Municipal Solid Waste Management

Municipal waste management refers to the collection, transfer, treatment, recycling and recovery as well as disposal of solid wastes that generated in urban areas (Zqvodska, Uhuo, and Benesova 2011). According the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2012), MSW is commonly known as trash of garbage, consists of daily items that are used and discarded such as bottles, newspaper and many more. The municipal solid waste or known as MSW is type of solid waste (Miller and Spoolman, 2012). The municipal solid waste management is to promote the quality of the urban environment, generate employment and income, protect environmental health and support the efficiency and productivity of the economy. With global population almost 7 billion (U.S

Increasing of the solid waste generated year after year in urban area become massive challenges to the government. In Malaysia, most of the municipal solid waste is still incinerated or landfilled which means the solid waste disposal are mainly by burning or burying that required large piece of land and space (Zqvodska, Uhuo and Benesova, 2011). Normally, the disposal sites are mainly located in unwanted areas and acted as mere open dumps. All these traditional waste management systems practiced in 1970s were less efficient and very unsustainable when the daily waste produced by Malaysian increase from 0.5kg to more than 1.8kg per day in 2009 (Agamuthu, Fauziah and Kahlil, 2009). In certain cities, such as Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya, the generation increased to 1.5–2.5 kg capital day (Agamuthu, Fauziah and Kahlil, 2009). As stated by Zeeda and Keng (2013), the Malaysian annual waste generation had reached 11 million tonnes, which mainly consist of organic waste, paper, plastic and rubber. The drastic rise in the waste generation in Malaysia was alarming the local authority and the government as to provide more proper waste collection method, suitable dumping or disposal sites as well as sustainable technique in waste

In 2007, the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing management (SWPCM) had finally been introduced which had bring major changes and new challenges in waste management of Malaysia (Sreenivasan, Govindan, Chinnasami and Kadiresu, 2012). The main objective of the Act is to improve and assure high-quality services in the solid waste management. In addition, the Act, adapted from best management practices in solid waste management from Japan, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and the United States, also focused on public cleanliness management. The main strategies based on the Act are to implement efficient solid waste treatment, interim treatment, and final disposal of solid waste (Zeeda and Keng, 2013). Not only that, the Act also integrated with 3R issues in the management of solid waste from commercial centres, public sites, construction sites, and households as well industrial (Nadzri and Larsen,