By: Mohd.Badruddin Mohd. Yusof, PhD.
Dept. of Environmental Engineering, Fac.of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310, Skudai, Johor.
(mbadruddin@utm.my)
PROLOGUE
“We don’t want a disposal site near our village!” said Mr.Mohd. Bahir of Kg.Mohd.Nor, one of many residents who lived in the nearby villages and firmly were opposing a proposed sanitary landfill near Bukit Payung, Batu Pahat. Currently, all waste collections from the district are sent to the Simpang Renggam dumpsite, which is almost at its maximum capacity. A new sanitary landfill needs to be operational and a new one has been proposed to cater for solid wastes from the Batu Pahat and its surrounding areas. It would be operational for 7 years, with an expected waste capacity of 650 t/day of domestic solid wastes. The Project would cater for wastes from Batu Pahat and Kluang areas. Even though the DEIA has been approved and the proposed area set and planned by the local authority in the Master Plan, the Department of Solid Waste Management (or Jabatan Pengurusan Sisa Pejal Negara (JPSPN)) and the local authority needs an independent or secondary opinion by employing Mr.Adam of the MakeMoney Consultant Pvt. Ltd. to help smoothen the implementation process with as little conflict and objections as possible. Under the signed contract, he is supposed to give feedbacks within a two-week period from the date of contract approval.
THE PROJECT
According to Bandar Penggaram assemblyman Datuk Koh Chee Chai, “Due to the increasing population and escalating amount of waste, we have to find a solution to resolve it as Batu Pahat has no landfill or dumpsite” (Christina Tan, 2012). The proposed project site is situated on a former agricultural plot located at 3 km away from the nearest residential area, particularly Kg.Mohd.Nor. The new landfill, once operational, it would also receive waste collection from Yong Peng, Labis, Kluang and Segamat. The plot has been planned by the government to be the future landfill and would require minimal land take over (for road access), and minimal intrusion of private property.
Socio-economic activities in the areas are mostly characterized by agricultural-based, along with some industrial and commercial establishments found, especially in Parit Sulong area. Land uses within 3 km radius include a mosque at Kg.Mohd Nor, palm estate, and fruit orchards. Shop houses also found at Taman Orkid. There are also a frog and an aquaculture pond 3 km away from the site, which the latter uses the water from nearby Parit Puron. Worst still, Batu Pahat is well known for its flooding occurrences especially after a heavy rainfall.
The soil is composed of a porous material (<10-7 m/s) making it hard for the leachate to infiltrate into the ground. The access road to the site would be constructed to minimize the intrusion and disturbance to locals. However, there are still issues to be considered when building the 3 km road.
The area is located at a high elevation, within a stable ground away from seismic activity or flood-prone area, with clayey soil composition. However, there is a small river named Parit Puron, flowing from the area downstream, passing through both the frog and an ornamental fish ponds operated by producers, who use the water from the stream for their export-oriented commercial activities. There is also a banana plantation along the stream which utilizes the stream water for its irrigation purposes.
The proposed landfill is of a category IV, which will includes leachate collection and treatment, monitoring wells, and flare gas vents. It should be noted that based on the 650 t/day of wastes, the estimated leachate generation would be only 130 m3/day leachate. Furthermore, there would be an increase in the number of collection trucks passing the main road nearby. The JPSPN had promised to the public, the contractors and waste collectors would follow all guidelines to minimize impacts of the preparation of the site as well as their daily activities during the operations after the project completion.
PROJECT BENEFITS
Some of the benefits of the proposed project would include:
1. Tipping fees payment to the state government,
2. Income from services payment and tariff collection,
3. Increase in efficiency in solid waste management and services,
4. Potential for waste recycling and recovery, and
5. Employment opportunity to the locals.
Other positive snow-ball effects would be triggered by the project in bringing more economic activities which would include support industries, directly or indirectly related to the waste management and collection.
THE CONSULTANT
A consultant, Mr Adam of the Make-Money Pvt. Ltd.., an expert in solid waste and conflict management has been given the job to give an independent opinion of the project, and suggest recommendations to resolve the issues raised by the community leaders and the businessmen. He is supposed to give practical, economical, and least problematic solutions to the local authority, before a final decision is made.
There is a secondary school located 6 km away from the site, with nearest residential areas found within the 2-3 km of the site. They include:
- Kg Mohd Nor
- Kg Kangkar Merlimau
- Kg Pt Beleman
- Kg Pt Abdul Rahman
Other land uses include banana plantation, an aquaculture and frog ponds 2 km away from the proposed site. As far as sensitive receptors are concerned, they include:
- Kg.Mohd.Nor and nearby residents.
- Mosque users.
- Frog and ornamental fish breeders.
- School-going children.
- Small businesses and food stalls.
EPILOGUE
A survey was conducted in April 2012 by the UTM-Skudai, Johor team, involving 188 respondents to look at the demographics and opinions of the residents of the proposed project in the area. Results from the opinion survey are shown in the figures shown below. Even though the benefits of the project were realized by the respondents, the acceptance was quite low. Most were sceptical about the project and strongly objected it.
The consultant is given the following remarks from appointed experts in water and marine biology as well as geology. Based on Parit Puron’s sampling station, it was found that there were very few fish: keli haruan sepat, etc. Parit Jepun located nearby, was polluted and not suitable for water intake for ponds (to replace Parit Puron for the future intake for frog and fish breeders). As for the soil, the area is characterized by its 6 meter bedrock indicting its shallow soil, with an average a water table depth of 5 m. The positive side of the location is that there is an abundant amount of cover soil available nearby for the purposes of landfill daily coverage. The site is not within the floodplain area of Batu Pahat as it is located on a higher ground.
QUESTION
- What are the nature of and reasons for the community’s complaints?
- In the two weeks given, what could Mr. Adam do to study the issues and what remedies could he come up with for the community, businessmen, and local government to overcome the problems?
- What are the recommendations to prevent potential hazards and mishaps to occur?
- If a constructed wetland were suggested, where would be the most appropriate location?
- Name several economic activities, due to snowball effects, that could be triggered by the implementation and operations of the landfill.
- With all the mitigation measures adopted, what are short-term and long-term or residual impacts of the proposed project.
APPENDIX
- Site Plan.
- Land Uses at Surrounding Area.
- Flood Plain Map
- Hydrology map and Location of Parit Puron
ANSWERS: NAME:__________________________________
Q1. Amongst the issues to be resolved by Mr Adam include:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Q2. Remedies: Options to them/ mitigation
- i. ________________________________________________________________
- ii. ________________________________________________________________
- iii. ________________________________________________________________
- iv. ________________________________________________________________
- v. ________________________________________________________________
- vi. ________________________________________________________________
- vii. ________________________________________________________________
- viii. ________________________________________________________________
Q3. What are the recommendations on how to prevent potential hazards and mishap to occur?
- i. ________________________________________________________________
- ii. ________________________________________________________________
- iii. ________________________________________________________________
- iv. ________________________________________________________________
Q4. If a constructed wetland were suggested, where would be the best location?
________________________________________________________________
Q5. Name a few economic activities that could be promoted by the implementation and operation of the landfill (snowball effects).
- i. ________________________________________________________________
- ii. ________________________________________________________________
- iii. ________________________________________________________________
- iv. ________________________________________________________________
- v. ________________________________________________________________
- vi. ________________________________________________________________
Q6. With all the mitigation measures adopted, what are short-term and long-term or residual impacts of the proposed project.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
