A waste incinerator can be safely placed anywhere, even in the government's own backyard of Putrajaya, says Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

After studying all the facts and making a tour of Japan, Rahman ( right ) said today, he is very convinced that the plan to build the first 1,000-tonne-a-day waste-to-energy plant in Taman Beringin in Kepong, will go on despite protests from the residents.

He affirmed that the government would not proceed if the plant poses any health or environmental risks and urged all irrational objections to stop.

"Not enough garbage here. But there is no harm to put an incinerator here, or even Shah Alam.

"We can consider all (places), provided that the volume of garbage is there," Rahman told reporters at the ministry headquarters in Putrajaya.

He said it was not an easy decision to force Kepong residents to accept what they don't want.

However, their area was the gazetted area for rubbish, and a waste transfer plant was already operating there. Add to that, Rahman said, Kuala Lumpur was generating too much of garbage and a decade-old recycling campaign has fallen flat.

Besides Taman Beringin, he added, the government now plans to build two more incinerators in Malacca and in Johor Bahru in the near term.

Even though incinerators have been ruled out by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak due to costs and health risks, Rahman said, “things and technology have changed somewhat”.

He argued, in response to calls to put in practice the 3R campaign of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: "How long more do we have to wait until Malaysians learn to practise the recycling culture?"

'Government’s recycling efforts disappointing'

Rahman said the government has made efforts to separate garbage at the source since the year 2000 and many states - except for Penang and Selangor - even legislated a extra working day for the collecting of recyclable garbage.

The government even took the 'recycle' message to mosques via sermons, to schools, to banks and to government offices. However, the results remained disappointing.

The recycling rate was only 10.5 percent in Malaysia, compared with 62 percent in Germany and 35 percent in France.

This was incinerators have to be tried out, even though they can cost billions of ringgit in expenditure and would require help from foreign companies.

"Where else do we go? The target for 2020 has already been achieved. We are generating waste seven years ahead of target," said Rahman, who is the MP for Kota Belud.

'Something has to be done'

He said he was also frustrated with the Kepong anti-incinerator protesters, who couldn't keep their demands straight.

"First they said emission (from the incinerator planned) will be as a problem. Now they say Malaysia is not ready because of cultural and environmental differences between Malaysia and Japan," he said.

Rahman then went on to pledge to the residents of Kepong that their lifestyle would improve, for some of the smells from the Taman Beringin waste transfer plant would dissipate in the incinerator.

He confirmed that his ministry would proceed with a tender process, and shortlist the companies to erect the first incinerator in Taman Beringin, within four years from now.

The tender process would be tight, follow international standards and be decided by a task force comprising valuers with experience and proper backgrounds, he said.

The technology must be proven, mature and most of all, value for money, he added.

Berjaya Corp, the concessionaire now operating the Bukit Tagar landfill on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, need not worry as the incinerator would be run hand-in-hand with it, he said, adding that the city needed to dispose of some 2,500 tonnes of garbage a day and the Kepong incinerator would only do half the job.