Circular economy in Malaysia

Abstract

Circular economy is a concept that aims to improve resource efficiency by minimizing resource consumption and waste generation. The implementation of circular economy can be conducted at three levels: in single enterprise or group of enterprises, in a group of collocated firms and at the city or municipal level. Currently, implementation of circular economy in Malaysia is at firm level. There is a lack of legal framework on the implementation of circular economy in Malaysia. However, there are certain sections and regulations in Environmental Quality Act 1974, Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 and in Environmental Quality (Scheduled Waste) Regulation 2005, respectively, that promote resource circulation. Nationwide initiatives taken to promote circular economy are inclusion of integration of sustainable production and consumption, reduction of 40% of greenhouse gas emissions intensity from GDP compared to 2005 level and 22% of recycling of MSW, in Eleventh Malaysian Plan. Additionally, SWCorp has launched SWCorp Strategic Plan to promote sustainable solid waste management services, and CIDB has initiated CITP that has a target of incorporating 20% of recycled construction and demolition waste (tonnage) by year 2020 from baseline of 2016. Also, there are guidelines on coprocessing and proposals on establishment of industrial ecology by DOE. A few case studies show implementation of circular economy in manufacturing industries. The benefits of these implementations were reduction in energy and resource consumption, reduction in waste generation, protection of environment and human health, cost savings by reusing or recycling waste and additional profit gains by selling waste to potential buyers. Several opportunities of sustainable waste management and resource circulation have been highlighted in this chapter such as manufacturing of bioproducts and butanol from biomass to coprocessing between ELVs and construction industry. To successfully implement circular economy, top-down and bottom-up approach is required, and currently, Malaysia does not have explicit top-down and bottom-up approaches.