Indiscriminate dumping of rubbish is becoming as rampant as illegal buntings and banners popping up overnight. SUBANG Jaya is fast becoming a township littered with rubbish no thanks to irresponsible house owners who throw their rubbish anywhere they deem fit and made worse by inefficient rubbish collection by the authorities. Almost every main road or neighbourhood roads are littered with rubbish from the home – old sofa sets; old cupboards, car tires; tree branches; kitchen rubbish; and a lot more bulky items which residents are not willing to pay the cost for disposal. In most, if not all the cases, the rubbish is not thrown outside their own compound but onto neighbouring roads. Some blame it on ignorance of the fact that they have to pay for the disposal of such items while others argue that it is the Subang Jaya Municipal Council’s duty to dispose of it for them. The cost to remove bulky waste in 2010 was a whopping RM302,000 according to MPSJ.
Selangor state exco for tourism, consumer affairs and environment Elizabeth Wong who was asked to comment on this said, “It's not rocket science. It confounds me why Malaysians continue to indulge in indiscriminate and illegal dumping of waste when services are available. Every time someone throws out rubbish at public areas and roadsides, it's additional costs to the residents and ratepayers of Subang Jaya.”
ADUN Subang Jaya Hannah Yeoh said MPSJ was in a transitional stage where there may be a change of contractors for rubbish collection. “The collection has not been regular, even though there are two people supervising the rubbish collection, which is MPSJ’s Urban Services director, and a supervisor from Alam Flora.” “I believe that there is a lack of supervision in this case. By right, supervisors should be more proactive and make checks on their workers’ progress on ad-hoc basis, and not waiting for the public to alert them about this,” she said. Hannah said it was MPSJ’s job is to provide these services. Many residents complain that leachate from Alam Flora’s garbage trucks leave a trail on the road, stinking up the whole stretch. She said MPSJ should place someone in areas most likely to face illegal dumping to catch the perpetrators. “I don’t buy into their excuse that they lack manpower to carry out these duties. Also, people who are caught should be slapped with a stiff fine to deter them and others from following suit.” Hannah said there was an urgent need to educate residents and this could easily be done through dissemination of information via leaflets. “Residents should also play their part to take photos of people dumping by the roadside and alert MPSJ immediately,” she added.
MPSJ councilor for JKP Zone 4 Roslan Shahir said he had received complaints about illegal dumping, especially those that involve dumping of construction waste in residential areas in USJ 1. “There was also once that they dumped the construction waste in front of Rumah Amal Cahaya Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, which is dangerous and hazardous for the orphans who live there.” “I find this is irresponsible because MPSJ has to fork out the budget to clear it up. We are planning to build barricades to ensure that lorries will not find it easy to enter the area to dump the waste. I’m also urging residents to snap photos of lorries who passed by to identify the culprits,” he said, adding that the council had put up a billboard along Persiaran Kewajipan offering a RM500 reward for photos taken of the culprits.
MPSJ councilor for Zone 1 Dr KM Loi said there was no reason for indiscriminate dumping as MPSJ provides collection of special waste for a minimum fee of RM250 that will be included the assessment fee. “MPSJ needs to be clearer in laying out their policies when it comes to bulky items although it is not included in the by-laws when it comes to waste management. To circumvent this problem, MPSJ should include it in Alam Flora’s contracts if they want to provide better services to the residents,” he said. To dispose bulky waste, please call Alam Flora hotline to pick up 1800-880-800
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