Belakong
1. How would you solve the social problem you have chosen? Tell us the
steps you would take and what you would require. Make it practical,
reasonable and can be implemented.
Solid waste is one of the three major environmental problems in Malaysia. It
plays a significant role in the ability of Nature to sustain life within its capacity.
Currently, over 23,000 tonnes of waste is produced each day in Malaysia.
However, this amount is expected to rise to 30,000 tonnes by the year 2020. The
amount of waste generated continues to increase due to the increasing
population and development, and only less than 5% of the waste is being
recycled.
Selangor is one part of Malaysia having a major waste management issue .Our
projects aims to help reduce the amount of waste by providing a sustainable
solution to convert the waste to a usable product. We aim to proceed with our
plans by starting with a pilot project in Balakong, a township in between Kajang
and Cheras where we have observed that the area is filled with enormous
amount of trash. The local community is simply discarding their garbage on the
streets and the surrounding environment. We believe that one of the major
problem is the lack of a waste collection and management system.
Effective technology for waste management is now a frequent topic when it come
to the issue of sustainability and climate change. This is due to the fact that
landfills and highly wastes polluted environments emits a huge amount of
methane a greenhouse gas. Our main aim is to convert the waste in the via a
sustainable method and convert it to a usable secondary product.
Based on statistics, every year, the average person produces nearly 215
kilograms of food waste. Most of it ends up in the landfill sites where it rots and
releases methane, a damaging greenhouse gas. The use of back soldier fly larvae
(Hermetia Illucens) as a sustainable way to management waste is being
investigated by numerous universities around the world.
The black soldier fly, native to North America, exhibits characteristics that would
be considered beneficial in agriculture. The adult fly does not bite, nor is it
known to carry any diseases.
The usage of black soldier fly as the biological matter to convert waste is done in
the following steps ;
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Collection of waste
Harvesting the larvae
Biological composting of food waste by the larvae
collection & distribution of processed waste
On decomposing food waste, we can liaise with the operator of the food court in
Balakong. We can make a contract with them to retain the food waste for us to be
picked up at three times weekly. Also, we can spread the message and encourage
the residents in Belakong to segregate their food waste from their trash and
placed them in containers that we will be allocated in that area. As an incentives
to participate we will have a "waste for cash campaign" .From these food waste
that we have accumulated, we will use a larvae of black soldier fly to transform
organic waste into valuable animal feedstuff & fertiliser.
We aim to carry out the Waste decomposition in a chicken pen roofed by a
corrugated metal sheet enclosed by a wire net. A population of black soldier fly,
will be maintained in a small green house referred to as ‘moscario’, roofed with
transparent plastic foil fitted with a sun shading net and nylon netted sidewalls.
The moscario will then be placed on a meadow, exposed to daily direct sunlight
for about eight hours to produce larveros. The food waste will be placed in trays
in the chicken pen and the larveros which are now raised into prepupae will
enter into the chicken pen through a plastic pipe that is fixed along the top edge
of the chicken pen. These prepupae will then harvest those food waste into
decaying matter such as carrion, manure, plant refuse and waste products. With
a dry weight protein content of roughly 42 percent and a fat content of about 34
percent, the larvae also make ideal inexpensive feed for chickens. We can sell
these livestock feed to cover parts of the waste collection cost.
2. Where would you carry out your project? Which groups of people would
benefit from it?
We would like to carry out our project in Balakong, Selangor, Malaysia. This is
because the area in Balakong are filled with enormous trash. We can liaise with
the operators in the food court in Balakong which typically have large amount of
food waste. In that way, they can retain the food waste for us to be picked up at
three times weekly. The amount of food that is collected will then be paid on the
weightage that they have accumulated.
Furthermore, the unemployed and residents in Balakong can collect and
segregate the food waste from the trash. This can be one of the ways for them to
earn their income. Not only that, the residents in Balakong could also benefit
from this project indirectly as less trash will be seen in that area and people will
start cultivating the practice of recycling. Therefore, they will not simply dump
their food waste and other types of waste that can be recycled in the trash bin in
the future. This will then save the environment with the aim of going towards
zero waste, converting food waste into useful components such as fertilizers and
other by-products. With the "waste for cash " project we would incentivise them
to collect and retain their food waste for us to use in return the gain certain
profit that would help them socio-economically .
3. Why do you think it is important to address the social issue you have
chosen? What do you hope to achieve? If you had the funds how else can
you expand your project?
The amount of trash in Balakong area is vast. Thus, the food waste and trash that
are dumped in trash bins and dumpsters can definitely attract rodents and
insects as well as generate bad odours. Hence, by having organic waste in a
closed, durable and reusable container and having the Food Waste Disposal to
pick it up at three times weekly for composting can significantly reduce and
eliminate this problem.
It is in our view that if the problem persist it might have a direct impact to health
of the local community . A report conducted by the British Medical Bulletin states
that " Reproductive effects associated with landfill sites or highly waste polluted
environments have been extensively researched and include low birth weight
(less than 2500 g), fetal and infant mortality, spontaneous abortion, and the
occurrence of birth defects. " the report further states that " several geographical
comparison studies have investigated cancer mortality and incidence around
waste sites. Increased frequency of cancers in counties containing hazardous
waste sites was found in two US studies, particularly for gastrointestinal,
oesophageal, stomach, colon and rectal cancer."
We are not saying that health issues or patterns raised the British Medical
Bulletin is visible in the Balakong area but it is in our view that Waste
mismanagement may have a direct impact on the health of the local Balakong
community, and we wish to help avoid any future issues that might arise due to
the problem stated.
We hope to reduce the amount of trash in Balakong and promote the lifestyle of
going green to reduce the carbon footprints on Earth besides giving the
opportunities to the unemployed a source of income by accumulating food waste
and other types of recycling materials from trash.
If we are granted the prize money, it will be spend on original cost such as
building up the green house, creating the system to collect the larvae and
purchasing basic material needed to start our social enterprise. The money will
also be used to raise awareness on waste management in Balakong and also the
surrounding area . If we have the funds, we can expand this project to other
areas in Selangor as well. Such as helping local restaurant in Semeniyh, Kajang
and Broga to properly dispose of their waste so that we can help reduce the
amount of pollution in the area. This is to create awareness among the public
that the waste that we throw in the trash bins can be recycled in many forms
besides helping to create a sustainable environment for us to live in.