COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING PROJECT

Project K: Residential Open Burning

By Students: Noor Dafinah Hj Jelani and Hjh Nur Liyana Hj Ramlee

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.
 COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING PROJECT

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.
 COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING PROJECT

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