Solid waste management in Shah Alam City residential area

Growth in population, increasing urbanisation, inadequate infrastructure, rising standards of living and rapid development in technology are some of the major factors that have influenced directly the municipal solid waste generation in Malaysia. Municipal Solid Waste Management is a problem and a serious challenge to local government authorities in developing countries. In Malaysia, the total quantity of municipal solid waste generated is projected to increase from 19,100 tons of waste per day in 2005 to 30,000 tons per day by 2020, with the annual population growth rate of 2.5 per cent. Practicing solid waste minimisation is one of the ways of reducing solid waste generation. This paper reviews: (i) the current practices in solid waste management and the trends of municipal solid waste generation and composition in Malaysia and (ii) solid waste management practices in Shah Alam City Hall, Selangor, Malaysia, and the current challenges. Through a longitudinal survey that lasted for 14 days, wastes generated by 100 households were collected and analyzed in an effort to characterize household solid waste generation and composition. Results showed that 0.43kg of solid waste per person/per day was generated which translates to 372,737.76kg for the entire Shah Alam city. In terms of composition of wastes generated by households, findings from the study showed that organic waste constitutes 33.98% of the total waste, recyclable materials (45.51%), and non-recyclable materials (20.51%). Our study found some flaws in the current waste management practice due to lack of public awareness, inadequate waste management plans, lack of proper recycling infrastructure and management by the local authority. The current waste minimisation system in Shah Alam is ineffective; therefore, the local authority should introduce at-source separation techniques as part of waste management practice