IzanJay-Environmental Articles/News Collection

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Green Technology: Australia drives viable business into SEA

Source : NST 10 October 2012| last updated at 02:10PM

It is common knowledge that Australia and Malaysia enjoy strong people links: more than 135,000 Malaysian-born people live in Australia, 20,667 students enrolled in Australia as of August this year and there are more than 21,000 students pursuing Australian qualifications in Malaysia.

The two countries have further strengthened their link through the Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which is due to come into force in early next year. Both will benefit from this as an increase in trade creates more jobs and delivers more opportunities for businesses.

“The Malaysia-Australia relation-ship is long standing and underpinned by strong links in a number of sectors including defence, security, education, foreign policy, investment and trade,” says Chau Duncan, Trade Commissioner, Australian Trade Commission. “Malaysia is Australia’s third largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and our tenth largest trading partner overall.

In fact, the two-way trade of goods and services between the two countries valued at AUD$15.8 billion (RM49.7 billion) last year. Investment between Australia and Malaysia is strong, with AUD$8.2 billion (RM25.6 billion) worth of Malaysian investment in Australia, and AUD$4.4 billion (RM13.7 billion) of Australian investment in Malaysia last year.

Integration

Countries in ASEAN represent an attractive market for Australian companies across many sectors, especially as the region is right at Australia’s door.

Australia’s connectivity in the region through the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement means mutual benefits in the form of increased trade, reduced barriers to entry, increased foreign and infrastructure investment, education and skilled labour linkages, standards and innovation, transport and logistics.

The current scale and pace of Asian economic development seems to back up the emergence of the Asian Century, the projected 21st century dominance of Asian politics and culture.

The implications for Australia are profound, and the country is more than ready to contribute to the growth and development of the region, says Duncan. The Australian government is serious about the country taking its place in the Asian Century. Its White Paper on ‘Australia in the Asian Century’ will be released soon.

Australian businesses are looking at regional and integrated strategies to benefit from the growing strength of Asia’s economies, becoming part of regional supply chains, partnering and complementing their offerings through alliances with overseas companies, and looking at outward investment in Asia.

The Boston Consulting Group’s report Imagining Australia in the Asian Century, that analyses the drivers of growth in Asia and how they match Australian business capabilities, profiled 13 leading Australian firms in the non-resource sector that have succeeded in Asia by tailoring their business models around specialisation, relationships and adaptability.

Green business and growth

Bringing green business into Malaysia has benefits for both Australia and Malaysia. Green building design and construction can be a key initiator of economic growth. This sector is one of the major lures for investment into Australia as well as one of the country’s growing exports.

The landscape of the Malaysian building and construction industry is unique. The artificially low cost of construction is somewhat of a deterrent to green building methods and systems, which is why incentives in this area are more than welcome, says Michael Halpin, Chairman of the Malaysia Australia Business Council.

Malaysia can take an example from Australia, where the Australian government’s and industry’s support of and emphasis on sustainable and low carbon growth has significantly increased the rate of green building in Australia. Initiatives at local, state and federal levels include building codes, rating tools, tax breaks and mandatory disclosure schemes.

There are now 350 Green Star certified projects covering 4,075,441 sqm, with an additional 540 projects registered for certification in Australia.

Malaysia can certainly learn from the success of these initiatives and Australia’s green building rating tools in driving its economy forward, said C.K. Tang, Principal of Veritas Environment Sdn Bhd, speaking at the Malaysia-Australia Green Building and Sustainable Construction Forum recently.

The forum, which was jointly organised by Austrade, MATRADE and the Construction Industry Development Board, Malaysia (CIDB), was an avenue through which Australian experience and success stories in green building and industrialised building systems (IBS) could be shared with Malaysian businesses.

Government commitment, enterprise and initiative will drive the green building and construction industry forward, said His Excellency Miles Kupa, the Australian High Commissioner in his opening speech.

Also at the forum, Boon Chee Wee, chairman of the Green Building Index Accreditation Panel said that localised green rating tools and initiatives, when driven by consumer demand and market forces, have the potential to increase development rapidly. Training and capacity building in this area should be an immediate priority.

CIDB is already actively encouraging contractors and other stakeholders in the construction industry to get training in using IBS and green rating certifications, said Mohammad Farris Abdul Aziz, manager of CIDB’s Industry Training Division at the forum.

Potential for success

The value of the Malaysian construction industry is forecast to rise from RM24.5 billion last year to RM41.6 billion by 2016.

