REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES VISIT TO KUALITI ALAM SDN. BHD. ON SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT (20 JUNE 2014)

Introduction to Solid Waste Management

Solid Waste Management (SWM) is a major challenge in urban areas throughout the world, mainly due to the increasing generation rate of waste and the linkages necessary to enable the entire handling system functioning effectively. The SWM refers to as supervision in handling of waste materials from generation at the source through the recovery processes to disposal. Normally, there are 6 functional elements of waste management system which include Waste Generation, Onsite Handling, Storage and Processing, Waste Collection, Transfer and Transport, Processing and Recovery and Disposal Waste.

Solid Waste Generation Rates of Asian Cities

Source : Solid Waste Management in Asian Developing Countries: Challenges and Opportunities, Yeny Dhokhikah,

Yulinah Trihadiningrum (2012)

City Country Generation Rate (kg/cap/day)

Phuket Thailand 2.17

K.Lumpur Malaysia 1.62

Bangkok Thailand 1.54

Yala Thailand 1.05

Surabaya Indonesia 0.8

Rasht Iran 0.8

Kathmandu Nepal 0.66

Jakarta Indonesia 0.65

Puducherry India 0.59

Dhaka Bangladesh 0.49

Allahabad India 0.4

As the world moving towards its urban future, more wastes are generated rapidly day to day from the human activities. In 2011, solid waste generation was between 0.4-2.17kg/cap/day and for Malaysia, the rate was 1.62kg/cap/day. This rate is expecting to raise due to expansion in population, income and urban growth as well as economic development. Thus, as Malaysia is moving towards a high income economy in year 2020, it is a must to manage solid waste properly to protect human health and the environment, and preserve natural resources.

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Company Profile Kualiti Alam Sdn. Bhd. is entrusted by the Government of Malaysia to provide an off-site facility for treatment and disposal of scheduled wastes in Peninsular Malaysia. The company owns and operates the Integrated Waste Management Centre (WMC) at Bukit Nanas, Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan which cover 44 acres of land. The WMC has been in full operation since June 1998 and can handle 77 categories of scheduled wastes except for explosive waste. A total of 309 employees including the contract staff are fully committed to provide the best services involving the collection, cleansing, treatment and final disposal of waste. The outstanding performances have lead this company to be conferred the Gold Medal RoSPA Award for the 6th consecutive year since 2007 until 2013. As a mark of its commitment towards the environment and in its pursuit for excellence, Kualiti Alam has five certifications, namely MS ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OSHAH 180001:2007, MS 1722:Part 1:2011 and ISO/IEC 17025.

A Community of Practices (CoP) visit to study on Waste Management

A total of 12 CoP members from six organisations namely Brahim Airlines Catering Sdn. Bhd., Emery Oleo-Chemical (M) Sdn. Bhd., Indkom Engineering Sdn. Bhd., KPJ Perdana Specialist Hospital, Kota Bahru, Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya and Tenaga Prisma Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., had visited Kualiti Alam Sdn. Bhd. on 20 June 2014. This programme was the first kicked-off event in year 2014 under phase 2 of benchmarking project. The main objective of this visit is to learn best practices on waste management. MPC provides this platform for them to exchange thoughts and experiences with the best-in-class company.

The visit started with the opening address by En. Amirul Bahri Malek, Head of Marketing, Environment Support Services & Logistic Department of Kualiti Alam, who expressed his appreciation to the group for their enthusiasm and spirit of sharing. Participants were briefed on waste management chain in Kualiti Alam and some of the best practices in terms of preventing pollution for better environment in the future, OSH implementation in promoting safety and health for employees’ protection and green productivity initiatives in minimising production cost.

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Scheduled Waste Management Flow

The WG packs & labels waste in preparation for collection.

The waste consignment is then transported to the WMC upon WG accepted the Scheduled Waste Transportation & Treatment Agreement (SWTTA).

A Waste Inspection & Sampling Team will conduct inspection, analysis

& evaluation to identify suitable treatment for the waste.

Then, the waste consignment will be transferred to a temporary storage and is ready for treatment or disposal.

This plant is to treats organic waste which contents

more than 10% Total Organic Carbon (TOC).

Slag as the output from this process is disposed of in the Secured Landfill.

Fly ash trapped in the fabric filter is further treated at 4.

Inorganic liquid wastes are treated at this plant.

The residual filter cake as the output from this process is then treated at 4 before it is finally disposed of in the Secured Landfill site.

95% of the waste send by WG is Innocuous Waste

which will straightly disposed of in the Secured Landfill.

This plant continues the process of

rendering the treated wastes from the PCT plant and other processes before disposal to the Secured Landfill site.

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Best Practices in prevention of pollution to protect natural environment

2. Incineration Plant

Organic waste in solid or liquid form are incinerated at the Incineration Plant.

This plant is equipped with a Rotary Kiln, Secondary Combustion Chamber and fuel gas cleaning system that turn the wastes into slag, ash and gases.

This plant operates at 99.999% of Destruction & Removal Efficiency.

The slag will go straight to Secured Landfill for disposal while ash and gases will be transferred for further treatment in the Solidification plant.

An extensive fuel gas cleaning system is built to ensure the star commission is complied with authorised standard. The gases release in the air are guaranteed clean through two primary treatments including dry and wet scrubbers.

The heat from the incineration process (as the process needs 1,200◦C) is not released directly to the environment but it being recovered via steam turbine.

