JOHOR BAHRU, Oct 30 — The government will collaborate with the private sector to develop 18 waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in Peninsular Malaysia due to the high construction costs involved, according to the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp).
Its chairman Hee Loy Sian said a WTE plant is estimated to cost between RM500 million and RM1 billion, depending on its waste-processing capacity, which ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 tonnes.
“The construction of these 18 WTE plants is targeted over 10 years and will be carried out in stages. We will also work with the private sector for this purpose because of the high costs involved.
“At present, there is one operational WTE plant in Negeri Sembilan, while the next WTE plant will be in Bukit Payung, Johor, and the third in Sungai Udang, Melaka,” he said.
He told reporters this after officiating the closing and prize-giving ceremony of the 2024 state-level School Recycling Competition (Perkiss) in Johor yesterday.
Hee said despite the high costs, these WTE plants are necessary to address the shortage of landfill sites in the long term.
“Currently, some states face a critical shortage of landfill space, but this issue is being addressed by the government. We aim to reduce groundwater and air pollution caused by existing waste disposal sites.
“Land in Malaysia is becoming more valuable, so using it as landfill sites is not ideal. If we want to reuse the land, we would need to wait up to 50 years, which is too long,” he added.
— Bernama
