79 001-013
80 such as recyclable and residual waste. Table 1 shows the categorised details. In a nutshell, waste can be divided into two types: garbage that is sent to a landfill (residual waste) and wastes that are not sent to a landfill (recyclable). Residual waste is collected twice a week, whereas recyclable waste is collected just once a week. During collection time, residual waste should be placed inside the trash bin and the recyclable waste is placed outside and next to the garbage bin. The rule of this solid waste separation legislation is enforced within that framework, and household residents who do not abide will be penalised. Residents will be fined if (1) they failed to sort the waste accordingly and (2) mixed residual and recyclable waste. The residents will be notified before the compound is charged. The amount increases for subsequent charges: RM50 for the first charge, RM 100 for the second charge, and RM 500 for the third charge. If found guilty, a maximum of RM1000 will be charged [1].
This legislation has been enforced starting from June 1st 2015, in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Kedah and Perlis. For other states, the waste separation at source is upon their local authorities’ initiatives. As an example from Penang, the exempted state from the act has established its own ‘Segregation at Sources’ (SAS) movement, which is enforced by the state government starting June 1st, 2016. The compound charge for SAS is RM250 with a maximum penalty of RM2000 or 1-year jail or both if found guilty [2]. Through SAS, waste is also categorised into recyclable and general waste. In comparison to the guideline from Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 (Act 672), the recyclable waste of SAS using transparent trash bags for all categories and combined all together instead of separating them into the blue for paper, transparent/white for plastic and green for others [3]. Meanwhile, for general waste, the similar definition is applied to residual waste but uses a preferable black colour garbage bag. Regardless of any state and city, the residual or general waste generated in Malaysia will be disposed to the landfill [4].
Table 1: Type of waste for separation in Malaysia [1]
Type Categories Example Garbage
bag
Collection time/ week Residual
Waste (sent-to- landfill)
Kitchen waste Onion, vegetable and fruit peel, egg shell,
no specific colour
2
Food waste Leftover cooked/take away meals, expired food,
Contaminated materials
Tissue paper, contaminated food packaging
Disposal diapers Recyclable
waste (not sent-to- landfill)
Paper Boxes, Bills/receipt, Magazine, Juice boxes, newspapers, papers, cardboards
blue
1 Plastic Plastic bags, fabric softener
bottles, plastic pails, detergent bottles, soft drinks bottles, food containers
white / transparent
Others: Glass /ceramic
Ceramic plate, soy sauce /sauce bottles, jam containers, water bottles, ceramic vase
green
81 Others: Metal/
Steel/ Aluminum cans
Kitchen utensils, Food cans, Food Bottles, Aluminium food containers, soft drink cans Others:
Electronic waste/
small electronic appliances
Light bulbs, batteries, calculator, speaker, handphone, earphone
Others:
Leather/Rubber/sh oes/ fabric
Shoes, leather handbags, t-shirt, pants, rubber gloves
Others :
Hazardous waste
Aerosol cans, poison, paint containers, poison spray bottles, bleach
Bulky waste Furniture (sofas, beds), Big electronic appliances
no specific colour Garden / Farm
waste
Leaves, tree branches, coconut fronds, banana stems, flowers
In Sabah’s capital city, Kota Kinabalu, the waste management system is primarily based on landfill disposal and its prominent landfill site is located at Kayu Madang, Telipok [5]. Kayu Madang area is approximately 111 acres, with 11 hectares designated for 1.5 million tonnes of waste disposal.
However, Kayu Madang’s life expectancy has been long overdue since 2018, when it exceeded 12.5 years of service [5]. Therefore, there is an urgent need for systematic waste management and the enactment of legislation to rein in further accumulation of waste disposal while searching for an alternative landfill site. For now, Kota Kinabalu initiatives on waste separation only through the National Recycling Programme for 3R practice [6]. A refinement of 3R practice can be introduced to facilitate a waste management system at the household level: waste separation at source, particularly by enforcing a law defining a distinct waste category, collection schedule, and mutual responsibilities.
This paper aims to introduce and understand a well-established waste separation guideline in Sapporo city, Japan. It may serve as a model for a facile and robust approach to addressing the current waste management system in Kota Kinabalu.
