Waste management company to buy 40 new compactor vehicles
-The Star-
WASTE Management concessionaire SWM Environment Sdn Bhd will invest some RM22mil to purchase 40 new compactor vehicles to replace its fleet of ailing garbage trucks in Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor.
Its executive chairman Dr Uzir Abdul Malik said the move was aimed at improving its services, more so with the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Functions Act (Act 672) coming into force on Sept 1.
The company, which now has some 300 lorries servicing the three southern states, will receive the new units by the end of this year.
“We had already purchased 40 such units over the past seven years. With the new addition, we will have 186 compactor vehicles operating in the three states apart from the other vehicles,” he said adding that SWM needs to be 100% ready to meet the KPI set for it by the government.
New bins: SWM Environment will also give away 200,000 wheeled bins to residents in Negri Sembilan in the next three years as part of measures to improvise garbage collection.He said the Dutch-made vehicles would also help resolve the perennial problem of leaking trucks.
“The new units will have a capacity to transport 16m cubic tonnes of garbage at any one time and is equipped with a system to prevent the spillage of leachate,” he said adding that the vehicles also came with waste water tanks.
Uzir said since taking over the garbage collection service 14 years ago, SWM Environment had also refurbished many old trucks.
This was necessary as the garbage trucks it inherited from local councils in the three states after it took over the garbage collection services were already over 10 years old.
“We made the investments although the rates offered by the Housing and Local Government Ministry since then were not revised though there were sharp increases in labour, fuel and operations cost,” he said admitting that the company and its contractors have also been dogged with breakdown problems due to its aging fleet.
Of the three states, Johor produces 3,000 tonnes of waste a day followed by Malacca (1,800 tonnes) and Negri Sembilan (1,200 tonnes).
Uzir said the company had also repeatedly reminded its contractors to adhere to all contract conditions and to ensure they collected the garbage based on schedule.
He said the company would be liable to a fine by the Solid Waste Management Corporation if any of its contractors fail to collect garbage on schedule.
“Whenever there is a complaint, we must respond within 12 hours or else we can be fined,” he said.
Uzir said the new compactors would also be installed with the Global Positioning System (GPS) and this would allow its movements to be monitored.
“This way, we will also be able to better monitor garbage collection within our jurisdiction,” he said.
On a separate matter, Uzir said SWM will distribute free wheeled bins for residential and commercial property owners in Negri Sembilan.
“We will give away some 200,000 such bins which have a capacity of 120 litres and another 20,000 which had a capacity of 240 litres in the next three years,” he added.
Uzir also urged the public to contact the company’s toll free number 1-800-222-800 for enquiries on its services or to file complaints to enable them to take prompt action.
Environmental Development in Malaysia 
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