Malaysia to Treat Sewage Effluent for Use as Farm Fertiliser

Push to build 'circular economy' also includes project to recycle sewage water

- Hazlin Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's national sewerage company is working with researchers to recycle human waste, turning treated biosolids into fertiliser that can be used on farms growing food crops.

Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) is also working on a project to recycle sewage water for use in a major mall in the Klang Valley, in its push to reduce waste and build what it calls "a circular economy".

Currently, IWK sends 300 tonnes of treated solid effluent to landfills every day, a process that costs it some RM39,000 (S$12,000) daily.

It also releases nearly 7.3 billion litres of treated sewage water a day into rivers, after processes including filtering, sedimentation and aeration.

"IWK has gone through a tremendous transformation, and one of our initiatives is to move towards becoming a circular economy company, hence why we started projects focusing on recycling treated effluent," IWK chief executive Narendran Maniam told The Sunday Times in a recent interview.

The recycling of what goes down sinks and toilets into usable fertiliser and treated water is not new.

In the US, an estimated 18 per cent of all agricultural land could be using biosolids as a fertiliser, according to the National US Biosolids Data Project.

Treated sewage sludge has been used as a fertiliser across Europe for many decades, according to the European Environment Agency website.

Closer to home, Singapore introduced its reclaimed water, Newater, in 2002, and continues to enhance production, with new plants in Changi and Tuas expected by 2026 to 2027. In addition, biogas generated from used water sludge and food waste at the nearby Integrated Waste Management Facility will power the Tuas Water Reclamation Plant, which is expected to be operational in 2027.