By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's waste management requires solutions tailored to local conditions, said Institute for Development Studies (Sabah) (IDS) chairman Datuk Seri Azizah Mohd Dun.
She said that it was important to understand not only how much waste was generated, but also where it came from, its composition, how it was collected and what happened to it afterwards.
"Whenever we say 'Sabah's waste problem', we are actually talking about several different realities," she said in her speech at the Trash Talk to Action I: Understanding Sabah's Waste Management Landscape forum here.
She said the Kayu Madang landfill, serving Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran, Penampang, Putatan and Kota Belud, receives about 800 tonnes of waste daily and is approaching capacity.
Azizah said that for Kayu Madang, technology could support waste management, citing a proposed biogas facility that would capture landfill methane and convert it into electricity, with a projected capacity of up to 2 megawatts.
"A solution designed around an urban landfill receiving hundreds of tonnes of waste every day may not answer the needs of an island community, a rural district or an area where collection itself remains difficult," she said.
The former Sungai Sibuga landfill in Sandakan received up to 500 tonnes of waste daily at the height of its operation, while Pitas faced open waste disposal around coastal settlements.
Semporna faced disposal infrastructure issues, including on its islands, while Kunak had identified rubbish as a source of marine pollution.
Lahad Datu, meanwhile, had considered collection centres beyond its municipal rating area, she said.
"We still need reliable collection. We need to know what is actually in our waste. We need separation and recycling where they make sense. We need clear responsibilities between institutions," she said.
She said community participation was crucial in waste reduction, separation, recycling and responsible disposal, with existing mechanisms such as the Village Development and Security Committee and Unit Pemimpin Masyarakat (UPPM) able to play a greater role.
"The way forward is therefore not necessarily to create another layer, but to strengthen the content, procedures and guidance within the mechanisms we already have," she said.
Azizah said IDS' 2025 work on a Policy Framework on Plastic Reduction in Tuaran also showed the importance of reducing waste before it entered the waste stream.
"Community action matters. Local leadership matters. But local initiatives can only go so far if the wider system around them does not move with them," she said.
She said the forum, jointly organised by IDS Sabah and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Malaysia, was the first of a wider programme to identify gaps and develop a clearer evidence base for Sabah's waste management system.
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