Penang to be Model State for Solid Waste Management

PUTRAJAYA, July 6 Asia Pulse - Penang is set to become a model state for an integrated sustainable solid waste management upon the completion of its Solid Waste Management Project by end of this year.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Assistant Resident Representative (Programme), Chung Tsung Ping said the project was near its final stages.

"We are about two-thirds into the project. We have yet to finalise the outcome and hope to do so by the end of the year," she told Bernama here.

"The Structuring and Institutionalising of Solid Waste Management in Penang" is a collaborative project between the Penang State Government (through the State's Economic Planning Unit, UPEN), UNDP and the two local authorities in Penang, the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) and the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) on sustainable urban development.

This two-year project, which began in August 2005 and focuses on activities to support and accelerate sustainable modernisation of the urban waste system in northern Penang state and via policy dialogue, would disseminate the results to the rest of the country.

The project aims to help Penang implement a more structured approach to waste management, integrating recycling, organics recovery, land filling, with collection and waste prevention, all of which are alternatives to mass technologies.

It will support and accelerate sustainable modernisation of the urban waste system in Penang.

Dr Richard Leete, Resident Representative for UNDP Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam was earlier quoted as saying that Penang was chosen for the project due to the state's leadership in many activities relating to the management of solid waste, including measures to improve the current system with active participation from its recycling networks.

"The project will produce a more structured solid waste management system in Penang, in addition to playing a role in the provision of inputs into Federal and State level plans on solid waste management in Malaysia," he added.

This is the second solid waste management project undertaken by UNDP in Penang following the successful Public Private Partnership for Urban Environment (PPPUE) from 2002 to 2004 which involved stakeholders from MPPP and the private sector.

The UNDP Malaysian Country Office is a valued, trusted and reliable adviser to, and development partner with, the Malaysian Government and other stakeholders in national development.

(BERNAMA-OANA)

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