MAIN RESULTS
Waste separation in Sapporo
In Sapporo, the capital city of Hokkaido, a northern prefecture in Japan has been practising waste separation at source under the Slim City Sapporo Plan since 2008. From the city plan guideline, three important elements should be noted for segregation: (1) the waste category, (2) garbage bag type, and (3) date and time for collection day. The details for each waste category are shown in Table 2. In Sapporo City, residents have to purchase designated garbage bags for their general waste [7] while recyclable waste is disposed of separately in a transparent trash bag. In brief, wastes are categorised into (1) burnable waste, (2) non-burnable waste, and (3) recyclable waste. In total, 9 categories of
82 waste should be separated [8]. The term “burnable” refers to the use of an incinerator to dispose of general waste. Only two colours of garbage bags are acceptable for waste separation: yellow and transparent plastic bags. A transparent bag is for recyclable waste, while a yellow bag is for both burnable and non-burnable waste (Figure 1). It has four different sizes with its own pricing (Table 3), and is available in supermarkets, convenience stores, drugstores, and hardware stores in Sapporo [9].
For waste collection, Figure 1 shows a schedule of when each type of waste is collected on which days. The collection day varies depending on the city-ward from year to year [13].
Table 2: Type of waste for separation in Sapporo city [10] - [12]
Type Categories Examples Garbage
bag
Collection time/ week Burnable
waste
(incinerated) [10]
Kitchen waste Onion, vegetable and fruit peel, eggshell, seafood shells, left, aluminium foil, expired food, leftover food
*drain any surplus water from kitchen waste
Designated bag
(yellow)
2
Cooking/salad oil Contaminated materials
used tissue paper, contaminated food packaging, disposable diapers, food containers that cannot be rinsed clean Plastic
products
washing basins, rulers, CDs, ballpoint pens, video tape
Clothing, blankets, leather and hide goods, rubber and vinyl goods, wooden items, wood chips and timber, charcoal, drying agents, gel ice-packs, disposable pocket warmers Non-
burnable waste [10]
Containers that cannot be collected as recyclable plastic or bottle such as oil containers, paint and chemical cans
Designated bag
(yellow)
1 x / month Small house
electrical appliances
kettle, hairdryers, video cameras, clocks, calculators, electrical scales
Metal products pans, kettles, metallic toys, stapler Glass, chinaware, fluorescent lamps
*broken glass, pottery, should be wrapped in cardboard/paper with ‘danger’ mark
Blocks, brikcs Recyclable
Waste
Pressurised spray cans, gas catridges [10]
Hairspray / insecticides tins, tabletop gas cartridges
*ensure the cans/cartridges is empty and punctured
Transparent bag
1
83 Plastic
containers and packaging [11]
Plastic bags, fabric softener bottles, plastic pails, detergent bottles, soft drinks bottles, food containers, trays, tubes, plastic lids and labels, net and shock absorbent packaging
*rinse off any excess dirt or contents with water
*any tubes should be completely empty Dry batteries and lighter
Bottles, cans,
and PET
bottles [11]
empty bottles (beverage/seasoning bottles, medicine bottles, glass cosmetics containers), empty cans (aluminium and steel beverages cans, food tins, PET bottles
*PET bottle cover and label should be separated
*metal lids/cap categorised as non- burnable waste
*rinse off any excess dirt or contents with water
Branches, leaves grass and weed cuttings [11]
Grass cuttings, vegetation, fallen leaves, pruned branches, stems and roots
*branches less than 50cm long should be tied up
Miscellaneous Paper [12]
*contaminated
paper is
burnable waste
paper boxes, cartons, postcards, letters, envelopes, photographs calendar, receipts, paper bags, shredded paper
*newspaper, magazines, books, cardboard boxes should be tied up accordingly and allocate differently for specific recycle collection
Bulky waste [12]
Furniture (sofa), electrical appliances, sports and leisure goods
Table 3: Size and price (JPY) of designated bag for burnable and non-burnable waste in Sapporo [9]
Size 5 liter 10 liter 20 liter 40 liter
Price ¥100
(10 pieces)
¥200 (10 pieces)
¥400 (10 pieces)
¥400 (5 pieces)
