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Pangkor incinerator now better, but still much to do
Published:  May 13, 2015 12:10 PM
Updated: 6:30 AM

Gabungan Anti Insinerator Kebangsaan (Gaik), found several improvements to the incinerator in Pulau Pangkor, Perak, after a visit last Friday.

 

This include a new cement wall to stop leachate from spilling on to the road, and improved cleanliness at the plant, it said in a statement today.

 

The group however said there is still much that the incinerator's operator, XCN Technology Sdn Bhd (XCNT), needs to do.

 

Among the issues that need to be addressed are toxic fumes released by the waste, bottom ash that has been burning at the landfill since January, faulty continuous emission monitoring systems, and lack of facilities to determine the amount of air and water pollutants being released by the plant.

 

Gaik also chastised XCNT for not allowing it to take pictures inside the plant, allegedly to protect secrets.

“This proves that the operators are not confident of the plant's condition and are afraid its weaknesses will be publicly exposed through the pictures," it said.

 

The group said they had not been barred from taking pictures of an incinerator plant in Tokyo, whose high standards the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan ( photo ) had promised to follow.

 

The group also called on for waste separation at source to be enforced, citing the massive amount of rubbish that six workers at the Pangkor plant are forced to sift through, which led to plastic materials ending up in the incinerator, releasing toxic fumes.

 

The Pangkor plant is one of four mini-incinerators that have been built by XCNT.

 

The others are located in Langkawi, Tioman and Cameron Highlands.

 

The Public Accounts Committee has called the technology used unproven, and had ordered the government to take action against XCNT, and those who approved the projects.

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