NEWS - The Star

Friday December 5, 2003

Toxic waste dump near homes

By Ben Tan

PETALING JAYA: Fifty drums of toxic waste have been found dumped near a residential area and a golf course in Kelana Jaya here.

The drums, containing paint thinner and other chemical wastes, were believe to be from to nearby factories which were now being investigated for illegal dumping.

The drums were found at an isolated disused land in Kampung Seri Dagang, which was formerly a squatter area, located between the Free Trade Zone and Kelab Golf Negara Subang (KGNS).

Meanwhile, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo has given the Kuala Selangor district office a week to clear the 500 drums of paint sludge and glue found dumped illegally at a ravine in Ijok, about 45 km from here.

Yesterday, Selangor Local Government and Housing Committee chairman Datuk Mokhtar Dahalan and officers from the district police, Department of Environment and Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) visited Kampung Seri Dagang, which was also filled with other debris and wastes.

Mokhtar, who is also in charge of the Squatters and Environment Committee, and the team found that half of the drums had leaked due to corrosion.

"This irresponsible and reckless at is a serious threat to public health, particularly to residents in the vicinity".

"We have immediately engaged scheduled waste disposal company Kualiti Alam to dispose of the drums as the leaks may come into contact with underground water," he said.

Mokhtar said the drums were discovered about a week ago when an MPPJ enforcement team spottedseveral man unloading the drums in the area at night.

"A report was later lodged by the enforcement team and a DOE team investigated the site on Wednesday and confirmed that the drums contained thinner," he said.

Mokhtar said the DOE and MPPJ had identified the two factories suspected to be responsible for the dumping.

He said companies involved in illegal dumping could be punished under Section 34 (b) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 which carries a maximum fine of RM 500,000 or five years' jail, or both.

He urged the public to co-operate and report those who illegally dumped toxic wastes.
He said those with information could call the state DOE's hotline at 03-55197233 or its office at 03-55194748.

In Shah Alam, FREDERICK FERNANDEZ reports Mokhtar as saying that Dr Mohd Khir had ordered the district office to activate the district natural disaster action committee to tackle the problem of clearing the 500 drums of paint sludge.

He said the committee comprising the Kuala Selangor Municipal Council, Kuala Selangor district police, DOE and voluntary organisations had been told to relocate the drums before sending them to the Bukit Nenas scheduled waste treatment plant.

He said the state would apply for a RM 12mil federal allocation to dispose the toxic waste.
On Wednesday, Kualiti Alam (M) Sdn Bhd, the sole company dealing with scheduled wastes in the country, quoted RM 2mil to repack them and RM 8mil for their disposal.

Dr Mohd Khir, who was startled by the high cost of clearing and disposing the 500 drums, had ordered the DOE to trace the culprits.

Mokhtar, who also visited the dump site in Ijok yerterday, said the situation there warranted action now and the state could not wait for the DOE report or a federal allocation before starting clean-up work.

He visited four sites along the new road from Bukit Jelutong to Bandar Baru Puncak Alam, in which piles of rubbish, tyres and wood and construction debris were dumped along both sides.
Mokhtar, who was accompanied by Shah Alam City Council and Alam Flora officials, said Dr Mohd Khir had directed the council to patrol the new road to catch the culprits.

Mokhtar also ordered the council to compound the rubbish contractors of a private hospital in Petaling Jaya after his officers recovered discarded letters, documents and files belonging to the hospital at one site.

He said the council would trace all those who threw the rubbish and debris, and compound them RM 500 for each offence while those who were repeat offenders would be charged in court.

the coast," said Queenland Seafood Industry Association spokesman Duncan Souter. - Reuters

LAND POLLUTION & HOUSING

In the most basic form, pollution known as a littering of rubbish or clogged drains and can be to a higher level such as dumping of hazardous waste and illegal logging. Most of them (product of rubbish) are from human activities or household products. So, it makes surrounding dirty, smelly and have an effect to our health by the product contains (chemical). All this makes our life not comfortable.

The pictures show littering the rubbish by household.

An illegal dump operator (who have been dumping rubbish on the land) also cause land pollution. For Example it happen in Jalan Mangga, Kampung Sungai Kertas in Batu Caves (The Star On Line-Monday December 1, 2008). They suppose to dump earth and concrete material only but you can see from the picture they also dump a domestic waste. How to get a good environment, if all people doesn't care and the effect of this problem in our life or how about our next generations???

This picture show the situation in Jalan Mangga, Kampung Sungai Kertas in Batu Caves.

This problem can be occurs anywhere and it not just from illegal dump, but household waste in residential or urban area also one of factors that faced in this problem. Can you imagine what happen to our world in the future and what it's look like if this problem always continuing happen. No green and just the rubbish.

What your opinion as a community, planner and.....?

LAND POLLUTION

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment, of whatever predetermined or agreed upon proportions or frame of reference; these contaminants cause instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the physical systems or living organisms therein. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances, or energy, such as noise, heat or light energy. Pollutants, the elements of pollution, can be foreign substances or energies, or naturally occurring, they are considered contaminants when they exceed natural levels. Pollution is often classed as point source (point source pollution comes from a particular place such as industrial and sewage treatment plants)or non-point (non-point source pollution occurs when rainfall or snow melt moving over and through the ground, pick up natural and human-made pollutants and finally deposits them into lakes, rivers, wetlands,coastal waters and even our underground sources of drinking water) source pollution.

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pollution)

"Undesirable state of natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities".
(source: Wordnet- http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu)

There are basically 3 types of pollution. There are:
1. Air Pollution
2. Water Pollution
3. Land Pollution


WHAT IS LAND POLLUTION???

Land pollution is about contaminating the land surface of the earth through dumping urban waste matter indiscriminately, dumping of industrial waste, mineral exploitation and misusing the soil by harmful agricultural practices. Land pollution includes visible litter and waste along with the soil itself being polluted. The soil gets polluted by the chemicals in pesticides and herbicides used for agricultural purposed along with waste matter being littered in urban area such as roads, park and so on.

Land pollution also known as waste materials which cannot be burnt (such as plastics) are filling up the landfills and the dumping of ash that remains from the burning of biomass and fossil fuels are also adding to the land pollution. The dumping of such plastic waste will be a serious problem.

The dumping of ash that remains from the burning of biomass and fossil fuels are also adding to the land pollution problem.

The picture show the vast amounts of rubbish are dumped in landfills and on any other available land space. This cause land pollution.