OVERVIEW OF SCHEDULED WASTES IN MALAYSIA
According to the Compendium of Environment Statistics 2021, scheduled wastes generation in Malaysia increased sharply by 79% between 2019 and 2020, reaching 7.18 million metric tonnes (mt) per year.
This upward trend is expected to persist, driven by the increased awareness to track these scheduled wastes and address their disposal in a “greener” way, heightened economic activities and the growing manufacturing sector.
Given the mounting scheduled wastes that is already being generated at the present moment and to cater for the mid to long term, Malaysia requires sufficient capacity to address these scheduled wastes effectively. Today, in Malaysia, only 20 out of the total 398 licensed companies have the facilities and license to handle more than 10 scheduled wastes codes.
Today, the main method of handling these scheduled wastes is mainly through temporary storage and landfills.
The increase in petrochemical production directly results in the increase in the generation of scheduled wastes.
SOURCE
Petrochemical Market in Malaysia by Global Monitor
PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY OVERVIEW.
The rapid increase in global population and robust economic growth in emerging markets lead to higher consumerism. Higher consumerism drives the increasing global demand across all industries.
At the heart of the world’s manufactured products, be it plastics, soaps, detergents, drugs, fertilisers, paints, luggage bags, automobile or clothes, are petrochemicals.
Petrochemicals are derived from petroleum and natural gas. They are chemical products used in most manufacturing. Its global demand has fuelled the rapid expansion of the Malaysian petrochemical market, surpassing previous leaders like Indonesia and Thailand. The industry’s current emphasis is on creating fully integrated petrochemical production through Integrated Petrochemical Complexes (IPCs). This is especially so in the Eastern Region in Malaysia.
In 2021, Malaysia produced approximately 20,100,100mt of petrochemical. Forecasts indicate that from 2025 onwards, Malaysia will produce approximately 79,100,000mt of petrochemical annually.
In the Eastern Region of Peninsular Malaysia, with the current output, the petrochemical industries generate approximately 530,000mt of scheduled wastes per year.
Today there are only 2 active facilities in the Eastern region – with the combined annual capacity of approximately 60,000mt to cater for the 530,000mt of these scheduled wastes generated in the region. There is a chronic shortfall in effectively managing the scheduled wastes generated by industrial sites in East Coast. This has not factored in the increase of scheduled wastes that will be generated from the forecasted increase of petrochemical production from 2025 onwards.
Due to the lack of facilities for the volume generated, scheduled wastes from the Eastern Region are transported via road to central and southern regions for disposal, with minimal focus on recovery. This translates into a higher than necessary costs for petrochemical producers and more importantly, it presents high environmental risks that comes with the transportation and disposal of these scheduled wastes.
This chronic situation necessitates for the expansion of scheduled waste management facilities in the East Coast to address the disposal and recovery demand in a viable business model that will operate in the sustainable space. In Malaysia, in general, the lack of effective scheduled waste management presents an opportunity for a business model that will address the balance between Planet, People and Profit.
