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PETALING JAYA: While many Malaysians are aware that e-waste can be harmful if mishandled, few of them know where and how to properly dispose of unwanted electrical and electronic items.Media coordinator Hana Jimi from Shah Alam said she never used to think about it until she came across reports on the problems of e-waste.“Even after I realised that I shouldn’t be discarding e-waste like other rubbish, I don’t know what is the right channel to do it properly.“In my hometown in Gemencheh, my family used to discard bulky electronic items by selling them to a collector,” said the 30-year-old.

The authorities, said Hana, must go big on a campaign to educate the public on e-waste disposal.Sharing Hana’s opinion is Ipoh resident David Chen, 41, who bought a new mobile phone last month. “I haven’t thrown away the old phone because I don’t know where to discard it. In fact, I still have several of my old and faulty phones from years ago.“I just don’t think it’s okay to throw them away as I do with other types of waste,” he said.The tractor operator from Jelapang said that while he had seen e-waste collection points at malls in Kuala Lumpur, there was none where he lives.Chen said more needed to be done to create awareness among consumers, especially those in rural areas.

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Tenaga Nasional Bhd. (TNB) menafikan satu mesej tular dalam media sosial kononnya Ahli Lembaga Pengarah TNB telah menerima arahan kerajaan untuk menaikkan tarif elektrik sebanyak 30 peratus.TNB dalam kenyataan memberitahu, mesej tersebut yang kononnya ditulis oleh seorang pekerja TNB adalah palsu dan tidak berasas.Selain itu, jelas kenyataan itu lagi, TNB tidak mempunyai warga kerja seperti yang dinamakan dalam mesej berkenaan.“Justeru TNB menasihatkan orang ramai untuk mengabaikan mesej tersebut dan tidak berkongsi akan mesej tular berkenaan. Untuk makluman, tarif elektrik ditetapkan oleh pihak Suruhanjaya Tenaga,” jelas kenyataan tersebut.

Justeru, TNB harus tampil dengan solusi baru dan munasabah untuk mengira bil secara prorata ketika ini diragui oleh masyarakat. En. Saravanan Thambirajah selaku Presiden Persatuan Pengguna dan Tenaga Malaysia berpendapat "Kesilapan teknikalnya adalah bagaimana mereka membuat pengiraan bacaan anggaran. Ujar beliau kita perlu tunggu hasil laporan Kementerian terlebih dahulu sebelum mengambil apa-apa tindakan."

Saksikan liputan penuh di https://youtu.be/DmhKL6f4XoA

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IT is time for the Selangor state government to start addressing the numerous complaints against the Peduli Sihat medical assistance scheme, which has been suspended since the beginning of this month, and rectify the problems plaguing this novel and noble healthcare initiative.

1. The Peduli Sihat cards are not being topped up every year for those who have used up their annual entitlement, which is RM200 for individuals and RM700 for families. How is the topping-up done?

2. There has been a lull in new applications as many of those who had applied for the card last year have yet to receive it. Many have lost their enthusiasm over this medical assistance scheme due to the uncertainty, red tape and waiting period for the applications to be processed. These issues must be resolved quickly.

3. Cards that are ready should be posted to the applicants, as the address and telephone numbers are provided. A lot of cards are currently piled up in the state representatives’ offices because they are not being immediately handed out or collected by the applicants.

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PETALING JAYA: The government wants to make it mandatory for consumers to send certain unwanted electrical and electronic items to places licensed to handle e-waste.The proposed change in the law aims to reduce harm to the environment and public health when such waste is not disposed of properly.The proposed regulation covers televisions, air-conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, personal computers and mobile phones.Most of these items are recycled in the informal sector, where those with little expertise and resources rip apart the appliances and devices and burn some components to extract materials that can be resold. All this is done with little thought for health and environmental effects.In a statement to The Star, the Department of Environment (DoE) said it realised the importance of tackling scheduled e-waste management issues in Malaysia.

