IzanJay-Environmental Articles/News Collection

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Discard your phones the e-green way

30 November 2013| last updated at 11:00PM

THE year-end holiday and shopping season is also gift-giving time. These are often replacements or upgrades to our electronic gadgets. So, what should we do with our old hand phones and other electronics collecting dust in our drawers? If it still works, pass it to someone who can use it. If not, then recycle. But do you see many recycling bins around?

In my experience, they seem to be hidden in out-of-the-way care centres. While mobile phone companies and telcos in the country do have recycling programmes, I noticed that their bins are not commonplace or the programme is for a limited time only.

In Malaysia, Nokia collects used phones and sends them to a recycling plant in Penang. According to Francis Cheong, senior manager for regional sustainability at Nokia Asia-Pacific: "All phones and accessories sent to our vendor facilities in Penang are recycled with almost 100 per cent of the materials recovered for re-use in other products. None are resold as second hand products."

The plastic casings are segregated at their vendor facilities and then forwarded to a local plastic recycler, which then converts them to plastic pallets ready to be used again in many other products. After removing certain elements, the LCDs are disposed of as "scheduled wastes" to Kualiti Alam for final treatment and disposal.

SIM cards, which contain precious metals, are recycled and base materials recovered together with all printed circuit boards. The precious metals are extracted and then sold to various industries for re-use. For example, gold is sold to jewellers or banks.

All parts of the phones are recycled at the Penang facility except for the batteries which are sent to an e-waste recycling plant in Singapore for recovery of the lithium and cobalt salts. This plant has the only patented lithium ion battery recycling system using hydro technology in this part of the world.

Almost 97 per cent of a hand phone can be recycled for plastic, ferrous metals and lithium among other things. Only its LCD screen is non-recyclable because of its heavy metals content. Find out more about a hand phone's afterlife at http://asia.cnet.com/a-mobile-phones-afterlife-62059584.htm. Recycling used electronics means that they won't end up in landfills.

While old phones and computers can be dismantled to extract the useful metals inside, doing it safely is time-consuming. That's why a lot of e-waste from the United States is exported to Guiyu, China (http://content.time.com/ time/magazine/article/ 0,9171,1870485,00.html) -- a recycling hub where peasants heat circuit boards over coal fires to recover lead, while others use acid to burn off bits of gold. Guiyu also has the highest level of cancer-causing dioxins in the world and elevated rates of miscarriages according to reports from nearby Shantou University.

As consumers, we would be wise to think about what happens to the electronic device we discard before we even consider buying a new one.

So, how do you ensure that your old phone doesn't end up poisoning a kid in China? If it's still in good working condition, hand it down or resell it on the second-hand market. If it's broken, don't put it in the garbage. Find out if your retailer or manufacturer offers free recycling.

Recycling e-waste is vital not only for the environment but for the manufacturing industry as well. It prevents e-waste from ending up in landfills and contaminating the environment with toxic and heavy metals. Recycling also helps reduce the need to create or mine raw materials for new products, which reduces manufacturing costs.

For manufacturers, to pitch electronic products as green or complying with the law isn't enough. Neither is following regulations such as restricting lead and cadmium. Removing all or most substances of high concern rather than a few prohibited ones is. These include chemicals that are potentially harmful to human health or the environment.

It would be ideal if recycle bins for phones are as commonplace as hand phone shops. Even better if manufacturers and telcos offer year-round recycling, take back or trade-up programmes in high traffic areas. Focusing on planned longevity -- rather than planned obsolescence -- of the device will minimise its energy impact. This is the kind of sustainable design we want to see more of.

Rather than shopping for something hot off the manufacturing line this holidays, don't upgrade your old phone (or computer or TV) for a little while longer. It may not be in the generous holiday spirit, but it certainly fits the new e-green one. Our children will thank us for this when they live in a future free from overflowing landfills and incinerators.

Rather than buying the latest smartphone and other gadgets, this holidays, try keeping your old phone for a little while longer. AFP pic

Friday, November 15, 2013

Sungai Kundang polluters fined

15 November 2013

WORRYING TREND: MPS team catches operators of 3 premises dumping waste into river

RAWANG: THREE premises that had been polluting Sungai Kundang were ordered to be shut down after a raid by Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) yesterday.

Situated in the same vicinity as two other premises which had dumped toxic waste and oil into the same river recently, MPS special task force chief Paramasivam Chelliah said the trend was worrying as Sungai Kundang was the main water source for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya residents.

"We issued compounds and notices amounting to RM100,000 to the perpetrators."

MPS president Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain had recently pledged to curb river pollution by inspecting premises under MPS's jurisdiction.

A team of journalists, who joined the raiding party, saw how dirty the premises were.

The first raid was carried out at a pork processing shack that also reared fish.

The owner, known only as Goh, said he skinned and cut up pork to be sold, along with the fish.

He said he fed the fish, reared in cages in the river, with internal organs of pigs.

"The water is clean. If the fish do not finish eating the pig intestines, the leftovers will settle at the bottom.

"Therefore, the top part of the water is clean. How can you say I am polluting the river?"

