LITERATURE REVIEW

Malaysia generates approximately 18,000 tonnes of solid waste daily, of which only 70% is
collected and disposed. The remaining 30% is disposed of illegally by irresponsible
individual. The waste is sent to a dump, or landfill, where it can take from 100 to 400 years
for things like cloth and aluminium to decompose. We are quickly running out of space. Thus
the three R’s of the environment: reduce, reuse, and recycle campaign is being implemented
in Malaysia.
In UTHM the three R’s programs are also being implemented. In every faculty and college
there are three bins that being put is blue, brown and orange have been putted. The orange bin
represented for all kinds of aluminium and steel tins such as soft drinks tins and food product
tins. All coloured and non-coloured tins such as shopping bags, bottle drinks and mineral
water bottles and vitamin bottles. Then for the blue bin, all coloured and non-coloured paper
such as newspaper, magazines and books are being thrown in the bin. Lastly for the brown
bin, all coloured and non-coloured such as soft drinks bottles, food containers and cosmetic
bottles are being thrown in the brown bin.
In addition, UTHM also have encourage students to understand what is 3R’s. 3R’s is stand
for reduce, reuse and recycle. It is important for the UTHM’s student to understand and apply
the 3R’s concept in UTHM to ensure that the university will always clean.
Reduce is the best way to help the environment. The most effective way to reduce is to not
create it in first place. Making a new product requires a lot of materials and energy. For
example, we should buy products that don’t have a lot packaging. Some products are
wrapped in many layers of plastic and paperboard even though they don’t need to be. We also
can look for things that are packed in materials that don’t require a lot of energy or resources
to produce. Some products will put that information right on their labels. When we reduce the
amount of waste we can prevent pollution and the need to harvest new raw materials.
Reuse is a means to prevent solid waste from entering the landfill, improve our communities,
and increase the material, educational and occupational wellbeing of our citizens by taking
useful products discarded by those who no longer want them and providing them to those
who do. In many cases, reuse supports local community and social programs while providing
donating business with tax benefits and reduced disposal fee. Many items found around the
home can be used for different purposes. Reuse provides an excellent, environmentally
preferred alternative to other waste management methods because it reduces air, water and
land pollution, limits the need for new natural resources such as timber, petroleum, fibres and
other materials.
Recycle is the process of converting waste materials into reusable objects to prevent waste of
potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, energy usage, air
pollution from incineration and water pollution from landfill by decreasing the need
conventional waste disposal and lowering greenhouse gas emissions compared to plastic
production. When we recycled, used materials are converted into new products, reducing the
need to consume natural resources. More than 30% of garbage is recyclable, and these
materials can be prevented from ending up in the landfills and incinerators.
ISSUES AND PROBLEM
Waste is a common problem of affluent societies including in UTHM. Especially when
students can afford greater convenience and more purchases, they tend to throw away more
rubbish. Everyday products that are used and thrown away by students contain more
dangerous and health affecting chemicals than ever before.
Waste reduction is often associated with recycling, but it is more complex than that. Avoiding
the generation of waste in the first place and minimising waste are also crucial measures in
any waste reduction strategy. In that case, many UTHM’s student did not realise that they can
reduce the amount of waste. For example, when they are buying food from cafeteria they
could have bring their own container or Tupperware. In that way, the amount of plastic and
polystyrene use will be reduce.
Next, attitude of the students is one of the problem that UTHM need to aware of. It is because
most of the student will throw the waste inside the bins without separate the waste according
to the specification. The implication of the stubborn attitude will lead the waste to mix and
end up in the landfills without being recycled. So to overcome the problem the UTHM’s
student council must encourage students to learn about 3R. But educating students on waste
disposal and recycle is difficult because most of them are not comfortable and ignorance.
Furthermore, UTHM’s student loves to buy food from the cafeteria and canteen. Then the
food waste will be thrown into the garbage. Most of the food waste is being took away by the
garbage truck and disposed at landfills together with other municipal solid waste. Among the
food waste disposed there were also plastics and polystyrene. The current practice of
disposing of biodegradable food waste at landfills is not sustainable and is environmentally
undesirable as it depletes the limited landfill space, creates odour nuisance, generates leachate
and landfill gases that require further mitigation measures to deal with, and squanders the
useful organic contents.
While many individuals and communities have started effort, many are still in dark on how
and why they should separate waste and recycle them. Most of the students also do not know
how dangerous hazardous and non-hazardous waste can be to the environment and health.
They did not know the chemical that been release by plastics waste to the atmosphere contain
Bisphenol-A (BPA) that can disrupt hormones and can mimic the effect of estrogen in the
body leading to hormone imbalance and weight gain.
In addition, UTHM’s students