Thousand tonnes toxic waste removed

Thousand tonnes toxic waste removed

MUAR, JOHOR, Mon.

About 1,000 tonnes of aluminium dross toxic waste has been removed from the Sungai Gatom riverbank in Labis over the last 11 days.

However, it is learnt that several thousand tonnes are still buried in the area. Segamat district officer Datuk Md Alwee Abdul Rashid, who is also the district natural disaster director, said since the removal operations began on Jan 13, about 1,000 tonnes of the material had been ferried by lorries to the Kualiti Alam treatment facility in Bukit Nanas, Negri Sembilan. "The operation will continue until we are satisfied that all the waste has been removed," he said.
Villagers in Sungai Gatom complained of nausea after inhaling ammonia gas on Jan 8. Checks by the Department of Environment revealed that the ammonia gas was from an illegal toxic waste site of aluminium dross, buried in a privately-owned rubber plantation in Sungai Gatom.A factory in Malacca had used the rubber plantation as an illegal dumpsite since last October. About a week ago, two other sites were discovered in Jalan Haji Musa, Batu 8, and Batu 9¾ off Jalan Yong Peng-Labis.

Toxic revelation: Additional 3,000 tonnes of aluminium dross illegally dumped in last three months

Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi

SEGAMAT, JOHOR, Wed.

It just gets worse. A sub-contractor today came clean and said he had illegally dumped some 3,000 tonnes of toxic industrial aluminium dross since October last year in at least two sites in an oil palm plantation here. The sites are Kilang Pakatan Sawit and Kampung Haji Musa. Both are within a five-km radius of Kampung Sungai Gatom, where a clean-up operation at an illegal dumpsite is under way. Troubled by the wanton dumping of toxic waste around the country, the Government is going to make it mandatory for those convicted of such offences to be jailed. At a Press conference at the Chinese Community Hall here, Tey Tian Seng, 30, said he had been illegally burying large quantities of aluminium dross at several spots over the last three months. Accompanied by his lawyer Pang Hok Liong, he said there was cause for concern as the substance could trigger another ammonia gas emission. The substance, which is a scheduled toxic waste, reacts when exposed to rain and causes the release of poisonous ammonia fumes. When this occurred at the illegal dumpsite in Kampung Sungai Gatom in Labis, near here, last Friday, it resulted in the forced evacuation of nearly 700 people. In an immediate reaction, state executive councillor for Tourism and Environment Freddy Long said he had asked the Department of Environment to lodge a police report so that the contractor concerned could be pulled up for questioning. "This is serious. We cannot take this lightly as people’s safety and health are at risk." Tey, who spoke only Mandarin, claimed he did not know that the substance he had handled was toxic and was now fearful of reprisal from the authorities. "I work for a main contractor who instructed me to collect the substance from a chemical factory in Malacca. Every day around 6pm, the aluminium dross was loaded onto my 10-tonne lorry and I would dispose of it at designated places," he said. Tey, who is based in Labis, said he hired two other 10-tonne lorries to remove the waste from the factory. He was paid RM50 for every tonne. He added that the aluminium dross looked like loose gravel and was not packed in containers. "It was poured into the back of my tipper truck and then covered with a canvas sheet."Pang said his client was an "innocent victim" as he did not know that the waste he dumped was toxic.

INTERMISSION: Sit back and prepare to be entertained

Zainul Arifin

Jan 18:

As a nation we are probably more drawn to Elie Youssef Najem than the recent controversy over the Islamic Family Law or the ammonia gas leak in Labis, Johor.

