Thursday, October 10, 2013

Adult and baby diapers now 12.14% of waste disposed in Malaysia


The Star
by Isabelle Lai

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are throwing away more diapers each year, as the population ages and more elderly people have started using diapers, aside from babies, said the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry.

Its secretary-general Datuk Seri Arpah Abdul Razak said on Tuesday that diapers now formed 12.14% of the total waste disposed in the country.

“This shows that we have an ageing population as more senior citizens are using diapers, too,” she said in her presentation entitled “Solid Waste Management in Malaysia: A Way Forward” at the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) Congress 2013 in Austria.

AFP reported that Arpah shared Malaysia’s experience in transforming its solid waste management through three approaches.

The approaches are federalisation of solid waste management, privatisation of household solid waste collection services and treatment and disposal of solid waste.