KOTA SAMARAHAN: The electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) collection programme implemented by the Sarawak Environment Department (DOE) has caught the attention of the state government.
According to Samarahan Resident Brahim Lumpu, the e-waste collection programme will be implemented throughout the state next year in collaboration with the Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) and the state government.
“For Sarawak, DOE implemented an e-waste collection programme on Oct 3 at Metrocity Matang. This programme successfully collected 35.4MT of e-waste,” he said.
He was officiating at the state level National Environment Day Celebration 2020 at the Institute of Teacher Training Tun Abdul Razak Campus on today.
Brahim said one of the activities that was emphasised in conjunction with this year’s national environment day was e-waste collection.
“Poorly handled, e-waste can cause serious pollution as it contains heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, berrillium and brominated flame retardants which, if not handled properly, can penetrate into the soil and pollute water sources,” he explained.
Brahim added that the e-waste collection programme, held from Sept 23 until Oct 21, under the initiative of the environment and water ministry aimed to collect 200MT of e-waste nationwide.
“The programme has succeeded in collecting 130MT of e-waste from across the country,” he said.
Brahim said the community must also intensify the greening of the environment to address the problem of declining tropical forests in Malaysia.
“The reduction of these inventories has affected the ecosystem stability, water catchment areas and water resource sustainability as well as carbon stocks to offset climate change.
“Efforts to plant trees should be stepped up in line with the call by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to realise the Malaysian Greening Programme through the 100 Million Tree Planting Campaign within four years.
“This targeted programme is able to contribute 50 percent of the forest area and successfully reduce global warming,” he explained.
