Sanitary Landfills: Toward Sustainable Development - lumes

Abstract
LUMES 2000-2001
Sanitary Landfills: Toward Sustainable Development
Municipal solid waste is one of the major environmental problems faced by the Malaysian
municipalities. Each year, there are about 8 million tonnes of solid waste being generated which
accounts to each person generates about 1kg of solid waste per day. This solid waste volume is
still increasing at the rate of 1.5% per year due to increase in urbanisation, change in living
standards and consumption patterns. While the solid waste volume increases, there is getting
lesser and lesser disposal site for the municipal solid waste. Majority of the landfills in Malaysia
are crude dumping ground and thus cause various environmental problems such as health
hazards, surface water and ground water contamination, odours, etc. Sanitary landfills offer a
viable option for the Malaysian municipalities to deal with the environmental hazards caused by
open dumps practice within its financial constraints. If sanitary landfills are conducted properly,
the negative environmental impacts can be kept to a minimum level. There are other treatment
and/or disposal methods such as incineration and composting which could moderate the solid
waste problems but they are not economically and socially viable at this moment. Solely
depending on the disposal method to solve the solid waste problem is not a permanent cure. Thus,
waste reduction, recovery and recycling play important roles in tackling the pressing solid waste
problems.
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