to be used as a model for nationwide
collection system expansion. The proposed Penang ewaste project was conducted
for 18 months, whereby it is in the final stage of digesting data of its
performance so far.“We believe we can come out with a proper model very soon as
the pilot project seem to be successful. We are almost there.” he added.
He said the model is essential as many materials
contained in different e-wastes can be potentially hazardous, if improperly
handled throughout their lifecycle.
“If the e-waste are disposed in landfills, these
materials have potential to leach in landfills and contaminate surface and
ground water. In addition, the resources are lost for future use,” Ku said.The
code of e-waste is SW110. DoE has a responsibility to control the SWs including
e-waste.
Among the DoE’s responsibilities, especially,
DoE has the all rights to license the solid waste management companies to deal
with SWs, including ewastes. “Generally, it is not easy to develop an
appropriate and effective waste collection system from households, because it
requires a strong change in people’s waste discarding behaviour besides other
issues such as logistics,” he said.
The combined e-waste generated by households,
businesses and institutions sector was 592,391 tonnes in 2006, 639,493 tonnes
in 2007 and 624,143 tonnes in 2008; the annual average generated was 635,030
tonnes. According to the DoE forecast, e-waste will touch 1.11 million metric
tonnes in 2020.
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