CURRENT SCENARIO OF CONSTRUCTION WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MALAYSIA

Issues of Construction Waste in Malaysia

Construction waste generation and illegal dumping activities Malaysian construction projects have been shown in the value of projected new construction works as reported by CIDB in the year of 2017. Increasing demand in new development and refurbishment construction project are significant to increasing of generation construction waste (Nurzalikha Saadi et al., 2016). The development of infrastructure especially in a construction project has contributed to the environmental issues especially in the production of construction waste (Nurzalikha Saadi et al., 2016). Additionally, by increasing number of demand in infrastructure, it was directly increasing the development of construction in Malaysia. 

Growing number of waste generation is due to several factors which economy, demand, living standard, population growth and industrial and urbanisation. Due to the factors of construction waste generation has been contributed to illegal dumping activities (Nurzalikha Saadi et al., 2016). Figure below shows the factors generation of construction waste from Solid Waste Corporation Malaysia (SWCorp Malaysia) perspective. It shows the generation factors of construction waste which are the development of economy growth, increasing of infrastructure projects demands, commercial buildings and housing projects, increasing of living standard, increasing of urbanisation and industrial and finally increasing of population growth in Malaysia (SWCorp Malaysia, 2014). The increasing number of waste generation directly has been effect to the illegal dumping activities. Furthermore, the illegal dumping activities are due to several factors which serve to environment (SWCorp Malaysia, 2014). 

Factors Generation of Construction Waste (SWCorp Malaysia, 2014)

SWCorp Malaysia has defined illegal dumping as a waste material dump into public and it can effect to the environmental issues (SWCorp Malaysia, 2016). Waste materials from construction are not transported to the landfills can define as illegal dumping activities. Hence, the logistic factors are a major problem for developing countries. This is due to the development of the construction sector in the developing countries (Muhwezi et al., 2012). 

In Malaysia, normally construction waste dumped at municipal solid waste landfill. This is because this method is easy for responsible contractor and they do not need any of technology to manage this construction waste. However, the disposal of waste contributed to the potion of waste dump, cost running during the logistic and the environment. Mostly construction waste has been thrown at landfill, there are still reported that more of waste disposed at illegal dumpsites. Illegal dumping is a major problem in many areas which raises concerns with regard to safety, property value, and quality of life in the community . In Malaysia, dumping of waste at illegal dumping sites is a common practice, particularly industrial and construction wastes. 

Construction Waste Management

The effectiveness of environmental management is very imperative (Kralj, 2010). The Malaysian government has proposed a variety of construction waste management. Unfortunately, it is yet to achieve the level of effectiveness required in managing the construction waste (Abu Eusuf et al., 2012). 

Construction waste management is one of the sustainable development approaches to minimise waste and avoid negative impacts on the environment . Management of waste includes monitoring, collection, transport, processing and waste disposal. However, Nagapan et al. (2012) defined construction waste management as tools to identify the suitable waste streams, target rates for waste generated and process to ensure good practices are achieved. Management can be defined as the process cycle in an organisation such as planning, controlling, evaluation and so forth (CIDB, 2007). Furthermore, the construction waste management is important to be carried out on the construction site . In conjunction with that, Jaillon et al. (2009) stated that the process of sorting out waste to the right location is defined as waste management. In addition, Fauziah and Agamuthu (2012) defined waste management as the discipline that encompasses solid waste generation, storage, collection, transport, processing, and disposal by considering the environmental, economic, aesthetics and public concerns. 

There are too many efforts that have been carried out by the Malaysian government to minimise the generation of waste by providing landfill area. Nevertheless, the contractor who failed in implementing good waste management led to the mismanagement of construction waste. Construction wastes need to go through a pre-treatment process before disposal. There are 3R concepts in waste management that need to be suggested such as reduce, reuse and recycled. According to Giusti (2009), the criteria of waste management hierarchy should begin from waste minimisation, waste re-use, recycling, and lastly, landfill. The process of construction waste management at the end will end up in landfill. Hence, it is vital to effectively utilise the construction resources in order to reduce the generation of waste. 

The most common approach used in the construction waste management is dumping in landfill sites. Unfortunately, limited space for landfill sites has contributed to the increasing of illegal dumping areas. Ismam and Ismail (2014) pointed out that the Malaysian government is responsible to improve the implementation of waste management in the construction industry in terms of regulation, policy, technology, and guideline. The standard of living in Malaysia is increasing due to the urbanisation and population growth and unfortunately, it increases the production of wastes. Additionally, there are a lot of benefits in implementing good practice on waste management in the construction project such as (Wrap, 2014): 

i. Reducing the financial cost for disposal through minimising the use of material; 

ii. Reducing the environmental impacts; and 

iii. Maximising sustainable design. 

The disposal method usually used in Malaysia is the land filling process but it also depends on the availability of land to reduce pollution and environmental impacts. Mallak & Ishak (2012) concluded that there are six various factors contributing to the failure of waste management, which are: 

i. Lack of awareness; 

ii. Information problems; 

iii. Technology problems; 

iv. Packaging problem; 

v. Financial problem; and 

vi. Poor cooperation by the government.

