ALOR SETAR, March 6 — The Local Government Development Ministry (KPKT) through Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp) managed to establish 32 drive-thru recycling centres (DTRC) in seven states that adopted Act 672 in the first 100 days of the Unity Government.
Its minister Nga Kor Ming in a statement today said the seven states are Kedah, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor, Perlis and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya with Kedah recording 11 DTRCs.
“The initiative to provide the DTRC is in line with the aim of the National Cleanliness Policy, which is to have recycling collection points in residential, industrial, commercial and institutional areas by targeting a two per cent increase in the number of waste recycling facilities every year to improve efficiency and management of solid waste, ” he said.
Earlier, Nga visited the DTRC at Kelibang Wet Market, in Kuah, Langkawi today. The DTRC has managed to collect about 50 tonnes of recyclables since it opened in November last year.
The DTRC facility, a user-friendly initiative, makes it more convenient for the community to send recycled wastes that have been sorted and segregated while encouraging the public to recycle and therefore help achieve Malaysia’s 40 per cent recycling rate by 2025.
Nga said the DTRC construction which is in line with the ‘Waste to Gold’ concept enables the public to make some side income from recycling activities in addition to supporting the transition from linear to cyclical economy in solid waste management which can reduce reliance on new raw materials to produce goods.
He said KPKT through SWCorp plans to continue to increase the number of DTRCs from time to time to boost recycling activities and thus help improve the national recycling rate.
“The establishment of DTRCs will increase the demand and market value of recycled goods. This will indirectly contribute to the growth of the recycling industry in Malaysia,” he said.
In the meantime, Nga also officiated at a ceremony today to hand over letters of offer to 867 successful applicants to occupy homes under the People’s Housing Programme (PPR) involving Anggerik Lestari PPR (Kuah) and Indera Mahsuri PPR (Ulu Melaka) ).
Nga said all the successful applicants were offered home ownership through the Rent-to-Own (RTO) Scheme which offers PPR rental for a period of between five and 20 years.
“The offer to own will be given every five years by making the full balance payment on the condition that the tenant is consistent in making rent and maintenance payments. The rental is as much as RM225 per month and an additional RM140 for the maintenance fee. The total payment is RM365 per month,” he said.
He said as the monthly rental is RM225 for a period of 20 years (maximum), the price paid for the unit is only RM54,000 compared to the cost of construction which is estimated to be worth RM250,000.
The Kuah PPR project involves the construction of 500 housing units worth a total of RM138,365,000 while the Ulu Melaka PPR comprising 500 units is worth RM125,500,000 and each project has five units specially catered for people with disabilities (OKU).
— Bernama
