KUCHING: Two hundred people from institutions of higher learning and the private and public sectors attended the Industrial By-Products Management and Business Opportunities Conference at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) yesterday.
The event, organised by the state government in collaboration with ferroalloy industries operating in Samalaju Industrial Park, featured speakers from the United Kingdom, France, Norway, South Korea, Germany and Malaysia.
The organisers believed that creating awareness on the management and business opportunities of industrial by-products would be pertinent in the development of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), where in recent years the state witnessed rapid growth of new industries, especially in Samalaju.
Some of the conference participants will get to see the vast potential and progress of SCORE as the conference organisers had arranged for a visit to the Samalaju Industrial Park (SIP) today.
Meanwhile, State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani urged manufacturers in the state to adopt a new way of thinking in terms of how they look at industrial by-products.
He said the state government was mindful of the advancements made in waste management technology, especially after learning from the experience of some countries in utilising industrial wastes or by-products for productive purposes.
“It is our commitment to see Samalaju as a place to work, a place to live and a place where people will get jobs and enjoy the development of a liveable town. We don’t want it to be a place for dumping of any slightest possible hazardous waste.
“It is a place that will not shun away investors or shun away people from enjoying and benefiting the fruits of an environmentally well-planned township of Samalaju,” he said when launching the conference.
He added that the state government was committed in ensuring all industries would be environmentally friendly.