The business community is an equally important target group especially on waste management issues in relation to the Penchala River. Food court operators and corporate businesses within Penchala basin were engaged to educate them about waste management issues and mitigation measures in their business operations. This initiative will be implemented with close collaboration with the Solid Waste Management and Cleansing Department of Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ).

(A) FOOD OPERATORS

In 2015, the famous “Wai Sek Kai” food court in SS2 which is situated within the Penchala river basin was chosen for the Business Community Programme upon fullflling most of the selection criteria from the consultation with MBPJ.

30th October - 2nd November 2015: Initial Waste Audit

An initial waste audit was conducted for four days to obtain a baseline data and a platform for future initiatives. Labeled garbage bags were provided to 18 food operators and were weighed accordingly. Results showed that the highest and lowest total average waste was similar for food and drink stalls; total volume of waste was higher on weekends compared to weekdays and organic waste are the highest among waste composition.

4th November 2015: Food Operators Training of Trainers (TOT)

Training of Trainers (TOT) for food operators was held in the basketball court near the food Court, attended by 7 members from GEC, 6 MBPJ staff and 21 food operators. The event includes the sharing of river and waste management issues plus future projects by GEC and MBPJ followed by the demonstration of waste segregation, composting and grease trap. The TOT served as a follow-up on the waste audit leading up to future initiatives on BMP by committed food operators.

	Briefing by Mr. Lee Lih Shyan (Director of Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Department, MBPJ	Demonstration of waste segregation, composting and oil and grease trap during Food Operators TOT

17th August - 23rd August 2016: Comprehensive Waste Audit

A full big-scale waste audit was conducted for a week to obtain a baseline data and a platform for future initiatives. Labeled garbage bags were provided to 18 food operators and were weighed accordingly. Results showed that the highest and lowest total average waste was similar for food and drink stalls; total volume of waste was higher on weekends compared to weekdays and organic waste are the highest among waste composition.

27th March 2017: Waste Segregation and Oil & Grease Trap Launching

A full big-scale waste audit was conducted for a week to obtain a baseline data and a platform for future initiatives. Labeled garbage bags were provided to 18 food operators and were weighed accordingly. Results showed that the highest and lowest total average waste was similar for food and drink stalls; total volume of waste was higher on weekends compared to weekdays and organic waste are the highest among waste composition.

	Official launching of oil & grease trap and oil collection initiative at SS2 Food Court	SS2 Food Court Operators receiving their recycle bins for waste segregation initiative (Photo: Sin Chew)

(B) CORPORATE BUSINESSES

Global Environment Centre was approached by LexisNexis to give a talk on Integrated Solid Waste Management with regards to the company’s keen interest on starting a recycling initiative towards “Zero Waste” concept.

The talk was given on 22nd April 2016 in conjunction with the company’s celebration of Earth Day 2016. The company showed interest to follow-up with future training on solid waste management and will be working together with DID Petaling along with two other targeted businesses which are AVON and Sin Chew Daily.