The ‘green’ value, however, is unlimited. It is the value embedded in building design and construction, materials used, and the efficiency of business operations, management and know-how. It is an enabler to all industry sectors, reducing overall GHG emissions and supporting sustainable development, says Duncan.

An example of this is Boral Plasterboard (M) Sdn Bhd, an Australian company that has now based its operations in Malaysia. It is one of many companies whose practise of global sustainability standards in their operations benefits Malaysia as a whole.

Boral’s green innovations in building and construction materials — its materials are Green Labelled, and it is an IBS Status manufacturer — certainly influence the development of businesses in the same and related fields.

In return, Boral benefits from Malaysia’s welcoming tax environment, the credibility of location, and ease of communication within the Asian region, amongst others, said Rick Ogden, Chief Financial Officer of Boral Gypsum Asia, also at the forum.

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Malaysia, are certainly interested in green growth; it not only attracts investment, private capital and new technologies, but also encourages innovative approaches, collaboration, and skills development.

“Malaysia is in an advanced state of development,” says Halpin. “Education on green issues and solutions is starting to pervade into people’s lives. Green business in Malaysia has the ability to bring with it many other elements that can contribute to the development of the nation.”

Though still in its infancy as an economic and political concept, there is no doubt that green growth goes beyond energy and clean-tech. It creates sustainable living that benefits the individual citizen in terms of health, safety, and quality of life.

Encouraging sustainable building

AS part of the push towards green building design and construction, the Malaysian government established the Construction Industry Development Board, Malaysia (CIDB).

The board’s job is to develop the capacity and capability of the construction industry. As part of this push forward, it has been actively encouraging the use of industrialised building systems (IBS).

There has been some buzz about IBS lately, especially after China’s Ark Hotel, which was built in 15 days, had the media spotlight trained on it for a while.

IBS is basically a building system in which structural components are manufactured in a factory, on or off site work. IBS normally lends itself to modular coordination and standardisation, speedier construction, reduction of labour requirements, improved quality and site safety.

There are proven benefits of using the system — high quality products and cheaper construction due to economies of scale are some. There is also minimum waste, as the work environment in the factory and on site becomes easier to control.

CIDB’s IBS Centre was established to provide advice, guidance and technical know-how to the IBS value chain — contractors, consultants, and manufacturers and so on — from the very beginning of an IBS project until completion. The centre conducts regular awareness seminars and technical training.

It also offers an accreditation programme called ‘The Assessment of IBS Status Manufacturers’, a scheme to assess and certify IBS manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and on site manufacturers of IBS products based on a set of certification requisite. The aim is to produce a register of certified manufacturers for the Malaysian construction industry.

Green Technology: Green solutions to combat water shortage

Source : NST 10 October 2012| last updated at 02:13PM

Clean water is essential for our daily lives. We use it for consumption, cooking, and cleaning among other things. Without fresh water to drink, humans can only survive for up to three days. Bacfree, a full solution and system provider, design engineering and consulting company that provides water and wastewater solutions, has taken it upon themselves to supply fresh and clean water to Malaysians. Established in 1982, the company has a host of products that are designed to provide safe and clean water. Here’s a look at some of the products developed by Bacfree:

PumpBuddy

The PumpBuddy valve is an innovative water inlet control device thats allows for variable minimum and maximum water level settings within a water tank. It permits variable and easy adjustment of minimum and maximum top-up water levels, thus reducing pump run time. In addition to saving electricity, this simple device increases pump life by reducing the frequency of pump start-stop cycles.

The PumpBuddy valve can be installed in both domestic water tanks and rainwater harvesting tanks.

Operating principle: The PumpBuddy valve will close when both weights are submerged (at the maximum water level). The valve will remain closed until the water level inside the tank has dropped below the bottom weight (at the minimum water level).

The valve will then open and allow water to top up the tank until it reaches the maximum level. The maximum water level is set by adjusting the top weight cord and the minimum water level is set by adjusting the length of the cord between the two weights.

Vortex Fine Filters

With global warming and the recent change in global weather patterns, it is likely that rainfall patterns will continue to change, bringing shorter but heavier bursts of rain leading to flash floods and soil erosion.

Water consumption, however, has been increasing for the last century due to increased populations and as the climate becomes warmer, new ways will have to be found to reduce, reuse and retain precious water resources.

Even in a country that has a high average of yearly rainfall, we can no longer assume that there will be an endless supply of water. This is already evident from the occasional water rationing as well as considerable increase in water price by the water works department.

