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.

Exploring the factors influencing consumer behaviours and practices towards sustainable WEEE management in Putrajaya, Malaysia

“…The accumulation of e-waste over time, along with a lack of defined institutional framework processes and inadequate infrastructure, results in poor e-waste management [ 13 , 15 , 38 ]. Although Malaysia has established legislation and standards for e-waste management, these guidelines only differentiate between e-waste and non-waste and outline the requirements for importing and exporting old EEE or components that are not categorised as e-waste [ 16 , 20 ]. There is no guidance on how Malaysian consumer should handle their e-waste once the product's lifespan has ended.…”

“…Managing WEEE is a challenging issue affecting not just Malaysia but other countries. In Malaysia, the minimal enforcement of current WEEE rules and regulations, as well as the absence of systematic WEEE collection [ 16 ]. Several Malaysian researchers have carried out studies to better understand consumer behaviour, knowledge, awareness, habits, and preferences about WEEE.…”

Environmental Management and Green Practices in the Construction Industry Across ASEAN Countries: A Comparative Study

“…The status of the construction waste management initiatives in Malaysia is known to be encountered challenges in effectively and efficiently implementing appropriate approaches to acknowledge and address the illegal and improper construction waste management issues [6].…”

Service Requirement Analysis of Community Scrap Recycling Platform Based on Kano Model

“…Like most developing countries in Southeast Asia, Malaysia's scrap management system is not sufficient to effectively deal with the large amount of plastic scrap generated (Cheng et al, 2022). Currently, landfills and household incineration are the main means of plastic scrap disposal in the country (Yi & Jusoh, 2023).…”