Problems

Open burning has been the traditional method of disposing garbage by people in Brunei for many years. Today, the public are still not well informed of the location of recycling centres. For people who are unaware of recycling centres, backyard burning is a convenient method of disposing household waste. The resultant ashes can be heaped onto the base of plants as fertiliser, which is one of the other reasons why people use open burning to dispose of waste. However, open burning contributes to smog and air pollution. The cloud of smoke that arises from open burning is unsightly, and even after it disperses, the gases released from the burning persist in the atmosphere. Chemicals, such as dioxin and other pollutants, produced from the burning cause health problems for example asthma, and respiratory illnesses. Open burning also increases the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and contributes to global warming.

Possible solutions

There are a number of possible solutions to help Bruneians move away from open burning as a method of waste disposal. The government could introduce complete restrictions on open burning activity and incineration as a method of waste disposal. The Zero Waste program aims to eliminate land filling completely. Recycling programs should be made easily accessible to the general public.
Another possible solution is the provision of yard waste collection services by the government. Health services should carry out initiatives to educate the Public on the detrimental effects of burning on health. The ideal solution should have involvement of all the stakeholders in this issue, namely the public, recycling companies, and JASTRe

Actions taken

After considering the possible solutions, team members selected some, developed the plans and turned them into action. The team members informed the public in detail of the health hazards of emissions from open burning through the media. They produced prototype pamphlets showing the infrastructure of collecting yard waste at residential areas. In addition, the pamphlets included information on yard waste collection and tips on composting. Team members also wrote a proposal letter to Department of Environment for their consideration. This letter suggested consulting recycling companies for provision of yard waste collection. Team members also wrote a drama script that could be aired through the RTB network station and wrote to the Head of RTB to ask for permission for it to be aired.

Figure 1. Brochure made by students on ‘Yard Waste’