This is where rainwater harvesting and recycling come into play. Rainwater that is collected and filtered can be safely used to flush toilets, water plants, wash clothes, wash the car and for general cleaning. Being soft water and chlorine free, it is kind to washing machines, cleaning surfaces, plants and does not leave behind unsightly scales and stains.

The Vortex Fine Filters is a revolutionary rainwater harvesting product developed by industry leader WISY AG of Germany and BACFREE of Malaysia. Its versatile design allows the Vortex Filters to be installed into horizontal rainwater downpipes either below ground or above ground. The unique construction allows the collection, filtration and aeration of rainwater at the same time.

Rainwater coming through the downpipe is distributed evenly to the receiving stainless steel fine strainer by a unique vortex action. The water that is collected is then aerated and led through the outlet to the rainwater storage tank.

More than 95 per cent of rainwater passing through the Vortex Filter is filtered and collected by this principle. Dirt particles and sediments (larger than 0.28 m) are rinsed directly into the drain with the remaining rainwater.

Its innovative design and construction of Vortex Filter ensures that the full inner cross-sectional diameter of rainwater downpipe is always unobstructed and requires minimum maintenance.

The fine strainer is placed vertically therefore very little debris will be trapped on the strainer surface. This is enhanced further by the self-cleaning property which washes away all the remaining debris on the strainer with the next heavy rainfall.

The Vortex Fine Filters also comes with the following warranty:

• Collected rain water quality below 5NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit).

• Five years warranty on PP Vortex Fine Filter housing and Stainless Steel strainer.

• No clogging or obstruction of rainwater downpipes.

Green Technology: Biomedical device industry set to improve healthcare

10/10/12 NST

According to the Ministry of Health, Malaysia’s medical device industry is valued at about RM3.5 billion last year and is expected to reach RM5.3 billion by 2015. This seems likely as the global medical device industry is valued at US$320 billion (RM977 billion), which represents 25 per cent of the overall healthcare market.

The growth will be fuelled by an aging population, increase access to healthcare especially in Asia Pacific, changes in lifestyle, and a trend towards health tourism.

SIRIM has a long history of research and development of useful products that take advantage of Malaysia’s rich natural biodiversity. Advances in biotechnology and materials help produce more environmentally friendly solutions than traditional industrial process.

Medical technology has been identified as one of SIRIM’s three flagships areas along with energy and environment, and plant and machinery. Research teams in SIRIM are now working on developing biomedical devices and products that are safe for both the society as well as the environment.

Research and development are conducted in pilot plants that are designed to achieve good manufacturing practices (GMP) certification to ensure the quality of the products.

“We produce these biomedical devices in pilot plants before clinical trials because we can control everything in this scale in terms of the environment of the production,” explains Dr Ahmad Hazri Abdul Rashid, the General Manager of the Industrial Biotechnology Research Centre in SIRIM.

Advanced wound management systems

There are two biomedical pilot plants in located at SIRIM’s Branch in Sepang which focus on advanced wound management systems. The team, led by researchers Dr Ahmad Hazri and Dr Kartina Noorsal, develops six medical-grade products using chitosan in the form of thin film, sheet, paste, scar cream, sponge, and skin regenerating template (SRT).

Chitosan is naturally abundant and can be obtained from the exoskeleton of crustaceans, which also makes it cost effective. Because of its biocompatibility, biodegradability, hypoallergenic, and antibacterial properties, chitosan is suitable for open wound protection and for encouraging cellular regeneration.

The product is currently under clinical trial and samples are tested for biocompatibility and toxicity studies as part of the process of obtaining Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) certification.

According to Dr Ahmad Hazri, the trials have so far shown favourable response from the patients, with some patients even specifically requests for SIRIM’s chitosan medical products. He adds that the progress is a step towards the right direction, although new advancements are still waiting to be unleashed.

“We used to rely on synthetic wound dressing products. In the future, perhaps we can even use products made out of our own body. This can significantly reduce or eliminate the chances of rejection,” he explains. On top of that, this process would take nothing from external resources, which make it a lot more environmentally friendly.

Medical injection moulding

Another key research and development project by SIRIM in medical device focus on the use of metal injection moulding (MIM) to manufacture stainless steel surgical implants. SIRIM is one of the first institutions in the world to utilise this technique.

MIM is ideal for making intricate and precisely measured medical implants as the process begins with a soft and malleable metal paste unlike traditional metalwork.