“The DoE has drafted a specific law for the six controlled items.“In the draft regulation, these items generated from households, institutions, commercial and others are listed to be regulated,” it said.Asked if “regulated” means it would be the consumers’ responsibility to discard or send these items only to registered retailers, collectors, recycling facilities or recovery facilities, the DoE replied: “Yes.”It said these controlled items were currently handled by the informal sector such as house-to-house collectors, community bodies and non-governmental groups.“The specific legislative provisions to control the management mechanism of the items are important to ensure that they do not pollute the environment or cause any harm to human health,” it added.

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KUALA LANGAT: Much of the e-waste in Malaysia has ended up in the hands of scrap collectors and scavengers who have no qualms about burning cables and wires to get to the metal within, although this method is bad for health and the environment.There were scorched patches in the ground along the dirt road leading to an e-waste dumpsite in Sri Cheeding, just outside Jenjarom in Selangor. An acrid smell filled the air.It was clear that scavengers had burnt and shredded parts of electrical and electronic items to remove valuable materials such as copper.

About the size of two football fields, the dumpsite was strewn with bits and pieces of circuit boards, keyboards, plastic casing, cables, computers and mobile phones.Jenjarom is already notorious for its mounds of plastic waste. This particular spot for dumping e-waste is on a piece of land less than 200m into an oil palm estate just off the main road out of the town.It apparently attracts many scavengers, usually locals.On a second visit on May 16, a tractor was covering part of the dumpsite with soil and the signboard was gone.A boy aged about 12 was collecting cables and wires. A motorcycle was parked nearby.The boy lit a fire beside the dumpsite and burned the cables. This produced black smoke and a noxious stench.“Is it not dangerous?” we asked the boy. He shook his head.“I am looking for wires, (I burn them and) sell them for RM20 per kilo,” he said, adding that he would sell the parts to a nearby shop selling scrap metal.

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I AM sure many new car buyers must have realised by now that the five-year warranty is more of a bane than a boon.More and more car brands are resorting to this apparently subtle strategy to promote sales. The big question is whether such a warranty benefits the buyers or sellers more.Cost of parts and services under the warranty period provided by authorised workshops is exorbitant (usually 200% more compared with freelance ones). The only good thing is that they (authorised workshops ) provide genuine parts, so to speak.

On the service side itself, at times it leaves one wondering whether certain parts and fluids have really been replaced/changed, as in all occasions car owners are not allowed to go in the workshop to see the work in progress even for a brief moment.When it comes to warranty claims, in most cases the buyers end up as suckers whereby, after much hassle, the faulty parts are usually only repaired but not replaced.

Why can’t big established automotive brands give their customers new replacements if the faulty goods are returned regardless of liabilities and with no questions asked?Three weeks ago, I had an unpleasant experience when making a warranty claim on my car.It was a claim to repair the drive shaft cover (bellow) which was punctured and leaking grease.Even after much hassle, the car dealer refused to honour the warranty because the bellow is excluded in the terms and conditions.I pointed out that the design of the oil drip tray does not provide adequate protection to the undercarriage parts like the bellows, hoses and etc, thus making them vulnerable to damage from objects kicked up by the front wheels.

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FOMCA fully supports the action by the Deputy Minister of Transport on eliminating hidden charges when purchasing air tickets. This pervasive practice of quoting a price, for example RM 1 for ticket price, and then when all the other charges are added, the actual price is way above RM1, must be stopped. Hidden charges must be eliminated, Advertised price must be the actual price consumers pay. Consumers must get the price they are promised.  The principle should be “what you see is what you get”. The advertised prices should thus reflect the real price not some misleading promotional price to attract consumers and then hit them with an exorbitant price later.

The Federal Court in Melbourne in 2012 had imposed a penalty of A$ 200,000 against Air Asia Berhad for contravening the single price provision of the Australian Consumer Law. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) website, Air Asia for a period of 10 months did not display on the website some air fair prices inclusive of all taxes, duties, fees and other mandatory charges in a prominent way and as a single figure.