Web Scrubber plant for gas treatment before release the

gas to the air

1. Delivery of Schedule Waste

The chain of waste management begin at the Waste Generator that intended to dispose industrial waste. Kualiti Alam provides free consultation on how to package, handling and storage the waste before they send to WMC for treatment and disposal.

Specially appointed waste transporters licensed by Department of Environment (DoE) are regularly checked by Kualiti Alam to ensure the quality of services is maintained at all times.

The trucks are also being monitored through GPS application. Trucks are equipped with extra safety features including a

complete response kit and drivers are well trained by the Fire & Rescue Department of Malaysia (BOMBA) and periodically familiarised with the Emergency Response Plan Procedures.

Each driver is allowed to drive at limited working hours to prevent from any unwanted accident.

Loaded with the consignment of waste, the trucks follow a designated road to WMC approved by DoE.

Upon arrival at WMC, the journey of the truck together with it content is recorded into a Waste Tracking System.

Strong collaboration with HAZMAT (BOMBA) has been established for preventing any unexpected spill over of the chemical solid waste during the delivery process by designated transportation to WMC.

Kualiti Alam outsourcing trucks

from external company that

complies with all DoE requirements

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Best Practices in prevention of pollution to protect natural environment

3. Secured Landfill Management

This is the final destination of all scheduled wastes for disposal. At the base of Secured Landfill, it covers multilayered materials

which prevent wastes from seeping into the ground. It also builds to contain CP geo leachate underground water that

will channel all leachate into the collection sum. Leachate is pumped up regularly from the Secured Landfill for

treatment at the Leachate Treatment Plant. This is the most effective way to ensure that unwanted water pollution entering the natural water resources is located nearby the Secured Landfill.

Leachate Treatment Plant at Kualiti Alam

4. Environment Monitoring Programmes

Implementing a comprehensive environment monitoring programme including monitoring of river and ground water, quality of the air (through air and water sampling) as well as flora and fauna of the area for preservation of the environment.

A series of town hall meeting with the 5 villages nearby areas have also been conducted regularly to cater the environmental problems raised by the villagers.

Kualiti Alam always monitors the quality of the water in the

neighbourhood areas

Best Practices in Occupational Health and Safety Standard

1. Occupational Health Implementation at the Workplace

Medical Surveillance and clinical waste vaccination are compulsory for each staff of Kualiti Alam on yearly basis.

Any minor accident that possibly occur in the plant is catered by in-house factory OSH Doctor and clinic.

Kualiti Alam also provides group insurance for staff due to high-risk work environment exposure.

2. Safety initiatives for Preventing Potential Accident and Invasion

A reminder on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is available at the factory’s entrance that shows the management of Kualiti Alam is concerned on employees’ safety.

The accident/incident rate and safety performance are also being captured to monitor the incident occurred in the plant and is also being reported to the management for further improvement actions.

A colour coding uniform is provided to the staff to differentiate between permanent and contract workers.

In-house clinic has reduced the medical cost of the company

in directly

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The Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Determining Control (HIRADC) is practiced in this company. Emergency Response Team (ERT) is established which is responsible on the activities of risk assessment in their work, report positive changes in their working practice, recognise substandard acts and working conditions for them to develop and take necessary corrective action to embed the safety culture in the factory.

External security company is hired and being supervised by their own security worker for keeping the plant from any unnecessary invasion.

CCTVs are placed strategically to strengthen the existing security system.

3. Improvement Initiatives on Health and Safety

In the journey towards the environment and in its pursuit for excellence, Kualiti Alam has being certified namely MS ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OHSAS I8001:2007, MS 1722:Part1:2011 and ISO/IEC 17025.

Besides that the company also complies with all requirements made by local authorities including Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN), DoE and Department of Occupational Health and Safety (DOSH).

Vendors are also being audited regularly to ensure the quality of services provided to this company to be able to achieve certain level of excellence.

All staff have the opportunity to contribute ideas for improvement during the ‘daily tool box’ meeting conducted every morning.

Best Practices in Green Productivity

Kualiti Alam has a comprehensive water processing facility for water run-off treatment. This treatment allows the water to be re-used and channelled to other plants.

The company has also innovated a waste treatment machine using solar energy instead of fully depending on electricity.

Instead of slag, ash and gases as the output from incineration plant, the waste treatment process can be converted from waste into metal. The metal is then ready to be sold to the potential available market.

Example of safety kit equipped in the

truck

Vendors have been evaluated extensively by Kuality Alam

Water treatment for recycle and reuse in other

plants in Kualiti Alam

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Best Practices in Occupational Health and Safety Standard

Conclusion

Clean air and clean water are nature’s gift to mankind. Preserving a clear and hazard free environment for the future world has emerged as an important issue that need to be addressed aggressively. Without an effective and efficient integrated waste management, the waste generated from various human activities, both industries and domestic, can result in health hazards and have a negative impact on the environment.

Kualiti Alam Sdn. Bhd. was established for Malaysia to have her own scheduled waste management center. This company is capable to provide treatments for 77 categories of scheduled waste known as toxic and hazardous wastes. All three treatment plants at the landfill are located at the same premises in Kualiti Alam WMC.

The handling scheduled waste chain is started from collection, transportation, treatment and final disposal. Kualiti Alam has effective and efficient scheduled waste management processes and facilities that able to preserve the environment from being exposed to the pollution. There is no doubt that with the existence of such comprehensive and committed waste management facilities and disposal procedures, a clearer environment for our future generation is greatly assured.

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