Author(s)

Md Bakri Ishak

Abstract

Waste management is part of the components of environmental law and waste may be categorized into four categories inter alia: industrial, commercial, household and any such waste. However, in the context of this study it is very important to note that Malaysia is one of the developing countries, which has been practiced end-of-pipe treatment or regulation for quite a long time. However, they are a lot of ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the end-of-pipe treatment or regulation. Therefore, Malaysia should now seek several alternatives or approaches to waste/ industrial waste management such as waste minimization or source reduction. The present laws should be strengthened in order to avoid pollution. Indeed, we should bear in mind that improper waste / industrial waste management may cause harm to human health. 1 Introduction Generally, since 1970s Malaysia has experience a lot of changes in its industrial development. Part of it Malaysia went through drastic development in small and medium scale industries (SMIs) during the 1990s (Harun H., et al., 1992). However, it is interesting to note that whenever the industries or factories generate products they invariably generate waste/ industrial waste. In fact, in this country the total amount of waste has always increased due to industrial development, population growth and urbanization (Hassan M.N., 1996). Indeed, as stated by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Malaysia office the quantity of scheduled waste generated in Malaysia in 1994 was 417,413 metric tones (MT) compared to 632, 521 MT in 1996 and 279,511 MT in 1997. In contrast, the United Kingdom in 1989 produced 2,500 million tones of waste, which includes 1.5 million tones of trade and domestic waste (Stuart Bell, 1997).

Keywords