PAHANG SWCORP PREPARES FOR POST-FLOODS CLEANING WORK WITH WASTE TRANSIT SITES

KUANTAN, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- The Pahang Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp) has identified 176 waste transit sites for flood-affected areas, which will then be disposed of at 13 landfill facilities statewide to speed up the cleaning process.

SWCorp director Shahrudin Hamid said transit sites would be established during the post-flood period throughout Pahang. This is one of SWCorp's preparations for dealing with the Northeast Monsoon (MTL) floods.

Shahrudin said the transit site location would be identified with the help of local authorities. It would be a temporary collection area for flood-generated waste from housing estates, and larger lorries would then move it to the actual waste disposal site.

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"We already know that the landfills are located far away. Based on our experience, it will take one lorry about an hour to two hours to travel from a flood-affected housing location to a landfill site, which will cost time.

"SWCorp's mission is to ensure that this flood waste is cleaned as soon as possible from the affected residential areas because it risks inviting various water-borne diseases and so on. For that reason, a transit sites have been established. We assure that they will not be in residential areas but rather on open land," he said.

Shahrudin said this in a press conference after the 2024 Pahang State Level School Recycling Competition (PERKISS) prize presentation ceremony here today.

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In the meantime, he advised residents in flood-risk areas to ensure that the free trash bins provided for them were placed in appropriate locations to prevent them from being swept away during the floods.

He said 19,209 bins of 120 litres, 240 litres, and 660 litres were damaged and washed away during the big flood of 2021. Because of this, the reminder was made to reduce the problem of bins being lost, which repeats each time a flood occurs.

"When there is a big flood, many rubbish bins are washed away, lost. We will replace it with a new one, which will take some time. Therefore, I urge people to help us by ensuring these free bins are placed in the appropriate location.

"This is because the cost of replacing the bin is quite high The estimated cost of one bin is between RM100 and RM120. We understand that flooding is unexpected but if it (bin being lost) can be avoided, I hope it can be avoided," he said.

He said 478 schools, 332 primary schools, and 146 secondary schools had participated in the competition held from Sept 1, 2023 to Aug 31, 2024.

Shahrudin added that 582,991.32 kilogrammes of recyclable materials were collected statewide during the period.

-- BERNAMA