{"id":81860,"date":"2026-03-18T00:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/?p=81860"},"modified":"2026-03-18T00:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:57:12","slug":"dont-let-malaysia-be-the-dumping-ground-for-e-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/dont-let-malaysia-be-the-dumping-ground-for-e-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Let Malaysia Be The Dumping Ground For E-Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Starting on the 4<sup>th<\/sup> of February 2026, Malaysian government has banned electric and electronic waste (e-waste) imports and ramped up inspections of containers suspected of carrying this material to be dumped in our country. It is interesting that e-waste, which were discarded electrical and electronic equipment formerly useful for humans, turns out to be something illegal and now hunted to its core. The increasing amount of e-waste globally, triggered developed countries to shift their problems to third world nations. E-waste, if not handled properly, could pollute the air and contaminate soil as well as water sources. Daily digital necessities in our modern world such as laptops, mobile phones and batteries including air-conditioning and refrigeration systems, had begun to fill our landfills, poses a threat to our environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Way back before the 20<sup>th<\/sup> century, electrical and electronic products were designed to last longer, more durable and easier to be repaired. That scenario has significantly changed today. Due to the fast fashion trend, manufacturers of electrical and electronic products (e-products) such as mobile phones, turn to emphasized more on style and slimness, pushing the consumers to upgrade regularly to keep up with the latest updates. With faster changes in trends and rapid development of Artificial intelligence (Ai), future e-products may become obsolete quickly and lead to emerging new streams of waste. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Up until now, our region, the southeast asia already generated 25 million tonnes of e-waste from our population alone, not to include those illegally imported. United Nations in their report stated that with the current projections, 74 million tonnes of e-waste will have to be dealt with by 2030. Out of this amount, only 20% could be properly segregated, some parts were reused and the rest will have to be treated before disposal due to the treatment capacity limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, even more pressing is the action of irresponsible operators which directly dumped the residues of e-waste on vacant land, after stripping valuable parts from it. In our preliminary study, findings showed that soil samples taken at the river banks nearby illegal e-waste sites indicates amount of lead 19 times higher than the allowable safe limits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It should also be noted that improper treatment of e-waste could lead to the situation where the resulting harm in terms of polluted water resources and air will be borne by the community, even as the other party are the ones profiting from it. Heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium from e-waste leaching into soils could destroy the soil fertility, makes water unsafe for drinking and agriculture and triggers bioaccumulation in fishes, crops and livestock, moving up the food chain to harm humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Policymakers should look into introducing programs that could increase responsibility to the manufacturers such as Extended Producer Responsibility so that the products end of life is taken care by the party involved in its production. In addition, tax deductions, subsidies and other incentives should be awarded to innovative design that ease useful components recovery and repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thorough implementation of the Circular Economy principles in Malaysia should not only focus towards creating new digital business opportunities but also covers the issues of e-waste as its by-product. Although the country already designated a national waste e-collection day on the last Saturday of every month as part of the Integrated E-waste Management System (IEWMS), more has to be done to improve e-waste collection rate and prevent illegal dumping. Additionally, more permanent drop-off points should be introduced as well as pick-up options for bulky e-waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clear messaging on what counts as e-waste is also important via education. There should be campaigns in the community spreading awareness on how to deal properly with e-waste and the implications of not doing so. Initiatives such as as \u201cTrade-in rebates\u201d, \u201cReturned-Deposits\u201d or awarding shopping vouchers for returning old devices must be encouraged. Younger generation should be thought not to immediately discard broken electronic items, but to look into spare parts for repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From the Islamic ethical perspectives, <em>Israf<\/em>, the teaching of avoiding excessive consumerism and wastage as well as the idea humans as <em>Khalifah<\/em>, or stewards of the earth has to be embedded among the Muslim majority in the country through outreach in mosques and practiced by households and businesses not just to comply with the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) requirements but also taken as moral responsibility.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crucially, this e-waste conundrum should not be taken lightly as it is just the surface of an interconnected web of problems, from gaps in regulations that allow illegal e-waste imports into the country to lack of stern enforcement and resource recovery facilities. Tackling this issue is the responsibility of the government, industries and public alike especially with the arising surge of \u201cnew\u201d e-waste, comprising of discarded vaping devices, electric vehicle batteries and damaged solar panels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting on the 4th of February 2026, Malaysian government has banned electric and electronic waste (e-waste) imports and ramped up inspections of containers suspected of carrying this material to be dumped in our country. It is interesting that e-waste, which were discarded electrical and electronic equipment formerly useful for humans, turns out to be something illegal and now hunted to its core. The increasing amount of e-waste globally, triggered developed countries to shift their problems to third world nations. E-waste, if not handled properly, could pollute the air and contaminate soil as well as water sources. Daily digital necessities in our modern world such as laptops, mobile phones and batteries including air-conditioning and refrigeration systems, had begun to fill our landfills, poses a threat to our environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-225","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81861,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81860\/revisions\/81861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}