When leaving the premises, the raiding party was tipped off about a nearby fu chok (dried beancurd) producing shack that had also dumped remnants into the river.

The fu chok, which were being dried on sticks at the premises, emitted a terrible stench.

The raiding team discovered that chemicals used to process the fu chok were flowing into a small stream which led to Sungai Kundang.

The third and final raid revealed that a factory set up to recycle waste materials had dug a special drainage system to enable harmful chemicals to flow into Sungai Kundang.

"We checked the drain. The grass on either side of it was dead. They were brown and dried up.

"We suspect the chemicals are poisonous," said Paramasivam.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Illegal dump site sealed

Source : NST, 25/10/13

By S.K.THANUSHA DEVI AND HALIM SAID | news@nst.com.my

HEALTH HAZARD: Toxic materials found near Selangor water treatment plant

RAWANG: AN illegal dumping ground has been sealed off by the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) for allegedly causing toxic waste pollution in Sungai Gong, one of the water sources connected to Selangor's main water treatment plants, in Jalan Rawang here.

The site is a walking distance from the recently sealed factory responsible for polluting the river and that had led to water cuts in the Klang Valley area, affecting about a million residents.

MPS president Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain said the council had received a tip-off from the public on the site three weeks ago and had since sent undercover officers to investigate the situation.

"They have been using this site to illegally bury toxic waste and also dump used tyres and burn them at night.

"We have also seen traces of white, blue and red substances in the river and we are worried the water might be polluted," Azizi said after the raid yesterday.

Residents said they have been suffering from the chemical odour, breathing difficulties and mosquito bites since the illegal dumping ground started operating.

"We have been squatting in this area for some time until someone bought the land and allowed us to stay on with minimal rent. So when all this trouble started, we only complained to him but we couldn't go to the authorities as we would be evicted," said a resident.

Azizi, who ordered the site to be sealed permanently, said the area would be locked and the equipment seized. "My three officers who were here to investigate have suffered fever and other skin complications.

"I just cannot imagine how workers who had been here stayed under this hazardous conditions."

Azizi said the owner would be slapped with compounds for illegally burying toxic waste and neglecting to upkeep the area which has also become an Aedes mosquito breeding ground.

"They have been operating here for about two years, and this land was initially approved for chicken rearing only. However, the owner started renting out this area to a third party who used it as an illegal dump site."

He also stressed that MPS would now inspect all factories or sites near rivers to check on their waste disposal methods to ensure water streams are not affected by industrial waste discharges.

Members of the Rawang Fire and Rescue Department's Hazardous Material Team (Hazmat), who were also present during the raid, spent a few hours digging the soil and extracting samples.

Its station chief Mohd Haikal Md Kasri said his team of 35 personnel found one type of solid and two types of liquids, believed to be toxic materials, buried in the soil.

"We also found 20 to 30 barrels of unidentified toxic waste scattered at the site."

Land and Mines Department officers, who were also present, said they would issue a notice under Section 128 of the National Land Code, ordering the owner to restore the land back to its agricultural land status.

Its officer, Sazuli Hamdan, said the department would take immediate action to seize the land if the owner did not comply.

"The owner is still answerable to the use of the land irregardless of who ran this illegal operations. It is his land and he is responsible."

Also present were Department of Environment officers who also took samples of the toxic wastes and said that a full report would be completed in three to four weeks.

Meanwhile, when asked on the severity of the water pollution, Syabas public relations officer Priscilla Alfred declined to comment until investigations were carried out by their officers.

Selayang Municipal Council president Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain (third from left) and officers checking on the abandoned drums and other materials left at the site. Pic by Syarafiq Abd Samad

Saturday, September 28, 2013

KL Eco Film Fest highlights

28 September 2013| last updated at 07:44PM

FROM exploring nature’s powerful role in children’s health and development to the resurgence of electric vehicles, Kuala Lumpur’s innovative environmental film festival has something for everyone.

Now in its sixth year, the Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival, sponsored by Maybank Foundation and Taiwan-based software company Cyberlink, has become one of the country’s grandest and most influential purveyors of environmental film. Many national premieres are included in the line-up including documentaries, narratives, animations and short films. Films are shown throughout the city at partnering museums, embassies, libraries, universities and local theatres.

With a programme curated to offer fresh views on global environmental issues, most of the screenings are accompanied by discussions with filmmakers, environmental experts and special guests.

