“Zero waste for zero warming” – Consumers Association Penang

As the international community faces up to the looming climate change, We in the Consumers Association of Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia, who are members of GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives /Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA), support the promotion of Zero Waste as a core strategy in preventing and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

For this to happen, waste policies, programmes and funds must prioritise waste prevention, reduction, reuse, repair, recycling and composting as concrete measures to save energy and avoid greenhouse gases.

In the face of the climate crisis, incinerator and landfill industries are aggressively peddling end-of-pipe toxic technologies in the guise of “green energy”. By using names like Waste-to-Energy, gasification, and plasma, waste disposal companies globally have gained access to public money handouts and subsidies through renewable energy policies and some “green” programmes encouraging the construction and expansion of expensive, pollution-ridden and climate-changing disposal projects.

Even Malaysia is not exempted from the promotion of these dirty technologies, as seen from a Bernama report of 1st November 2007, which reported that the Housing and Local Government Ministry has so far received 207 proposals from various parties regarding incinerator technology that may be used in the country. We are very concerned over these proposals as these incinerator technologies are not only hazardous to public health and the environment but also hamper community-based efforts to stop waste and global warming.

Studies show that landfills and incinerators are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Landfills account for 34% of human related emission of methane, which has 23 times more heating trapping power than carbon dioxide. We also know that incinerators, when considering the full extent of carbon emissions coming out of the stack, also emit significant amount of greenhouse gases. Disposal technologies also feed on diminishing resources that we should be composting or recycling like paper, food waste, plastic, and aluminium, and they are counter to efforts to reduce what we put in the trash in the first place.

Notwithstanding what we know about dirty waste disposal technologies and greenhouse gas emissions, we are disturbed by the apparent omission of Zero Waste in the global as well as in national climate policy and plan of action. This, we believe, has to be rectified if humanity is to gain from the proven potentials of Zero Waste in curbing greenhouse gas emissions and in driving a wide range of other ecological, economic and social benefits.

We stand by our belief that no public money should be used to fund projects that will bury or burn discards and only end up releasing greenhouse gases and other environmental pollutants, including those that are being deceptively marketed as “solutions” to meet our energy needs and fight global warming. Far from preventing greenhouse gases and generating clean and renewable energy, landfills and incinerators are hazards to community health and the environment, while undermining recycling programmes and other components of Zero Waste.

Towards the health, well-being and survival of our people and the planet, we call for the active promotion of Zero Waste, globally and locally, including providing technical assistance, funding support and investment incentives to Zero Waste alternatives to landfills and incinerators.

In light of the climate crisis, we urge the Malaysian government to support the call for “Zero Waste for Zero Warming” and prohibit incinerator technologies in the country.