The government should enact laws and impose strict enforcement on all Malaysians for them to bear responsibility for the thousands of tonnes of household rubbish generated monthly, a group of residents from Broga proposed.

Broga is the site of the controversial proposed mega-incinerator, the largest if its kind in the world to use zero emission gasification technology from Japan, and currently at the pilot stage.

Residents have been lobbying to have the proposal scrapped, citing latest research findings from Europe and Japan that drew the link between the hazardous nature of dioxin and other toxic emissions from the incineration of household wastes, and public health risks.

Alice Lee, a member of the Semenyih/Broga No Incinerator protem action committee said all Malaysians should overcome the problem of garbage disposal together and not pass the buck to the government.

She said the government already has an ongoing recycling campaign but the response has not been encouraging for various reasons , but that should not deter people from adopting the approach which has been successful in more advanced countries.

"Everyone should learn how to recycle and the government should teach them how to recycle. At the same time, the government should also formulate laws penalising those who fail to recycle," she said.

"Those who do not recycle could be issued with summonses or fined. Who will dare defy strictly-enforced laws?"

Do the right thing

A group of residents had sent a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi asking for his intervention to scrap the incinerator project. The project's environmental impact assessment is currently under review by the Department of Environment.

Lee said the residents were confident that Abdullah would do the right thing and not turn Broga into a "rubbish township" by proceeding with the multi-billion ringgit project.

The 1,500-tonne plant is slated for operation in 2007.

"We are also confident that recycling is a better waste management method than building incinerators because even developed countries are shutting down their plants due to the dangers posed by such plants, including the modern ones.

"These countries have started recycling and it is working well there. There is no reason why we can't do it here," she added.

Lee said all non-governmental organisations should chip in to assist the government's recycling efforts by teaching the public how to recycle and the reasons behind the campaign in order to reduce the increasing volume of household wastes.

This, she added, would eliminate the need to build any incinerator in the country.

The Broga incinerator proposal has drawn flak from international scientists who said that Malaysia was moving backwards by considering to build a giant incinerator when the reverse trend was true in advanced countries.

They also disputed the Broga EIA study, claiming that it lacks depth and proper data befitting a gargantuan project such as this.