LETTER | Fires must not happen in scheduled waste storage sites

LETTER | I read with extreme concern that a fire broke out in Kualiti Alam Management Centre in Bukit Pelanduk, Port Dickson as reported in Malaysiakini on April 13.

I understand the fire was the third incident at the centre. The first thing that crossed my mind was why Kualiti Alam management did not learn from the fires that happened in 2015 and 2019 and allowed the same to recur.

Kualiti Alam was set up in the late 1980s after a study conducted by a Danish firm, Dames and Moore. As a result of the study, the government enacted the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 1989 to properly manage scheduled wastes generated in Malaysia.

Kualiti Alam is a premise licensed by the Department of Environment (DOE), to handle scheduled wastes. It has great responsibilities when it accepts wastes from industries to treat in the centre.

Kualiti Alam was to render all waste collected innocuous before their final disposal or burial.

I expect Kualiti Alam to carry out a thorough analysis to ascertain the content of the wastes collected, take measures to segregate the wastes stored and also foresee any possible side reactions within the wastes.

It is not good for the management to assure the public that they are monitoring the air quality after the fire. In a fire of chemical waste, the same chemical or new chemicals resulting from the combustion would be released into the atmosphere.

In a fire, it is not within the control of Kualiti Alam to do anything about the resultant waste that was airborne. Under such circumstances, a waste management company has instead generated unmanaged wastes.

The company did not reveal the waste that triggered a fire in the storage. There was also no information on the quantity of the waste involved.

From the photograph published, I could only deduce the fire could involve hundreds of tonnes of combustible waste.

I would suggest the DOE conduct a thorough investigation into the fire to prevent the same incident from happening in future and also deter fires involving other scheduled wastes. The DOE could seek experts from the industry to assist if necessary.

The public does not want more pollutants in their air.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.