The Star: States on the lookout for open burning

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KLANG: The Selangor Department of Environment (DOE) has rolled out its action plan against open burning to counter smog and smoke pollution in the state.

Selangor DOE director Nor Aziah Jaafar said the action plan, which was kickstarted in February, included daily rounds and inspection by its officers.

“Our officers are going on their rounds after office hours daily to check on open burning in high risk areas such as peatland and dumpsites. We are also monitoring factories by carrying out night time inspection rounds but these are not done on a daily basis,’’ said Nor Aziah.

She added Selangor’s Air Pollutant Index (API) was still at a safe level at the moment.

“Besides closely monitoring the situation, we are also constantly reminding the public against carrying out open burning,’’ she said.

“We will not be issuing an official ban on open burning yet as the air in Selangor is still good and there were no untoward incidents reported,” said Nor Aziah.

To a question if Selangor DOE was expecting any serious problems in regards to air quality any time soon, Nor Aziah said it was not easy to address that concern at the moment.

“When the weather is hot and dry, there will be incidents of fires whether it is done on purpose or otherwise.

“The API also depends on the scale of open burning.

“If it is small or if the open burning is localised, our station may not pick it up.

“All I can say is that there is potential for the API to become unhealthy during this period, especially if the source is coming from peatland and dumpsites,’’ she said.

Meanwhile in Kedah, the public has been warned not to carry out any open burning during the current dry spell.

Kedah Environment Department director Sharifah Zakiah Syed Sahab said her department is currently ramping up patrols across the state to catch offenders.

“Our aim is to investigate any activities that could result in environmental pollution and endanger public health.

“This includes scrutinising open burning, unauthorised dumping of scheduled waste, discharge of effluent, and emissions exceeding set limits,” she said.

She added that the patrols will primarily target industrial zones in Pendang, Sik and Yan.

Sharifah Zakiah said a lot of attention would be given to areas that are traditional hotspots for illegal waste disposal through open burning, and those caught doing so can be punished under Section 29A of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, where offenders can be issued with a RM2,000 fine.

They can also be brought to court and fined up to RM500,000, or jailed for not more than five years, or both.

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