IT will be two years before Selangor is included in the government’s mandatory waste separation programme which began in stages in September 2015 under the previous government, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said.

She said the ministry needs to stabilise its financial situation, before Selangor and other states that have yet to adopt the law, can be made to comply.

This is because the federal ministry will be required to provide these states with subsidies.

“I’m giving myself two years because I need to stabilise things and the ministry’s financials. They (the states) want to come in but the ministry does not have the money.

“When they come in, we have to subsidise… it’s money from the government. The ministry does not have the money yet,” she told reporters after a public discussion on plastic waste management in Putrajaya today.

In 2015, the ministry which was then called the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry began enforcing the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act.

Eight states are currently involved in the programme that was initiated by the Barisan Nasional government. They are Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Pahang, Johor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Perlis and Kedah.

Households in the states are required to separate their trash accordingly to ease recycling processes.

Abdul Rahman Dahlan who was the Urban Wellbeing, housing and local government minister then, also urged Selangor to adopt the law as he claimed the state was facing a crisis on garbage disposal.

Zuraida said Pakatan Harapan, which ruled Selangor then, had opposed the programme when it was in the federal opposition.

But she admitted now that it was important to ensure uniformity of standards and cleanliness nationwide.

“(For) Malaysia to be clean, we need one system that is uniformed and consistent with the standards of quality of cleanliness.

“It’s more organised, so these are the things we should (have) in other states as well,” she added. – January 15, 2019.