The Cost of Waste Management on Small Inhabited Islands in Malaysia

Islands are commonly revered as tropical paradises. Popular tourist islands often portray their most stunning and pristine side while covering up the less attractive issues such as waste management. These isolated islands in fact face a set of unique challenges when it comes to managing solid waste and sewage. Small inhabited islands are particularly vulnerable to waste problems and this is the main focus of this report. Many resorts have some sort of waste management system in compliance with federal law, but what about the local inhabitants? This study describes the current solid waste and sewage management practices on 31 small, inhabited islands of Malaysia, spanning across five states. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, our findings are largely based on online sources and interviewing people on the ground by phone. The top three methods of handling solid waste on islands are: transporting to mainland landfill; open burning; and burying on island. For sewage, most islanders resort to cesspit holding tanks with minimal maintenance. Each island has a different approach to waste management but the various approaches are generally inadequate. This report includes some recommendations for more effective and sustainable approaches to waste management.

The analysis of the costs of effective waste management against the cost of inaction and economic loss due to subsequent environmental pollution & loss of ecosystem services provides a strong case for more resources to be allocated to fund effective waste management in the country.

We acknowledge the limitations of this method and would like to invite researchers to further build upon this study. Contacts of key government agencies have been included for future reference.