It produces practically zero waste and has a very low defect rate compared to conventional machining processes, making it ideal for high-value objects made of expensive metals such as components in micro-machines, automotive and aerospace applications.

The project is currently focused on producing simple, six-hole dynamic compressions plates (DCPs) designed to fix bone fractures. Although DCP is one of the most widely used metal implants to repair fractures, imported plates from Europe or the US tend to be designed for Caucasian bones. This makes some imported DCPs an ill-fit for the Asian bone structure. With locally made DCPs, this will soon be an issue of the past.

The project is conducted in two of SIRIM’s pilot plants in Penang, and is led by Dr Afian Omar, an award-winning researcher from Advanced Materials Research Centre, SIRIM.

As with any medical devices, the product will have to undergo a successful clinical trial, which is scheduled to commence soon, before it enters the market.

Providing a total solution in medical device

The teams behind SIRIM’s research and development efforts in biomedical are made up of material scientists, engineers, and chemists. The pilot plants are designed by SIRIM’s engineers. In addition, the researchers work with medical faculties in local universities to develop and test products in the lab as well as on clinical trials. SIRIM’s primary contribution is in the product development, while the universities oversee the medical aspects of the research.

“This type of collaboration takes into account the materials, engineering, as well as the patient’s need. It’s a total solution for the medical device products,” says Dr Ahmad Hazri.

New technology will also pave the way for new or improved medical devices to be developed in the future. There is a big potential in stem cell research and genetic engineering that can propel the biomedical devices industry towards this advancement.

Since the field of medical devices is still relatively new everywhere in the world, Dr Ahmad Hazri believes that it is an ideal time to be a key player in the industry, or risk losing opportunities.

In order to do that, it is important to keep up with the fast-paced nature of the industry and develop human capital. “Our people need to be of the right competencies. We need to invest in research and have the right facilities to enable the studies to be carried out,”he says.

It also has to be a joint effort between the government, local industry players, and the research institutes, as well as the consumers to develop this industry. The government is already taking the step in the right direction by focusing on biotechnology economy as one of the National Key Economic Areas, establishing ‘green lane’ policies for local biotech products, and introducing the Medical Device Act 2012.

The Act requires both imported and local medical devices to be registered with the Ministry of Health. Under this new act, medical devices are well regulated by assessing the safety, effectiveness and quality of the products before being placed in the market.

Presently, there are very few products that go into the market because most of the products are imported. There are also not many institutes doing research in medical devices.

“SIRIM has a role to play to fill in this gap and develop new devices and methodologies to test these products,” says Dr Ahmad Hazri. With the pilot plants, SIRIM can kick start the production of medical devices to help the local industry in terms of production capacity, which brings products into the market much quicker. In addition, SIRIM’s efforts pave the way for local companies to achieve sustainability faster as the companies need only to focus on the marketing of the products.

On top of that, Dr Ahmad Hazri expresses his hope that SIRIM’s research efforts in biomedical devices will help healthcare practitioners provide the best options for patients to heal faster and better.

Green Technology: Setting the limit for rural sustainability

10 October 2012| last updated at 02:54PM

By DR VIKNESWARAN NAIR

The Economic Transformation Programme that the government launched in October 2010, indicates that the economy of the country has to evolve from low yield to high yield if the nation is to succeed in becoming a fully developed country by 2020.

Tourism is regarded as one of the most important drivers for the economy in Malaysia. Hence, much scrutiny is needed for the industry to move up the value chain and move away from mass tourism to niche tourism. Nonetheless, as we continue to develop our fragile resources especially in the rural setting, we may be reaching the tipping point. What is the limit of the continuous sustainability of these resources if development exceeds conservation?

In Malaysia, the prefix, ‘eco’ which represents ‘being green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ may sound benign but there seems to be an over-use of this term to denote an idea of being ‘hip’, ‘cool’ and ‘friendly’ to the environment.

This can lead some tourism businesses to abuse this label as a marketing tool, merely paying lip service to environmentalism by declaring they are green with no action taken to ensure they are.

Consequently, there are serious impacts to the expropriation of virgin territories, which include wildlife parks, national parks or other wilderness areas. Development of mega-resorts, hotels, condominiums, shopping malls and golf courses in natural areas in the name of green tourism or eco-tourism to attract mass tourist is indeed green-washing.

So, what is the limit of development that a rural destination can allow or the limit in the number of tourist or visitors to these sites? Finding the right balance in development that will not totally wipe out our natural resources is critical. That is indeed the essence of the ‘sustainable development’ concept. But realistically finding the ‘magic number’ for carrying capacity may sometime seem preposterous.

