Over Half A Million Tonnes Of E-waste Processed As At June 2025, DOE Wants Tougher Control

PUTRAJAYA, July 31 (Bernama) -- The Department of Environment (DOE) recorded 536,709.04 tonnes of electrical and electronic waste or e-waste processed by licensed premises from January 2021 to June 2025.

Environment director-general Datuk Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar said e-waste is increasing in line with the widespread use of digital devices.

"If e-waste is not managed properly and disposed of carelessly, it can have major implications for human health and the environment.

In this regard, DOE has implemented various initiatives to improve e-waste management, including expanding licensed e-waste recovery facilities and there are 128 recovery facilities nationwide to date," he said in a statement here today.

He said other initiatives included strengthening public awareness campaigns to promote the safe disposal of used electrical equipment and increasing enforcement against unlicensed e-waste management through two special operations, namely Ops Hazard, which were carried out with 351 legal actions taken under the Environmental Quality Act (EQA) 1974.

"DOE calls on the community and industry to be responsible in managing e-wastes in an environmentally friendly manner by channeling them to legal recovery facilities," he said.

In addition, Wan Abdul Latiff said the haze issue was also a major focus because it also had a serious health impact on the community.

According to him, the DOE constantly monitors the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings through 68 air quality monitoring stations nationwide every hour over 24 hours through the Environmental Quality Data Centre (EDC) in Putrajaya.

"At the international level, Malaysia continues to work with neighbouring countries through the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution to coordinate prevention and mitigation actions for land and forest fires in the region.

"Through this platform, Malaysia has also voiced various proposals and initiatives to neighbouring countries to combat the issue of open fires that can cause transboundary haze," he said.

At the domestic level, Wan Abdul Latiff said various actions were also implemented immediately including law enforcement and patrols in hotspots, extinguishing open fires with related agencies as well as the delegation of power to 13 other agencies which was gazetted on July 7 and came into effect on July 8 to strengthen the whole of government approach.

"This step is a strategic initiative to strengthen the implementation of enforcement actions on the ground, especially in addressing the issue of open burning that contributes to the haze situation. This delegation of power allows for immediate, integrated and more comprehensive action to be implemented quickly by relevant agencies," he said.

He said as a more comprehensive preparedness and coordination measure, the National Open Burning Action Plan and the National Haze Action Plan have also been activated since February 26 to coordinate the actions of government agencies in addressing the issue of open burning and facing the national haze situation.

In addition, he said patrol and monitoring cooperation was also carried out with strategic partner agencies such as the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) and other enforcement agencies at the state and district levels.

"As of July 30, 2025, the DOE has carried out 4,247 land patrols, 859 drone flights to monitor open burning activities and 58 Notices of Instruction, 27 court actions and 59 compounds were imposed on parties who committed offences related to open burning," he said.

-- BERNAMA