THE oldest and most common form of waste disposal, the landfill, has outlived its usefulness and needs to be phased out, Sarawak Deputy Premier Douglas Uggah said today. 

He said local councils in the state’s rural towns should look beyond the “outdated” landfill to dispose of the town’s waste and explore new options. 

Uggah told newly sworn-in councillors of the Betong district council today that landfills have become a threat to the environment. 

“We cannot keep on relying on landfills in disposing our waste,” he said, and suggested they start looking for a waste disposal system utilising “more modern management technology”. 

Uggah, whose constituency of Bukit Saban is in the Betong division, said it was imperative the local councils come up with a solution to dispose of waste that could not be recycled. 

Since a modern waste disposal plant is very expensive, he said councils that were adjacent to one another could consider sharing a plant. 

He said if such a plant was installed in the jurisdiction of the Betong district council, neighbouring Saratok, Lubok Antu, and Sri Aman district councils could all share in its use. 

Uggah reminded local councils that some of them were deficient in their rubbish collection service. 

He said there were villages and longhouses where waste collection was still not available. 

Consequently, people there dumped their waste into nearby rivers, creating environmental pollution. 

“We cannot allow this to carry on,” he said. – April 6, 2023.