Melaka City is the capital of the state of Melaka, located on the coast in southwestern Peninsular Malaysia and opposite the island of Sumatra.The Melaka River flows from Alor Gajah across central Melaka before joining the Melaka Straits. The city of Melaka has historically been a key trading settlement in South-East Asia and a multi-cultural city. Melaka State generates about 1,480 tons of solid waste per day, equal to approximately 0.75 kg of solid waste per capita per day. The rapid population growth and increasing tourism in Melaka have contributed to the rise in the city’s waste generation.
Through the Urban Ocean program, Melaka aims to identify gaps in its solid waste management system that contribute to leakage and leverage opportunities towards creating clean river and coastal areas and enhancing the city’s recycling infrastructure.
Project Statement
Creating Clear River and Coastal Areas and Enhancing the City’s Recycling Infrastructure focuses on creating a more efficient waste management system that will strengthen the circular economy, create job opportunities by encouraging community involvement as the key enabler to avoid waste leakages, reduce GHG emissions and create a strong tourism sector in Melaka.
The Project Statement outlines the city’s vision for the project and the impact it aims to achieve, highlighting the urgency of the issue and the importance of taking immediate action.
Circularity Assessment Protocol (CAP) Report
Between October 2020 and March 2021, a team from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) with guidance and support from the Circularity Informatics Lab, conducted fieldwork in Melaka, Malaysia. The CAP was conducted with support from the city’s local government, the Chief Resilience Officer, and the larger Urban Ocean team.
The CAP, developed by the Circularity Informatics Lab at the University of Georgia, is a standardized method of collecting community-level data on plastic usage to inform decision-makers.
City Waste Management Profile
Melaka’s Profile highlights key challenges such as tourism impacts, agency coordination issues, outdated drainage systems, river pollution, and limited waste management awareness. Opportunities include using tourism to enhance environmental efforts, improving agency collaboration, promoting cleanliness, and fully enforcing waste segregation and anti-dumping laws.
The City Waste Management Profile evaluates a city’s waste management system, identifying risks and vulnerabilities to support resilience, reduce plastic pollution, and foster tailored solutions.
Urban Ocean is a capacity-building and accelerator program to end ocean plastic pollution and build more resilient communities in cities. Urban Ocean champions circular economy principles, builds awareness of ocean plastic, assesses waste management systems and supports cities to develop projects that address the interrelated challenges of ocean plastics and resilience. Since 2020, the program has been implemented in cities across Asia and Latin America. The program is jointly implemented by Resilient Cities Network, Ocean Conservancy and The Circulate Initiative.