The people opposing the government’s plan to build an incinerator in Kepong to burn away garbage said today they are not only opposing its construction in their backyard but to such incinerators elsewhere in the country.

“In the campaign by the Kuala Lumpur Rejects Incinerator Action Committee (KTI), we have always objected to plans to build an incinerator because of health and environmental concerns,” KTI said in a statement today.

“It is not just for the sake of opposing or having the ‘not in my backyard’ syndrome attitude,” the group said.

It  stressed that it also objected to the building of waste incinerators in other states such as Johor, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan.

KTI said it was "shocked" to learn that the federal government was in direct negotiations with a joint consortium between KUB Malaysia Bhd and Japan's IHI Enviro Corp to build the Kepong incinerator.

'Conduct proper, in-depth studies'

The group said the authorities should conduct proper, in-depth studies on the impact of building waste incinerator plants nationwide, and not rush into any business negotiation just yet, since there would be serious consequences.

“The incinerator project will bring a big impact on the environment and the nearby socio-economic environment,” KTI said, warning that such projects could be disastrous to the people living in the vicinity.

A better solution to the country's waste management, KTI said was for the government to first enforce separation of solid wastes, before taking "big steps", such as building incinerators.

“The separation of solid wastes is the most important step in managing solid wastes... the government should look into the proper implementation of it first, before adhering to any major solid waste management projects,” the group added.

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