SYNOPSIS

Waste to wealth has been a topic mentioned globally but how many understand on what is involved and how to implement. Efforts have been so far, on piece meal basis and the result has yet to be seen.

This paper will introduce what is waste to wealth in the water industry and what is available to be reused and recycled. We have waste residues in the water supply industry at more than 2 million metric  per year and in the domestic wastewater treatment there is a by-product of methane gas of more than 2 million m3/yr,  6,885 MLD treated effluent and  76,000 tonne/year of sludge that have great potential  to be converted into waste to resource. These exclude other wastes that can be part of the circular economy and offer a sustainable business in the water industry.
What can be done and what type of support required by stakeholders will be explained to help realise the waste to resource and transforming the water sector to achieve the waste to wealth and application of sustainability through the zero waste management concept. This will be in line with the Water Sector Transformation Programme (WST2040) as approved by the government for implementation in all Malaysian Plan by 2040.

Keywords: Waste, Waste to resource, Waste to Wealth-, Circular Economy, Zero Waste.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Datuk Ir. Abdul Kadir Mohd Din has more than 36 years of industry experience in the water and sewerage sectors. His main expertise is on conceptual and strategic business planning and management on water, wastewater, byproducts, green technology, research & development and environment including risk management and optimization & maximization of operation cost. He has vast exposure in the engineering consultancy, public listed company, government owned national water asset company and sewerage company at various senior management positions. He has extensive practical knowledge in planning, designing, managing water and sewerage works projects within the country and abroad in the United Kingdom, Brunei Darussalam, Middle East and Singapore. He was elected as President of The Malaysian Water Association (MWA) in April 2017 (2017-2019 and 2019-2021) and Network Manager of Aquajaring – Eight SEA countries (Jun 2020 – December 2021). He had served as Board of Director for Ranhill SAJ Sdn Bhd from 2018 to May 2020 and Board of Director for Ranhill Water Technologies (Thai) Ltd & Anurak Water Treatment Facilites Co Ltd since July 2017 to 2018 . Prior to this appointment, he was the former Chief Executive Officer of Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK), a National Sewerage Company wholly owned by the Minister of Finance incorporated from 1 December 2009 – 30 November 2016. He was the former Chief Operating Officer with Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB), Malaysia’s Water Asset Management Company, which is also wholly owned by the Minister of Finance incorporated, from February 2007 to November 2009. He is also a Chairman of Malaysian Water Academy Sdn Bhd (2017-2021), Alumni Member of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), and member of various professional institutions which includes: Fellow of Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (FIEM), Malaysian Water Association (MWA), Environmental Management of Research Associate of Malaysia (ENSEARCH), Malaysian Water Partnership (MyWP), Member of Malaysian Capacity Development Network for Sustainable Water Management (MyCDNet), Fellow of Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) since May 2018, and Water Environment Federation (WEF), United States. He was appointed as Adjunct Lecturer for Universiti Technologi Petronas (UTP) Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 semester, Industry Panel for MSc Integrated Construction Project Management programme for Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) from June 2018 – May 2020, Chairman for the CIDB MyCESMM committee, Committee of CIDB CITP Initiative Working Group on National Construction Cost Centre, Committee of CIDB CITP Thrust Working Group on Internationalization, Committee of CITP Life-Cycle Costing (TC-LCC) and Panel Chairman of CIDB MCIEA Award 2018 & 2019.