This year’s festival, which runs from Oct 11-13, will include 66 films from 13 countries, including 18 national premieres. Some highlights include:

A FIERCE GREEN FIRE: THE BATTLE FOR A LIVING PLANET
The film is an exploration of the environmental movement — grassroots and global activism — spanning 50 years from conservation to climate change. From halting dams in the Grand Canyon to battling 20,000 tonnes of toxic waste at Love Canal; from Greenpeace saving the whales to Chico Mendes and the rubber tappers saving the Amazon; from climate change to the promise of transforming our civilisation, the film tells vivid stories about people fighting — and succeeding — against enormous odds.
Narrated by Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Ashley Judd, Van Jones, and Isabel Allende Directed by Mark Kitchell
Running time: 114mins
Screening date: Oct 11, 8pm
Segaris Art Centre, Publika

CHASING ICE
Chasing Ice is the story of one man’s mission to change the tide of history by gathering undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Within months of his first trip to Iceland, the photographer conceived the boldest expedition of his life: The Extreme Ice Survey. With a band of young adventurers in tow, Balog began deploying revolutionary time-lapse cameras across the brutal Arctic to capture a multi-year record of the world’s changing glaciers.
Directed by Jeff Orlowski
Running time: 75 minutes
Screening date: Sept 30, 8pm
The Square, Publika

REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR
Revenge of the Electric Car The film presents the recent resurgence of electric vehicles as seen through the eyes of four pioneers of the EV revolution. As more models of electric cars than ever before start to arrive in showrooms and driveways across the world, Chris Paine’s film offers an inspiring, entertaining and definitive account of this revolutionary moment in human transportation.
Directed by Chris Paine
Running time: 90 minutes
Screening date: 12 Oct, 8.30pm
The Square, Publika.

SURVIVING PROGRESS
But what if progress is actually spiraling us towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, A Short History Of Progress inspired Surviving Progress, shows how past civilisations were destroyed by “progress traps” — alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilisation escape a final, catastrophic progress trap?

Directed by Mathieu Roy, Co-Produced by Martin Scorsese
Running time: 86 minutes.
Screening date: Oct 1, 8pm
Table 23 Restaurant

PANDORA’S PROMISE
Impact Partners, in association with Vulcan Productions and CNN Films, presents this groundbreaking new film by Academy-Award-nominated director Robert Stone. The atomic bomb and meltdowns like Fukushima have made nuclear power synonymous with global disaster. But what if we’ve got nuclear power wrong?

An audience favourite at the Sundance Film Festival, Pandora’s Promise asks whether the one technology we fear most could save our planet from a climate catastrophe, while providing the energy needed to lift billions of people in the developing world out of poverty.

Stone tells the intensely personal stories of environmentalists and energy experts who have undergone a radical conversion from being fiercely anti to strongly pro-nuclear energy, risking their careers and reputations in the process. He also exposes this controversy within the environmental movement head-on with stories of defection by heavy weights including Stewart Brand, Richard Rhodes, Gwyneth Cravens, Mark Lynas and Michael Shellenberger.
Running time: 77 mins
Screening date: Oct 13, 8.30pm
The Square, Publika

Other partners include MAP Publika, UEM Sunrise, Tanamera Tropical Spa Products, Go International, Palate Palette, the Ford Environmental and Conservation Grants Foundation, with IACT College as the official University Partner, and the Tinai Eco Film Festival as its international film festival partner.

For more info visit www.ecofilmfest.my

Friday, September 20, 2013

Gas beracun: 500 penduduk diarah pindah

Source : Utusan Malaysia, 20/9/13
url : http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/Jenayah/20130920/je_05/Gas-beracun:-500-penduduk-diarah-pindah

Oleh MALINDA ABDUL MALIK

utusanpenang@utusan.com.my

Keadaan Kampung Pisang menjadi kabus akibat gas hidrogen sulfurik.

PULAU PINANG 19 Sept. - Lebih 500 penduduk Kampung Pisang, Air Itam di sini terpaksa mengosongkan kediaman masing-masing ekoran bau yang dihasilkan oleh gas toksik akibat kebakaran sebuah stor penyimpanan bahan kimia malam tadi.

Dalam kejadian kira-kira pukul 9.30 malam itu, stor simpanan hidrogen sulfurik yang berada di kawasan kampung tersebut terbakar dan menghasilkan bau kuat sehingga membuatkan penduduk panik serta sesak nafas.

Pengarah Bomba dan Penyelamat negeri, Azmi Tamat berkata, pihaknya menerima panggilan pada pukul 9.35 malam mengenai kejadian berkenaan.

Pasukan Unit Bahan Berbahaya (Hazmat) menggunakan dry powder untuk memadamkan api yang berpunca daripada bahan kimia di Kampung Pisang, Air Itam, Pulau Pinang, malam kelmarin.

Menurutnya, sebaik sahaja tiba di kampung itu, anggotanya terhidu bau toksik yang dikesan datang dari stor bahan kimia tersebut.

“Gas toksik itu boleh mengundang bahaya kepada penduduk tetapi kita berjaya mengawal keadaan.

“Setakat ini, tiada kejadian tidak diingini berlaku dan kita berjaya memindahkan dan menghapuskan sisa toksik yang menyebabkan penduduk tidak selesa kerana terhidu gas beracun," katanya ketika ditemui di tempat kejadian malam tadi.

Beliau memberitahu, penduduk dibenarkan pulang ke kediaman masing-masing pada pukul 3 pagi selepas didapati tiada lagi bau gas beracun tersebut.

Artikel Penuh: http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/Jenayah/20130920/je_05/Gas-beracun:-500-penduduk-diarah-pindah#ixzz2tTot1MPe
© Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd