**2. Materials and Methods**

#### *2.1. Case Study*

Sanitation (and therefore waste management) is a matter under the Concurrent List. The state government has the authority to decide whether to adopt the law related to this urban management service, thus it is subject to the administration of each local authority. However, regarding the current governance status in Malaysia, the decision of mandating the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 (Act 672)—the latest source separation initiative—may vary over a short period of time. Perak is one of eight states (i.e., Penang, Perak, Terengganu, Kelantan, Selangor, Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan) that are yet to mandate the legislative provision of Act 672 [26]. Without law enforcement to reduce the waste sent to landfills at state level, the capacity will eventually run out, with Perak's 0.8842 kg waste generation per capita per day (2002) generated by its 2.30 million population. This is a higher rate compared to Selangor at 0.8845 kg, yet Selangor has almost

double the population of Perak. At the local level, Manjung (Figure 1) has exceeded the national average (0.8500 kg per capita per day) at 1.409 kg, and ranks as the third highest among the districts [27].

Only a 4.00% recycling rate has been recorded by the study in [28] through the provision of a recycling service in the Northern Region (Kedah, Perlis, and Perak). On the other hand, the recorded recycling rate from the database of Manjung Municipal Council is 0.07%, based on the quotient of the total recyclables collected: approximately 77 tonnes per annum from the total waste collected from 54,186 housing, which is about 300 tonnes per day [29]. Both the state (region) and local rate of recycling are still distant from that of the national target: 22.00% in 2020. Being the third most populated city in Perak, Manjung has yet to generate sufficient awareness of the waste crisis and sustainable waste management [30].

**Figure 1.** Location of Manjung District [31,32].
