Waste of money to clear illegal rubbish dumping

suppadmin | January 23, 2022

Padawan Municipal council (MPP) spent RM125,000 for the year 2021 just to clear out waste from illegal dumping in its jurisdiction, said Chairman, Lo Khere Chiang.

Lo who is also State Assemblyman for Batu Kitang said the people should realise that such money can be put in good use for the public infrastructure instead of using it to scoop someone’s waste.

Getting people to be educated against illegal dumping is a difficult task as these illegal acts appear to be done by the same group of people.

Lo was with Trienekens Logistic and Service Manager, Lee Ghee Seng and his staff to check on an illegal dumping ground in Mile 6 yesterday morning. He added that this problem will not go away as long as there are people with no conscience or are uncaring about the environment.

There are proper ways of disposing of the waste e.g garden waste, construction waste or food waste but the people who committed these acts, he said, did it to avoid paying the disposal fees at the designated landfills or failure to take the time and effort to dispose of the items properly. Common areas for dumping may include vacant properties, alley ways, commercial dumpsters and along the road side. Dumping causes devaluation of property, health hazards and storm water pollution. Items dumped and pollutants find their way into the storm drain system, thus causing flooding, clogged drains and damage to fish, wildlife and plants downstream.

Lo said MPP works closely with Trinekens and every month, they hold a meeting to check on the illegal dumping grounds and how best to counter these acts. From their monitoring, he said the most common places are Jalan Kangkok, Batu Kawa, Kuching City mall , Jalan Arang 15C1, Jalan Ensing Timur, Batu Kawa and Jalan Khung Phin Ulu.

He said Illegal dumping is an offence under By-law 18(3), The Local Authorities (Cleanliness) By-Laws, 1999, any person found guilty of dumping waste illegally can be fine of one thousand ringgit for the first offence and, in the case of second or subsequent offence, a further fine of two thousand ringgit or imprisonment for the six months or both such fine and imprisonment.

Hence, during this crucial time of pandemic COVID19, members of the public are reminded to dispose of all waste, especially used masks, carefully and considerately by ensuring their waste is packed in tied or sealed plastic bags before placing the rubbish bags into their garbage bins.

Lee said there are three types of Roll -on/Roll-off bins that the public can rent from Trinekens. He said the sizes are 10 cubic metre, 16 cubic metre and 20 cubic metres.

The container will be placed at the customer’s premise for three working days. He said for further information, customers can call their hotline at 082-612300.