Most of us are happily unaware of where our garbage goes after leaving our bins. Very few of us on the island know that our rubbish takes a sea cruise from the Batu Maung Waste Transfer Station on barges to their final resting place on the mainland; or the fact that there are actually three garbage graves – two landfills and one dumpsite in Penang.
Different graves for different wastes
The Jelutong dumpsite (20ha) was started in the 1970s and was initially used to receive municipal solid waste (MSW), then limited to bulk waste, garden waste and construction & demolition (C&D) waste. However, during the first quarter of 2010, the Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) decided that only C&D waste would be accepted there in the future.
