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TELUK INTAN: The environment department will take action against an oil palm waste processing factory for not following specifications when discharging waste into the Bidor River.
The director of the Perak department, Rosli Zul, said: “The factory’s waste management system needs to be updated because we found that the waste was actually treated before being disposed of at Sungai Bidor, but it did not follow the stipulated specifications.”
An environmental group, the National Organization for Ecosystem Conservation, had urged the department to take immediate action against the plant that had been dumping waste in Sungai Bidor for the past 12 years.
The group accused the factory of polluting the air and the river. “The waste also has the potential to pollute the nearby river ecosystem,” he said.
One villager, Ahmad Fuad Shahrudin, 51, said he had filed a complaint against the waste disposal several times since March last year.
The pollution problem has worsened over the last year, but so far no measures have been taken to affect the income of residents, especially fishermen.
“Some fishermen claim that fish and shrimp catches have decreased and affected their income after the factory discharges the oil palm waste into drains that flow directly into Sungai Bidor.
“In addition to that, the residents of Kampung Selabak often notice the bad smell from the factory every day and we also experience itchy bodies,” he said.
Meanwhile, a source from the factory when contacted by Bernama said that the store had just started operations last December after being closed since last February for repair and improvement work.
He said the oil palm waste was fully treated by the factory. “We will thoroughly investigate the allegations by residents as to the cause of the contamination said to be coming from this factory,” he said.
