Track: Waste Management

Abstract

Municipal solid waste covers 64% of the overall waste composition in Malaysia. The highest waste found in municipal solid waste was household waste consisting of most recyclable materials, at least 70-80% of the total waste disposed at the landfills. Solid waste management, which focuses on the recovery potential of recyclable materials found at the landfills, helps restore the environment by reducing the volume of waste at the landfills and improving the economic market of recyclable materials. Thus, this study aims to identify the value of recyclable materials' input and output flows in the municipal solid waste (MSW) system through generation, collection and transportation, separation, and final disposal. The application of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) is suitable as the supporting tool to visualize the flows of the recyclable materials throughout the four phases in the MSW system. Primary data for the MFA were obtained from field observation, in-depth interviews, and literature review that cover 8 districts of Terengganu. The result showed the highest input flow of recyclables materials in the MSW system was from the household waste flow. The total flow of recyclable materials was 386.40 kton while the output flow of recyclable materials being recycled was only 1.54 kton from the overall flow of the system. It is suggested the partnership of private sectors parties with local authority should also involve intensively in promoting the activity of 3Rs to encourage recycling activity among people in Terengganu.

Keywords: Recyclable Materials Flows, Municipal Solid Waste System (MSW), Material Flow Analysis (MFA)