Under Section 48 of the Australian Consumer Law, businesses that choose to advertise a part of the price of a particular product or service must also prominently specify a single total price.FOMCA fully supports and has always been advocating for an all-inclusive pricing. Consumers must have accurate price information so that they can compare prices to get the best value for money.The Ministry of Transport’s courageous action to promote air travellers well-being must be lauded. Accurate price information is crucial for consumer wellbeing.Single pricing is not only relevant for the airline industry but for all industries. In August 2017, the then Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism had announced that  amendment had been made to the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act, whereby consumers need not pay more than the price displayed, quoted or advertised. He had stated that “the policy would benefit consumers and help them make more informed decisions without worrying about additional costs”. Yet till today, in restaurants and hotels the practice of “hidden charges” continues unabated.  The legislation was never implemented.

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In a press conference earlier today, Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC) Minister Yeo Bee Yin said that 10 containers will be sent back immediately.She added that five containers have already been sent back to Spain.Mestecc will also be conducting an inspection on more than 50 containers of plastic waste which were smuggled in.Once the inspections are done, Yeo expects that a total of 3,000 tonnes of contaminated waste from 60 containers will be shipped back to their countries.Together with the Department of Environment (DoE), Yeo said that 10 inspections have been conducted on 123 containers to dateThese containers originated from countries that include the UK, the US, Japan, China, Spain, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Norway, and France.

The operations were led by DoE together with Royal Malaysian Customs, The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), Port Klang Authority, National Solid Waste Management Department, and Westports Malaysia.In one such case uncovered through investigations, a recycling company in UK had exported 1,000 containers - amounting to 50,000 tonnes of waste - in the last two years alone."We have not only found this one company, we have found a few companies from different countries," Yeo said.Yeo added that the Ministry is compiling a list of these "so-called recycling companies" and will send the list of these names to their respective governments for further action and investigation.

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GEORGE TOWN: Penang is facing serious water pollution issues, both on the island and the mainland. The sea off Teluk Bahang is said to be contaminated by heavy metals while in Nibong Tebal, the water at the Sungai Tengah river mouth is black, a problem fishermen there claim has been plaguing them for about 10 years.The situation in the north of the island looks far more serious. Weeks ago only a few fish were found dead. Now, fishes are dying by the thousands.This has deprived fish breeders of their source of income as thousands of ikan kerapu (grouper) are dying in fish cages.“We use to sell about 500kgs of fish at markets and restaurants during the Chinese New Year and about 100kgs at normal times,” said breeder Lim Suan Gian, 64, at his farm in Teluk Bahang.“However, we only managed to sell about 40 to 50kgs over the last two months as most of them ended up dead.

“We are baffled. The Fisheries Department took samples of the dead fish several times but as of today, there has been no indication of what caused the deaths,” Lim said, adding that he suffered losses of about RM130,000 since April.Another breeder, Ooi Hye Hin, 57, said he took up a RM300,000 loan from Agro Bank to buy fish fry and now cannot pay the RM3,000 monthly payments because of this.“Both Lim and I have made five police reports as we have no other income and are not be able to service our bank loans,” Ooi said.He said the dead fish at the farms would have to be thrown away while those that were still alive would remain in the cages.“We have stopped sending our fish supply to customers since April,” he added.

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•Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.2 per cent in April 2019 to 121.1 as compared to 120.9 in the same month of the preceding year. The main groups that contributed to the increases were Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+2.0 per cent), Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+1.2 per cent), Education (+1.2 per cent), Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (+1.1 per cent) and Restaurants & Hotels (+0.8 per cent).

•On a monthly basis, CPI remains unchanged as compared to March 2019. Meanwhile, CPI for the period of January - April 2019 registered a decrease of 0.2 per cent as compared to the same period last year.

 

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