84 Burnable waste is collected twice a week (Monday and Thursday), while recyclable waste is collected once a week. Non-burnable and garden waste (branches, leaves, grass and weed cuttings) is collected once a month. However, according to Figure 2 [13], the schedule showed a little different waste collection frequency for a fiscal year from September 2020 to September 2021, particularly for selected recyclable waste such as pressurised spray cans and gas cartridges, paper, dry battery and lighter. For example, the second week of September 2020 (7 – 11 September), burnable waste (yellow bag) and pressurised spray can and gas cartridges (transparent bag) were collected together on Monday and Thursday, plastic (transparent bag) was collected on Tuesday, miscellaneous paper was collected on Wednesday, and bottles, cans, and PET bottles were collected on Friday. On September 16 and 30 (Wednesday), tree branches, leaves, and grass (garden waste) were collected, as well as non-burnable, lighters, and dry batteries. Miscellaneous paper, garden and non-burnable waste were alternately collected on Wednesday. During the winter, there was no garden waste collection (January to March, 2021). For bulky waste like furniture, kitchen appliances, musical instruments etc (over 100kg and longer than 2m), residents should call bulky refuse collection centres to arrange the collection themselves. A collection sticker should be fixed on the collection day with a reference number given by the centre. The stickers can be purchased from any supermarket, convenience store, drugstores and hardware stores in Sapporo [9]. Regardless of any waste types, all garbage should be available at the waste station by 8.30am on the day of collection.
Figure 1: Waste collection calendar for Kita-ku, Sapporo City, from September 2020 until September 2021 [13].
According to the Slim City Sapporo Plan, the basis of the municipal solid waste treatment strategy is to engage society on recycling as they are the resource for household waste. The action plan is targeting for: (1) sorting, collecting and recycling ‘miscellaneous paper’, (2) sorting, collecting and recycling branches, leaves grass and weed cuttings, (3) Forming ‘kitchen waste recycling
85 partnership system, (4) support of ‘Sapporo Waste Disposal Patrol Group’ for their collection station checking and (5) implementation of fee-based household collection system. Fee-based system is adopted through city-designated waste bags depending on size. The aim is to make everyone involved by having equal responsibility in terms of financial burden for waste disposal [7]. Those who make an effort to reduce waste will pay less by using a smaller number of garbage bags. In general, Japan, including Sapporo city, does not charge compound or penalties if residents failed to comply with waste separation at source guidelines. However, waste disposal patrol staff will conduct a periodic inspection and residents that failed to separate household waste will be warned and their waste will not be collected. Furthermore, residents would also be reminded that both garbage bags (yellow and transparent) should be tied up securely for collection purposes [9].
Figure 2: Results and improvement of Slim City Sapporo Plan [7].
Results from Slim City Sapporo Plan
Figure 2 shows the results of the action plan after a year of implementation of the Slim City Sapporo Plan, which demonstrated that burnable waste was decreased by 40% in comparison to the previous year. Well-sorted disposal of miscellaneous paper and garden waste (branches, leaves, grass, and weed cuttings) has improved significantly (Figure 2c-d). A noticeable increase of 20 to 30% for
“bottles, cans, PET bottles” and “plastic containers and packaging” were also reported [7]. This was all due to citizens’ improved awareness of waste separation. In this aspect, a psychological impact can be considered an essential factor [14]. Here, the state of the waste station was observed by waste patrol personnel on a daily basis. In case of inappropriate waste disposal, particularly in the event of incorrect waste category separation, the personnel had the authority to leave reminder notes or even
a.
))
b.)))
c.) )
d.
86 return the waste bags to the owner’s doorstep [15] (Figure 2b). Such actions left a psychological impact on the citizens to properly manage their waste before being landed at the waste station.
Eventually, mutual cooperation and support between the patrol, resident management, and the residents were strengthened for the benefit of their own local environment.