Thus, in the field of tourism, the concept of carrying capacity can be used when seeking and selecting ‘appropriate’ types of tourism developments in these eco-sensitive sites and to determine the limit in the number of tourists allowed before shutting down operations. The physical and socio-economic carrying capacity can be determined for environmental resources.

The concept of carrying capacity is one that exemplifies the need to maintain development and activities at a level that is both ecologically and socially sustainable. Primarily, it aims to avoid environmental degradation and thus evade social conflicts. Hence, carrying capacity would define limits on tourism development in a place, such as the maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time without causing environmental destruction, resulting in an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors‘ satisfaction.

Hard-hit

Malaysia is blessed with breathtaking islands with white sandy beaches and clear waters, all of which generate significant tourism receipt for the nation. Tourism growth in Malaysia has been assisted, to an extent, by the abundant and rich coral reefs and shallow tropical marine resources in this region. Nonetheless, two years ago the impact of exceeding carrying capacity in some of the major dive sites in the country was reported in the local dailies.

The closure of nine dive sites on the tropical islands of Tioman and Redang during the peak of the coral bleaching incident at the end of 2010 was indeed a wake-up call for all stakeholders to play their part in an attempt to relieve stress on the fragile marine ecosystems.

These popular dive sites in the South China Sea were hit by coral bleaching and global warming was blamed. The closure gave the coral a chance to regenerate and remove stress caused by tourism-related activities such as scuba diving and snorkeling. If these dive sites are not serious in enforcing carrying capacity, Malaysia may lose the very thing that has attracted many eco-tourists to its diving sites that are considered top in the world.

Reports in green lifestyle magazine, EcoMalaysiain 2010 further highlighted that although Malaysia has a wide range of natural assets that make eco-tourism a highly beneficial, sustainable and long-term form of tourism, there are enormous concerns for the future of eco-tourism, as many of the well-known eco-tourism sites in Malaysia are now so over-used.

Some of the examples are Wang Kelian in Perlis (limestone, caves and forests), Kenyir Catchments in Trengganu (lake, boating, trekking and fishing), Pulau Kukup in Johor (mangroves, wildlife, and seafood), Lower Kinabatangan River in Sabah (proboscis monkeys and wildlife), Pulau Redang in Trengganu (fish, coral reefs and an attractive marine environment), Pulau Sipadan in Sabah (fish, coral reefs and an attractive marine environment).

Some of the best eco-tourism practices have been displayed in the Matang Mangroves Forest in Perak. However, there is still lack of best eco-tourism practices displayed in many of the marine parks in Malaysia.

Limiting and managing

So, how do we make amends to ensure the biggest industry of the world, tourism, does not destroy the ecosystem? One such approach is by understanding the concept of ‘responsible tourism’, where travel aims to reduce the disastrous trail by promoting sustainable management practices at the operational level.

As propagated by Wild Asia, a social-enterprise group based in Kuala Lumpur:

“…Today‘s tourists are people with a genuine interest about their holiday destination and are aware that their presence can have adverse effects on both the lifestyle of the locals and the environment. Responsible tourism provides this guarantee and assures the holidaymaker a guilt-free trip”.

Thus, limiting divers to 120 per day at diving destinations like Sipadan Island in Sabah as the carrying capacity point may seem scientific. But does that mean if you have 121 divers, you will get environmental degradation or if you have 119 divers, your corals are safe and sustainable? Certainly not. The weaknesses in finding this magic number that does not in reality exist.

Trailing from the idea of carrying capacity is another more acceptable visitor management concept called ‘limit of acceptable change’ (LAC) that is important in environmental resource management.

Determining the threshold number before a destination is destroyed is not as important as having a good management system to determine if the destination is negatively impacted. Hence, the LAC concept describes the level of allowable variations in the quality of the environment before irreversible degradation is likely to occur. Environmental management rather than development control is of much greater importance in managing the finite environmental resources.

The environment is the resource base for tourism; without protection, the natural attraction that brought the tourist in the first place will be lost. Greening tourism under the name of eco-tourism or any other synonym can have the same harmful effects as that of mass tourism if all the stakeholders in the tourism industry do not strictly adhere to the precepts of eco-tourism or responsible tourism.

When demand rises, further development implemented in the areas that were previously untouched could cause extensive damage. Once destinations become popular, there is often no way to control development activities. Thus, environmental destruction becomes irreversible and gradually destroys the natural resources on which the tourism industry actually depends.

