Finger Pointing Not the Answer to Solving Malaysia's Trash Woes

I think Malaysians would all agree that garbage left along the side of roads or piled up within our residential areas is something we would all prefer to not see or smell. And yet, the situation exists on a rather grand scale throughout the country. Why? The answer often given is that Malaysians are lazy.

Yes, many residents do place their bags of garbage off to the side of their homes on an unoccupied area of ground but not because they're lazy. Malaysia's unsightly piles of garbage are actually the result of poorly managed trash collection.

For some residential areas one or two trash bins are placed on the outskirts of the housing area along the road that leads into the development. Residents transport their trash bags either on foot, on motorbike or on the back of their car to the trash receptacles each day. Once these become full residents have no choice but to place their garbage bags on the ground alongside the receptacle.

In areas where direct door to door trash collection is provided things aren't much better. Trash collector's are a fickle bunch. Residents often are left guessing as to when they can expect their trash to be collected. Monday? Thursday? Once a week, twice a week or even at all? With the lack of a reliable and consistent trash collection schedule homeowners sometimes have no choice but to take matters into their own hands. Unfortunately, yes many times this means placing their bags of garbage along the side of roads or piling them up in an out of the way spot on the ground surrounding their homes.

Inadequate waste management is the real cause for most of the litter strewn about an otherwise beautiful landscape. In fact according to the 2002 report "Household Preferences for Solid Waste Management in Malaysia" by Dr. Jamal Othman of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia data collected showed that homeowners would be willing to pay a premium for more frequent collections and better waste transport and disposal methods. When the data was reviewed and analyzed Othman found that 52% of the homeowners in the survey were dissatisfied with the existing services at that time and most homeowners were willing to pay a premium of up to 100 percent for improvements.

If those responsible for scheduling trash collection provided more reliable services inclusive of consistency in pickup and increasing the number of collection bins available in areas of high population homeowners wouldn't have to tarnish the country's image by littering the landscape.

References:
Dr. Jamal Othman, Household Preferences for Solid Waste Management in Malaysia"