Besides, another factor that brings success to segregation of waste at source for the Slim City Sapporo plan is the containers and packaging identification marks that are available on every product package [16]. In Japan, the Containers and Packaging Recycling Act mandates that industrial entities include a recycling symbol on their products (Table 4). As an example, multiple packaging and markings for instant noodle cups in Figure 3 showed that the cup, external film, and soup bag is plastic while the lid is categorised as paper. The consumer would easily identify the packaging type upon consumption, thus ensuring efficient waste sorting. Moreover, back then in 1995, the residual time of landfills was less than 10 years in Japan. Through the implementation of the Containers and Packaging Recycling Act, the Ministry of Environment reported that the amount of container and packaging waste recycled increased and the final disposal of municipal waste decreased from year to year. This resulted in prolonging the life span of almost all municipal waste landfills significantly from 8.5 years at the time of enactment of the act (1995) to 19.4 years in 2011 [17].
Table 4 : Recycling symbol or identification mark and waste category [16]
Symbol
Name Plastic
(プラ, pura)
Paper (紙, kami)
Steel (スチール,
suchiiru)
PET bottles
Aluminium (アルミ,
arumi) Waste
category
Plastic containers and packaging
Miscellaneo us Paper
Non- burnable
waste
Bottles, cans, and PET bottles
Figure 3: Recycling symbol in each packaging item of an instant noodle cup [16].
87 CONCLUSION
In summary, there are several positive outlooks resulting from the Slim City Plan in Sapporo.
Significant accomplishments include a 40% reduction in burnable waste, increased community awareness of waste separation and recycling, practical habits for local environmental conservation, and an extension of the lifespan of the landfill. Of course, encouraging outcomes from waste separation at source would take up to 10 years, as in the case of Sapporo. This would not be realised without consistent participation both from the government and the citizens. Law enforcement guarantees the industries to manufacture environmentally-friendly consumer products, while citizens, in cooperation with their household management and local authorities, ensure a perpetual waste separation at source accordingly.
REFERENCES
[1] Ministry of Housing and Local Government. https://www.kpkt.gov.my/separationatsource/
[2] Local Government Division, Penang State Secretariat. (2020). Updates on waste segregation @ source policy in Penang https://www.sea-circular.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/01.-Kerajaan-Tempatan_Waste-Segregation-at- Source-in-Penang.pdf
[3] City Council of Penang Island. http://www.mbpp.gov.my/en/mbpp/media-centre/news/guide-waste-segregation- and-recycling-penang
[4] Moh, Y., & Abd Manaf, L. (2017). Solid waste management transformation and future challenges of source separation and recycling practice in Malaysia. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 116, 1-14.
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International Journal of Education, Psychology and Counseling, 4 (33), 162-182.
[7] Environmental Affairs Bureau, City of Sapporo. (2009). Aiming for waste reduction and recycling https://wwcam.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/SC_WCEI20090820_sapporo_en.pdf
[8] Garbage and Sorting guide. (2011). https://www.city.sapporo.jp/city/english/documents/p0.pdf
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https://www.city.sapporo.jp/city/english/documents/p7.pdf
[10] Burnable waste / Non-burnable waste / Pressirized spray cans, gas catridges. (2011).
https://www.city.sapporo.jp/city/english/documents/p1-p2.pdf
[11] Plastic containers and packaging / Dry batteries/ Bottles, cans, and PET bottles/ Branches, leaves, grass and weed cuttings. (2011). https://www.city.sapporo.jp/city/english/documents/p3-p4.pdf
[12] Miscellaneous paper / Bulky refuse. (2011). https://www.city.sapporo.jp/city/english/documents/p5-p6.pdf
[13] Sapporo waste calendar. (2020).
https://www.city.sapporo.jp/seiso/kaisyu/02_kita/documents/01kita1_02090309.pdf
[14] Mori, Y., Ohnuma, S., and Klockner, C. (2014). The Effects of Social Ties and Local Environment on Appropriate Waste Station Maintenance of Household Wase: A Case Study in Sapporo. Jurnal of Environmental Information Science, 44:5 (pp 87-98).
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International Conference of Technology, Manaement and Social Scienes (ICTMS-15).
[16] Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/recycle/main/english/pamphlets/pdf/the_containers_e.pdf
[17] Ministry of Environment, Minister’s Secretariat. Waste Management and Recycling Department Policy Planning
Division, Office of Sound Material-Cycle Society. (2014).
https://www.env.go.jp/en/recycle/smcs/attach/hcswm.pdf
88