Abstract
Landfilling is the most frequent waste disposal method worldwide. It is recognised as being an important option both now and in the near future, especially in low- and middle-income countries, since it is the easiest and the cheapest technology available. Owing to financial constraints, landfills usually lack of environmental abatement measures, such as leachate collection systems and lining materials. As a result, a lot of contamination is inflicted upon the environment. Importantly, even with proper abatement measures in landfills, there is no guarantee that contamination will be prevented. Another major concern is the appropriate location for landfills to ensure the impact towards the environment are minimised. This paper highlights the challenge to find suitable place for future landfill in Malaysia. There is a tendency of landfill to be built on unsuitable area such as near to residential area or on agricultural land where most of the land are grading as high prospect value to be developed as business or industrial area that are more profitable. Key words: Municipal solid waste, disposal methods, landfilling, developing countries, Malaysia.
Highlights
Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a category of diverse waste, generated from different sources, each of which is itself heterogeneous
Significant concerns over the environmental impacts of MSW have emerged, the nature of which depends upon the waste amount and composition, as well as the disposal methods
The growth of MSW in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries has closely followed the increases in the gross domestic production (GDP) and population (Figure 2) (United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2004; OECD, 2000; Lau, 2004)
Summary
43400 UPM Serdang, Malaysia. 3Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Landfilling is the most frequent waste disposal method worldwide. It is recognised as being an important option both and in the near future, especially in low- and middle-income countries, since it is the easiest and the cheapest technology available. Landfills usually lack of environmental abatement measures, such as leachate collection systems and lining materials. Even with proper abatement measures in landfills, there is no guarantee that contamination will be prevented. Another major concern is the appropriate location for landfills to ensure the impact towards the environment are minimised.
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