A Review of Future Household Waste Management for Sustainable Environment in Malaysian Cities

Abstract

In recent years, Malaysia has faced environmental challenges caused by municipal solid waste, especially household waste, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among all the household waste, plastic and paper are the most unmanaged waste that cause environmental issues. Several recycling associations in Malaysia have carried out their practices for better waste sustainability and management to curb the increasing amount of household waste. However, the effectiveness is still vague in achieving smart and effective household waste management. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate Malaysia’s household waste management, mainly in three significant municipalities in Malaysia, namely Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Melaka, in becoming a resilient and sustainable city by addressing two main research questions: (1) What are the key factors for ensuring the more successful moves for future household waste management in cities? and (2) How do each of the three municipalities of Malaysia cities address their waste issues based on the key factors from RQ1? This paper reviewed 13 waste management articles and explores the potential of the four factors of waste management from the perspective of technology and data, economy, social, and governance. The discussed factors and models contributed to an integrated future-proofing framework that focuses on smart waste tracking, a gamified awareness education, and strict policies to control waste management are the way forward for the future of smart cities household waste management.