KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) Minister Nik Nazmi said a waste-to-energy (WTE) policy was the most viable solution to the country’s landfill sustainability and waste management concerns.

Despite this view, however, Nik Nazmi acknowledged that such an approach would be complicated as it would require a comprehensive approach that could addresses both waste management and energy generation.

"Landfills are no longer sustainable, even the legal landfills are not sustainable and there are also a lot of illegal ones,” he said at the Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd’s (MIDF) dialogue session on navigating the energy transition here today.

He also conceded that the primary challenge to adopting WTE on a larger scale was the cost difference to a traditional landfill, which was "very cheap” compared to WTE operators.

Nik Nazmi said this would have to be addressed in order to make WTE a competitive option, suggesting that Local Government Development Ministry become involved and make it more costly to operate traditional landfills.

"I think we have to look into this to make sure that the economics work. So, more WTE plants can come into place in the country," he said.

However, he said it was also important not to evaluate WTE primarily on its ability to a major energy source for the country.

Instead, the minister said WTE should be seen as an integral part of waste segregation and disposal as encouraging proper waste segregation is fundamental to maximising its benefits.