In conclusion, finding the right equilibrium between development and sustaining environmental resources is critical for the survival of mankind. In years to come, the next world war will not be about who controls the oil but about who controls the energy, water and environmental resources. Hence, we need to set realistic limits for the utilisation of our resources before they are all gone by the time our grandchildren are born.

Associate Professor Dr Vikneswaran Nair is the Director of the Centre of Research and Development at Taylor‘s University. He is the lead researcher of an on-going project on responsible rural tourism.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Selangor govt must clean up its act

27 May 2012| last updated at 12:24AM

By A. Jalil Hamid | jalil@nstp.com.my

HEALTH HAZARD: The problems of uncollected rubbish has raised the people's ire

LIKE other Asian countries, we are producing a great deal of rubbish each day, but we are not very good at disposing of them.

According to the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asia's largest cities generate on average 760,000 tonnes of solid waste per day. This is expected to double to 1.8 million tonnes by 2025.

ADB experts have warned that Asian cities, some lacking financial and other necessary resources, could be overwhelmed by the growing volume and toxicity of waste.

In most of our towns, landfills seem to be the preferred method of dumping rubbish. But they could prove to be hazardous to our health.

When toxic wastes are land disposed, leachates may leak from the waste and contaminated the ground- water. This can poison the soil and our rivers.

Take the case of the Citarum River near the Indonesian city of Bandung. Many years ago, the river was a clean waterway where villagers earned their living cultivating rice and selling fish.

Today, it is choked with plastic, filled with chemicals and human waste.

The villagers no longer make money from fishing any more. Instead, they scour the river, looking for discarded items that can be recovered and sold for cash.

Rapid industrialisation since the 1980s has spawned the growth of more than 500 textile factories along the river, many of them discharging hazardous chemicals into the river.

Malaysia currently produces more than 23,000 tonnes of solid waste per day, with less than five per cent of the waste being recycled.

In Selangor alone, the amount of solid waste could rise to 6,000 tonnes by 2017. More than 19 per cent of waste end up in our drains, which then causes flash floods and other health problems.

Of all the states, the garbage problem is most acute in Selangor, stemming largely from the state's controversial move to take over garbage collection from waste management concessionaire Alam Flora Sdn Bhd in October last year.

Admittedly, many local authorities in Selangor lack proper recovery, treatment or disposal of garbage. In most cases, some of the waste goes uncollected.

The people of Selangor are now facing the brunt of the injudicious decision of the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor government.

The immeasurable suffering of Klang and Kajang folk following a spate of flash floods recently was just one consequence of the lackadaisical attitude of the respective local authorities in dealing with rubbish disposal.

More worryingly, it has become a serious health issue.

The Selangor Health Department has reported that the number of dengue cases in Selangor has doubled in less than three months to 4,161 as of May 19.

Ten people have died from dengue fever in the period.

In fact, Selangor accounted for more than half of the total dengue cases in the whole country so far.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has put the blame on local authorities in Selangor.

"Local authorities must ensure they follow the garbage collection schedule strictly," he said recently, noting that it takes less than seven days for aedes mosquitoes to breed in rubbish dumps.

Selangor executive councillor in charge of health, Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, refused to point fingers at the local authorities over the rubbish issue. Instead, he blamed the "unpredictable weather" and the public's "lack of awareness" of the dengue outbreak.

Residents in Shah Alam and other major towns in Selangor have been up in arms against their local councils over the rubbish issue and have taken their grouses to the mainstream media and social media.

"The local councillors in charge of the area are busy giving only political speeches and fail to see whether the (rubbish collection) contractors are doing their job," M. Selventhiran, a resident in Batu 4, Jalan Kampung Jawa in Klang, told Bernama.

The Selangor government insisted that the hiccups over the takeover of rubbish collection from Alam Flora had been sorted out and that the issue was now under control.

The takeover had enabled the state government to save some RM67 million this year, according to the menteri besar's office.

The savings were made through the elimination of "agent and management fees", it claimed.

Alam Flora has said that the state government still owed the company some RM24 million despite the termination of its services last year.

Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has had his hands full since taking over the state following the March 2008 general election.

Besides the problem of water supply (the prospect of a water crisis by 2014 is real), the rubbish issue has also raised the people's ire.

The garbage crisis is more than just an environmental issue -- it threatens the state's economy by undermining its competitive edge, hindering tourism and discouraging investments.

No one wants to invest or tour a place if it is heavily polluted.