Developing a successful Integrated Waste Management Facility - Seberang Perai, Malaysia

The Temasek Foundation Urban Resilience Programme (TFURP), jointly supported by Temasek Foundation (TF), Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) and Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities), was conceived to bring together city leaders and urban practitioners across the Asia Pacific to enhance the urban resilience and liveability of cities in this region. This is achieved through the capacity development of senior city officials as the programme introduces them to progressive mid- and long-term policy frameworks, and practical implementation strategies based on Singapore’s experience. TFRUP’s knowledge sharing and mentoring support enables cities to develop concept proposals, institutionalize the tools they acquire, and where needed, pitch projects to entice funding support from potential investors.

Better Cities is sharing three case studies from three TFURP cities – Jambi, Seberang Perai and Surat.

The Seberang Perai City Council faced significant challenges in managing waste from both Seberang Perai and Penang Island, which produce a total of 538,000 tonnes of waste annually. Currently, the Pulau Burung sanitary landfill is the only waste management facility serving both cities, but it is estimated to reach full capacity by 2035 with no replacement planned.

A key priority of the city was thus to extend the lifespan of the Pulau Burung landfill beyond 2035. Based on the learning nuggets gleaned from TFURP, the Seberang Perai city officials developed plans for the Ampang Jajar transfer station, a waste transfer station that could consolidate solid waste from different districts before transporting them to the landfill. This would require transforming the Ampang Jajar transfer station into an Integrated Waste Processing and Treatment Centre, capable of processing all types of solid waste while increasing the city’s recycling rates. With this redevelopment, the city hoped to achieve a 70% recycling rate and to reduce the amount of waste sent to Pulau Burung by 50%.

Through the course of TFURP, Seberang Perai successfully appointed a contractor to operate the Ampang Jajar transfer station as a Waste Processing and Treatment Center. As of July 2023, the newly-appointed contractor, Greenviro Solutions, was committed to operating a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), an anaerobic-digestion plant to produce methane gas from food waste, and a construction-and-demolition waste facility by 2025.

The Seberang Perai team thus began focusing more of their efforts on other measures to reduce waste sent to the Pulau Burung landfill, such as waste reduction campaigns and requests for proposals for technologies such as landfill mining and waste-to-energy (WTE) plants at the landfill. This would help to extend its projected lifespan.

Through its consultation with R-Cities and CLC, Seberang Perai was also advised to double its efforts in reducing waste by working with citizen groups and NGOs to raise public awareness; reinforce regulations on waste segregation for bulk waste generators; reduce single-use material consumption in the city; and promote upcycling initiatives utilising waste as a resource. They were also advised to engage with private businesses to reduce waste through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and garner support for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) frameworks, by leveraging on investments in the city. The city also identified potential investors and project structurers for its future plans, including the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the Asian Development Bank, and Infrastructure Asia, which could help Seberang Perai further advance its plans in making the city more resource-efficient and effective in managing waste with limited assets.

Seberang Perai officials meeting with solutions providers at the Smart Cities Workshop during the World Cities Summit 2022.

Seberang Perai officials showing the Singapore delegation around the Ampang Jajar transfer station.