Now that is not unusual as the strange and the scandalous do titillate our curiosity, while what matters most to us, the so-called serious stuff, does tax us a bit and, as such, best passed over.I suppose this is not unique to Malaysians. All over the world, the popularity of the so-called supermarket tabloids, about Elvis and UFO sightings, testify to that.There is nothing wrong in being blissfully unaware of things happening around us. We have enough distractions 24 hours a day, all year long, that make missing and skipping things that matter to us easy. It is only when they turn to bite us back that we cry foul.Why sweat over the quake victims dying in the cold winter or yet another bomb going off in downtown Baghdad when we have bills and mortgages to deal with? Is there such a thing as news fatigue? I do feel it sometimes when I scan through the newspapers, the Internet or turn on the TV. There are too many things happening in the world and we are powerless, so we might as well turn off and drop out.The nude squat incident caught our interest because it had all the elements of a good yarn that we can froth over our cups of coffee — a whiff of international scandal, a little bit of skin, good cops and bad cops, and we could flex our righteousness and collective outrage without leaving our armchairs.Except for the vocal few, and the media making a big case out of it, not too many people were that concerned about the Islamic Family Law. Much fewer, I am sure, than the millions who might have read every detail of Najem’s claim to wealth.It seems, too, that not many care about the toxic ammonia leak that resulted in many in Labis being hospitalised. It was a bad enough situation, which called for the evacuation of an entire village where the chemical was illegally dumped. Where is our sense of outrage and anger as fellow citizens get fogged in a cloud of ammonia, or perhaps have the poison seep into the water table?
Are we not concerned why the Religious Department of the Federal Territories decided to set up a moral snoop squad, a clear affront to a Cabinet directive against the setting up of such a unit? Could it be that we want our news sliced, diced and served well, sans controversies and headaches? All we want, it seems, is to be entertained. Which, when we think of all the troubles in the world, and in our lives, is fairly understandable. We do not need to further tax our emotions and grey matter. There are more than a dozen radio stations in the country, and you could be forgiven if you feel that the only news updates you get are on the goings-on of the English Premier League.Now that in itself is not bad, if it makes us happy, but is that all there is? Chatter, chatter, chatter, and music. On a separate slightly off-tangent note, I would like to ask why they always shout on the radio. Or at least talk very loudly, or very fast.I notice most stations are manned by deejays who seem perennially excited, roll their "Rs" like Americans, and often shout. Of course I exaggerate, and I digress.The era of pay-TV means that one can go through a year without knowing what happens in the country, unless one buys newspapers or tunes in to the news on local TV or the Internet. This is okay if we do not care about this country or what happens in it, but we should. We should rise above the entertainment-everywhere-all-the-time syndrome. Granted, news, especially hard news, is not for everyone but the news junkies. People in the news business, or those who live off it, try to tailor their products so that they are not just serving a plateful of hard news for breakfast. Hence we have gossip columns and entertainment and sports reports, which, I must hastily add, are important too, as they add colour to our otherwise mundane lives. It took the death of a promising individual for us, the Government included, to be moved to look at construction sites with concern, when scores of immigrant workers have died from such neglect. But some of us are more excited about England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson being duped by a fake Arab tycoon than about safety in our workplaces.  Thus, it seems that the only way to get people interested in the news is to sensationalise it. Get people worked up with the scandalous details.We do not want to have to work for our news. We want it packaged neatly, in bright and bold packaging, ready for consumption and easy on the stomach.Someone asked me whether there has been a dumbing-down of Malaysians in general, because they do not read or care about issues affecting them. Be careful when someone asks such a question, for chances are, he or she already has an answer.Mandatory jail term planned

Annie Freeda Cruez

KUALA LUMPUR, Wed.

The senior managements of companies illegally disposing toxic and hazardous wastes can no longer depend on lenient sentences to keep them out of jail.

Mandatory jail sentences, instead of fines, may soon await them under a government effort to get tough on those committing such offences. Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk S. Sothinathan said the courts had never imposed a custodial sentence, though the law provided for it. "Although the law allows for a five-year jail sentence for the illegal disposal of toxic wastes, it has never been imposed by the courts. "Not a single offender has been jailed, even for a day." He said the maximum fine for illegal disposal of scheduled wastes so far was RM100,000 although the law provided for a maximum fine of RM500,000. "We now want to make a jail sentence mandatory. This, hopefully, will act as a deterrent." He said the ministry was amending the existing Act and looking into tightening loopholes and increasing penalties. It was also working with non-governmental organisations, the Malaysian Employers’ Federation, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations, and universities.The panel has gone through several drafts of the amendments but is still addressing several outstanding issues.Sothinathan said the ministry needed public and media co-operation in reporting environmental offences, especially in the illegal disposal of scheduled wastes."Members of the public can call up their respective state departments of environment or headquarters. We will act on information given," he added.The DOE headquarters complaints direct line is 03-88891972 and hotline 1-800-88-2727.On the ammonia gas emission at an illegal dumpsite at Kampung Sungai Gatom in Labis, Segamat, Johor, he said it would take at least a month to clear the aluminium dross waste."The DOE will pursue legal action against the contractor besides getting the company to be more responsible by requiring it to reimburse the amount spent on clearing the waste," he said.

