KUCHING: The Sarawak Economic Planning Unit (EPU) would be conducting a study on a new waste management system that incorporate energy generation and involve zonal collection equipped with high-tech incinerators.
Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the system would come as a long term solution to manage waste in the state’s populated areas based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), while turning the waste into energy generator.
“It is my desire for the (State) EPU to look into the possibility of having incinerator to manage our waste, at the same time to turn our waste to energy. This means a lot of investment but I have suggested to them to zone Sarawak because there must be economics of scale in terms of the volume of waste and to manage this waste sustainably,” he said.
Speaking to officiate at the 36th Anniversary of Kuching City Day celebration here today, he had proposed for Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Sri Aman and Betong Divisions would be placed under one zone with one centralised incinerator to be built.
“The remaining bahagian (divisions), we will have another centre to collect waste from Sibu right up to Limbang and we have to identify one location for us to have a high tech incinerator,” he said.
Abang Johari said that there are existing technology which Sarawak could adopt to manage the waste that could be turned into raw materials to produce other products in addition to generating energy from the waste that could be utilised to run other economic activities.
“It had been done in other countries (and) the initial investment will be high, but that one you leave it to me and the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) government to get the money. We want Sarawak to be a state that is progressive and environmentally friendly,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after the event, he said Sarawak planned to adopt the model used in Sweden in its plan to implement the new waste management system as the population and condition in the Scandinavian country is almost similar to Sarawak.
According to him, the Sarawak EPU had been given a timeline of up to the first quarter of next year to complete the study before implementing the new system by 2026.
“At least if 50 per cent of the waste can be recovered, you can get back the capital,” he said, adding that the study would determine the actual cost of implementing the new system.