Thus, there is a need to recover this problem before it becomes wary. Meanwhile, a research done by Cheng & Ma (2013) stated that the sustainable waste management will become an important practice in the construction industry in the future. With the expansion of urban areas, all stakeholders should ensure that the construction waste management is fully implemented to steer the construction industry in the right direction. 

Government Initiatives

Construction waste management is yet to be implemented effectively to address the illegal dumping issue. Approximately 25,600 tonnes of waste are produced in Malaysia daily, in response to the rapid development and urbanisation (Badgie et al., 2012). 

According to Sreenivasan et al. (2012) there are seven types of solid wastes which are; residential, industrial, commercial, institutional, construction and demolition, municipal services and other human processes. According to a study conducted by Md Zain et al. (2012), only 76 per cent of solid wastes were successfully collected in Malaysia. However, from the percentage only 5 per cent of solid waste was recycled and 95 per cent of the collected wastes were disposed at the country landfills. The management of the construction waste is very important to be explained in details by the government in order to explain the goals and priorities of the construction waste management. 

There are various initiatives implemented by the government to resolve the issues on construction waste in Malaysia. The concept of initiative applied in this research was defined as varying plans and strategies for improving services or any system required and intended to solve a problem or any issues existed regarding construction waste (Agarwal & Chaudhary, 2015). The policy is one of the government initiatives and important for the purpose of protecting the environment. The drafting of relevant legislations and laws need to be added to the general legal framework of the waste management policy (Abu Eusuf et al., 2012). At present, the establishment of policy is important as an effort to introduce clearer goals and priorities in the construction waste management and environmental protection to the government by formulating appropriate laws, legislation, regulations and standards (Din et al., 2007). The timeline of solid waste management transition in Malaysia is showed in below. 

The solid waste management policies in Malaysia are National Strategic Plan on Solid Waste Management (2005), National Solid Waste Management Policy (2006) and Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act (Act 672) (2011) (Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation, 2015). A new approach was introduced by the government in the 8th Malaysia Plan (2001-2005) namely the reduction of waste, reuse used material and recycling used material. Moreover, to reduce the use of energy, materials, pollution and to minimise waste, strategic policies were introduced and local authorities have been given responsibilities to ensure a more comprehensive waste management policy. The National Strategic Plan for Solid Waste Management was introduced in 2005 as the solid waste management policy. The strategic plan is implemented in the Peninsular Malaysia until 2020. 

A waste management policy becomes more important in Malaysia due to the ineffective management of waste which has caused negative impacts on the environment. An effort by the Malaysian government to address this issue is evident by the enactment of Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act (Act 672). There are two new federal institutions established to implement the solid waste management policy which are; the National Solid Waste Management Department and Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (Papargyropoulou, 2011). According to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG), the agency targeted for 22 percent of waste to be recycled by the year 2020. In order to reduce waste, the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) has integrated the concept of recovering into existing approach. The strategies need to be modified in order to achieve a more systematic waste management. 

There are three main strategies for enhancing waste minimisation which are (Nizam & Yusoff, 2010): 

i. Enhancing the level of awareness on minimising waste; 

ii. Strengthening the reduce, recycling and reused activities; and 

iii. Strengthening the roles of government agencies to ensure that policies are effectively implemented. 

In 2006, the Construction Industry Master Plan (2006-2015) was introduced to improve the performance of the construction industry. The Strategic Thrust No. 3 of the plan was aiming to improve the quality of work, safety and health, and environmental practices. In conjunction with the Construction Industry Master Plan, there were actions taken by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) to achieve the Strategic Thrust No. 3. CIDB has introduced the Guidelines on Construction Waste Management to improve the environmental performance. However, the results have not been translated in the form of legal instruments and enforcement. Consequently, the Malaysian contractors seem to apply their own initiatives to manage construction waste, which does not reflect the existing initiatives implemented by the Malaysian government (Mallak et al., 2014). The failure of the connection between initiatives implemented by the government and practiced is caused by lack of enforcement, lack of implementation and uncertainty over responsibilities among the governing authorities. However, the effective waste management is very much important in order to protect the environment (Jalil, 2010). 

In September 2015, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) launched the Construction Industry Transformation Programme 2016-2020 (CITP) as the continuation of the Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP) 2006-2015 to ensure continuity and consistencywith the national agenda in achieving the Eleventh Malaysian Plan thrusts. There are four strategic thrusts being introduced in CITP to lead the transformation of the construction industry which are; Quality, Safety, and Professionalism, Environmental Sustainability, Productivity and Internationalisation (CIDB, 2015). Thus, the strategic thrust No 2 in CITP was developed in orderto achieve the sustainable infrastructure. Five strategic initiatives have been carefully designed to tackle the issues holistically which are; drive innovation in sustainable construction; drive compliance to environmental sustainability ratings and requirements; focus on public projects to lead the charge on sustainable practices; facilitate industry adoption of sustainable practices; and reduce irresponsible waste during construction (CIDB, 2015). However, the implementations of such initiatives are essential in order to achieve the environmental sustainability in Malaysian construction industry.