Recycling industry hits milestone with first small-scale MRF deployment

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PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s recycling industry marked a significant milestone yesterday with the successful deployment of the first small-scale Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at the Jeram Sanitary Landfill (JSL) in Kuala Selangor.

Costing RM600,000, the facility was initiated by Tetra Pak (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, developed by MDS Holdings Sdn Bhd and to be operated by Worldwide Landfills Sdn Bhd, the current operator of JSL.

The related companies signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday with the National Solid Waste Management Department to officially hand over the facility to the Government of Malaysia to assist in efforts to increase the recycling rate nationwide.

The handover was witnessed by Minister of Housing and Local Government Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung.

MDS director Mike Yap said the MRF would assist in the segregation and collection of recyclable materials, thereby reducing the amount of solid waste dumped at landfills locally.

“Although this MRF can be loaded with only 50 tonnes of waste daily, it helps to increase the percentage of recyclable waste collected to 25 per cent, where 10 per cent are solid recyclable waste like aluminium cans, used beverage cartons, plastics and paper while the remaining are organic waste which can be converted into fertiliser,” he said.

“We will try to grab as much as possible (the recyclable things), but this (MRF) is the first one so we have to improve some more,” he told Bernama during a media visit to the facility yesterday.

The machine capacity is small compared with the more than 2,000 tonnes of waste sent to JSL everyday. It is the first small-scale MRF in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Tetra Pak Director (Communications and Environment) Terrynz Tan said the initiative was taken not for financial gain but as a corporate social responsibility in helping the country to increase the recycling rate in the country.

“We would like to support the development of local recycling technology because we see a lot of potential in the country,” she said.

The MRF, which was initially deployed at the JSL during its pilot phase, will continue to operate at the landfill to facilitate the further harvesting of technical data.

Its performance will then facilitate as a platform for the small-scale MRF concept to be potentially deployed to other landfills in an effort to recover more recyclable materials in an economically viable way. — Bernama