Waste-to-energy plants need at least 600 tonnes of waste daily to be viable, making them impractical for rural areas such as Betong, says Nga Kor Ming.
KUALA LUMPUR: Waste-to-energy (WTE) plants require between 600 and 1,000 tonnes of waste daily to remain financially and technically viable, said Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming.
He said this requirement made such facilities impractical for rural districts that generated relatively small quantities of waste, highlighting the need for alternative disposal methods to address overcrowded landfills.
“WTE plants require a minimum tipping load of around 600 to 1,000 tonnes daily to be financially and technically viable.
“However, the daily waste generated across Betong Division in Sarawak remains relatively low, amounting to only tens of tonnes.
“This makes the construction of a WTE plant there impractical and uneconomical,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Nga was responding to Datuk Dr Richard Rapu @ Aman anak Begri (GPS-Betong), who asked about the government’s long-term strategy for addressing critically overcrowded open landfills under rural local authorities, as well as mitigation measures for districts without WTE facilities.
Using Betong as an example, Nga said the federal government, in collaboration with the Sarawak government, was pursuing three immediate measures to address waste disposal challenges in areas unsuitable for large-scale WTE facilities.
“The first measure involves the safe closure of full landfill cells and interim waste management, with the government providing technical expertise and development funding.
“This includes soil covering, leachate control and the deepening of interim disposal cells to prevent waste from overflowing.
“The second measure involves establishing waste transfer stations to serve as collection hubs, where waste can be compacted before being transported directly to nearby regional sanitary landfills,” he said.
Nga said the third measure involved strengthening community recycling and composting at source, noting that organic materials accounted for more than 45% of daily waste generated in rural areas.
He added that Sarawak operated under its own Local Authorities Ordinance and had yet to adopt the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 (Act 672).
However, he stressed that differences in legal frameworks would not prevent the federal government from providing assistance.
“Legal boundaries must never become an obstacle for the federal government to assist Sarawak.
“Through the joint committee between the Housing and Local Government Ministry and Sarawak’s Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government, technical expertise and applications for development funding remain available to the Betong District Council,” he said.
In a supplementary question, Richard asked whether the Housing and Local Government Ministry would introduce a special allocation formula based on rural councils’ administrative areas, waste transportation distances and financial capacity, rather than relying mainly on population and revenue collection.
Nga said Budget 2027 had provided RM700 million for small-scale public infrastructure improvements across 156 local authorities.
He encouraged the district council to apply for funding to address its local infrastructure needs.
On long-term planning, Nga said the ministry aimed to reduce dependence on landfills by 2040 through the construction of 18 WTE plants, supported by 16 waste transfer stations and 10 sanitary landfills nationwide.
The ministry also aimed to increase the national recycling rate to more than 40%, from the reported rate of 37.9%.