RM8m to clean up aluminium dross

Annie Freeda Cruez

PUTRAJAYA, Thurs

It’s going to cost the Government about RM8 million to clear the aluminium dross dumped at three locations in Labis, Johor.

The bill for cleaning up the mess at Kampung Sungai Gatom is RM4.4 million, with another RM3.5 million for the other two sites at Km9.75 Jalan Labis and Jalan Haji Musa Km15 Yong Peng.Yesterday, sub-contractor Tey Tian Seng, 30, said he had buried the aluminium dross at several spots over the last three months.The substance, a scheduled toxic waste, reacts when exposed to rain to release poisonous ammonia fumes.When this occurred at the dumpsite in Kampung Sungai Gatom, it resulted in the evacuation of nearly 700 people.Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk S. Sothinathan said Kualiti Alam Sdn Bhd would carry out the work at the three sites. An estimated 5,000 tonnes of aluminium dross is buried at Kampung Sungai Gatom and 3,000 tonnes at the other two sites.Since last Friday, the company has managed to clear some 500 tonnes of aluminium dross at Kampung Sungai Gatom. This was sent to the Negri Sembilan Kualiti Alam Waste Management centre for disposal.It is learnt that the clean-up at the other two sites has yet to commence.Sothinathan said this was because DOE officials were there to collect samples of the waste for analysis and to ascertain the amount present.It is understood that the ministry has to seek funds for the clean-up from the National Disaster Fund.Sothinathan said the work at Kampung Sungai Gatom would take another month.He hoped to get the chemistry department’s report within the next two days so that legal action can be initiated against those responsible."We have identified two Malacca-based companies which are responsible," Sothinathan said. "They are licensed recyclers and now their licences have been suspended. We will release the names of the companies once we get the clearance from Attorney-General’s Chambers."He said court action would also be taken against the transporters and landowners under the Environmental Quality Act 1974, where the penalty is a RM500,000 fine or five years’ jail or both.The ministry has directed the Johor DOE to comb the entire State for illegal dumpsites.

Poisoned grass roots

Jan 20:

A CONTRACTOR who dumped thousands of tonnes of scheduled waste in Johor begs forgiveness, pleading that he knew not what he did.

But that was the problem. No doubt, the immediate problem — and it’s going to be long-drawn, messy, difficult and expensive — is to excavate that noxious stuff and clean up the places where it was dumped, now that 700 people have had to be evacuated from their homes because of it. The deeper problem is that such things happen at all. Criminal cynicism is one thing, and bad enough, with so many willing to include breaking, bending or ignoring the law among their life choices. Criminal negligence is another matter, often arising from false economies of costs and expedience. But criminal ignorance? The blanched countenance of the contractor in question lent credence to the notion that had he known what he was transporting, he might have found another way to make RM50 per tonne of trash — even if there was 3,000 tonnes of it. True, in the aluminium dross contaminations in Johor, arcane alchemies were involved. The material, a residue of aluminium smelting (and, ironically, recyclable), looks innocuous as gravel and was transported as if it were. It’s dry, it doesn’t smell bad, it’s not radioactive. Outside of metallurgical circles, who would know that the nitrogen compounds in the material would react with rainwater to release toxic ammonia fumes? Not the poor fools driving the lorries and shovelling the stuff. This could be one reason for the laxity of enforcement and leniency of prosecution in respect of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, as mentioned by Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk S. Sothinathan. The law exists and is muscular enough, providing for fines not exceeding RM500,000 or five years’ jail or both for the illicit disposal of scheduled waste. But the reason for this gravity is apparently lost on offenders and enforcers alike. Hence the continued transgressions, met with slaps on the wrist, stern warnings and token penalties. This general indifference is also seen in the peculiar role of environmental impact assessments in this country, which often seem more concerned with assessing the impact of the environment on development rather than the other way around. By dint of constant nagging and regular scares, however, public awareness of the insidious perils of pollution should by now be sufficient to justify the setting-up of a national Environmental Protection Agency — an independent body with the statutory heft of, for example, the Anti-Corruption Agency, reporting directly to the Cabinet and equipped with prosecutorial clout. The mandatory jail terms Sothinathan suggested bear consideration; such a deterrent might indeed win the attention of industrial-strength waste generators. But environmental protection is necessarily more about prevention than cure, and this requires education, awareness, and a considerable dose of leadership by example. A Malaysian EPA could demonstrate such leadership, serving as a repository of expertise in environmental management as well as a guardian, monitoring practices, enforcing the law and prosecuting transgressors.