THE owner of a Kolombong recycling centre has been compounded RM500 for operating without the requisite licence from City Hall to trade in discarded materials.
A spokesman for the agency’s Licencing Department (LD) said this penalty was imposed recently under City Hall’s (Dealing in Scrap) By-Laws, 1966.
“We had earlier notified the proprietor that he / she did not have a valid licence and instructed him / her to put a stop to his / her operations,” he said.
“The individual was informed in writing that recycling activities were not compatible with our land-use zoning for this part of Jalan Lintas Khidmat.
“He / she was asked to relocate his / her centre to a site which was better suited for this type of business.”
He said the operator was given a grace-period in which to comply with City Hall’s requirements.
“During a follow-up inspection, LD officers found that these instructions had gone unheeded.
Some of the insects which had invaded the condominiums are seen inside a plastic cup.
“A compound was handed to senior staff at the recycling centre on this occasion.”
The spokesman said an inspector with City Hall’s Environmental Health Department (EHD) accompanied the five LD personnel in this instance, which was the second time that both Departments had gone to the centre this year.
The former had first checked on the goings-on there in January, while the latter did the same separately in May.
These checks were prompted by concern that insects might be breeding among the scraps at the recycling centre.
The pests had apparently found their way into some of the units at a condominium in the vicinity.
One such unit-owner contacted the agency several times between January and July about the nuisance posed by these eight-legged invaders.
City Hall also received feedback about a similar inconvenience from three residential rate-payers and another commercial one in April.
This quartet, however, suspected that the insects could be coming from a rice processing plant, off another section of Jalan Lintas Khidmat. One of this number even related his misgivings to the Luyang Assemblyman’s office.
An EHD staff points out the potential dengue danger posed by the water trapped inside a used tyre at the recycling centre.
All these complainants provided City Hall with photos or video footage of the insects in question.
An EHD spokeswoman said it was still trying to identify the precise species of this pest.
She said inspectors with the Department’s Environment Unit looked into each of the reports about this nuisance.
“They didn’t spot the insects anywhere around the recycling centre and there was no evidence of any infestation on the grounds,” she said.
“The management also demonstrated that the firm had engaged the services of a pest exterminator who periodically carried out fogging inside the compound.
“Our staff were shown receipts of payments made to the exterminator as proof.”
Nevertheless, she said, the company was twice reminded to keep the grounds clean and in an orderly state: the first such reminder was done in writing in January and verbally in June.
In the case of the processing plant, the spokeswoman said a sample of some “kutu beras” (rice weevils) was taken in April.
“The products inside the facility were stored in an orderly fashion but the insects were still seen crawling about on the floor of the plant.
A staff with City Hall’s Environment Unit (left) talking with the rice processing plant personnel.
“The manager personally assured us that the premises would be fumigated as soon as possible to minimise the presence of these weevils. Our staff received this assurance in April and then again in May.”
She said no evidence of weevils was found at the recycling plant.
“But this is not surprising as no rice, or other types of grain, is stored on the grounds.”
