Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of environmental offences committed in Malaysia charged under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA1974).

This study used secondary data of the environmental court cases report by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia from 2008 until 2016 to examine the nature of environmental offences based on the Treadmill of Production (ToP) approach.

In comparison with the GDP growth (Department of Statistic Malaysia, 2016), the findings support ToP argument that as far as the treadmill accelerates, the more would be the environmental crime committed. However, all offences charged were weighted more on the ecological additions rather than ecological withdrawn. The trend analysis showed a decreasing trend for all types of offences committed, reflecting that Malaysia's regulatory authorities are committed to fighting against environmental crime perpetrators. Therefore, all parties must be made to internalise the values of conducting business sustainably.

This paper is the first that examines the environmental offences committed in Malaysia using the ToP approach to analyse the nature of the crime committed in Malaysia associated with the growing literature of Green Criminology.

The environment and human health can be jeopardized if E-waste is not properly managed. Global E-waste production continued to rise as a result of rapid technological advancement and increased purchasing power among the global population. One of the possible sustainable methods for managing E-waste is to recycle E-waste. This study aims to find out which demographic factor has the most influence on local residents' understanding of E-waste recycling in Selangor. Selangor is one of Peninsular Malaysia's wealthiest states, with a wide range of ethnic and racial backgrounds among its residents. In 2019, 779 people took part in a survey to learn more about local residents' understanding of E-waste recycling and the social and demographic factors influencing that understanding. Three characteristics of a person's background stand out: their educational attainment, the nature of their job, and the amount of money they make. The p-value for each of these variables was less than.05. Respondents with the following social backgrounds have the best understanding of E-waste recycling: higher education, employment in the private sector, and a monthly income between RM1,501 and RM3,000. The government and other stakeholders, such as non-profits and the private sector, should take more comprehensive and coordinated actions to ensure that the public is informed about E-waste recycling.

The purpose of this research paper is to report the results of a study that explains the relationship between institutional pressure and environmental management accounting (EMA) adoption. Specifically, it looks at the pressure of government and other parties in society concerning EMA adoption among manufacturing companies in Malaysia.

Drawing from the new institutional sociology theory, the paper seeks to identify the extent to which institutional pressure influences EMA adoption level. A total of 74 accountants from manufacturing companies in Malaysia participated in the survey. Institutional pressure (coercive isomorphism, normative pressure and mimetic processes) was tested against the level of EMA adoption via multiple regression analysis. Next, semi‐structured interviews were employed with four survey participants to gain further insights into the survey results.

The findings of this study reveal some influence of institutional pressure on EMA adoption. Of these, normative pressure in terms of training and accounting body membership was found to be the most forceful.

Recognising the important role of accountants in managing environmental issues in organisations, this study highlights the influence of education and training as determinants of EMA adoption.

This paper offers a preliminary understanding from the new institutional sociology perspective concerning the type of pressure that influences manufacturing companies in Malaysia to adopt EMA.

Economically, Malaysia has one of the fastest growing construction industries in the world; however, the necessary balance between socio-economic and ecological systems – to avoid further environmental damage – has not yet been reached by the industry. This paper aims to explore the extent of sustainable development practices (socially, environmentally and economically) in the Malaysian construction industry, focusing on the office building sector.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 30 stakeholders from various backgrounds of the Malaysian construction industry are used to explore their challenges and motivations for pursuing sustainable outcomes.

The study finds that economic issues are the first priorities among stakeholders in any decision-makings for building projects and cost becomes one of the major reasons for the slow progress in implementing sustainable practices in building projects. Socially, there is still a wide gap of knowledge and awareness on sustainability issues among stakeholders, explaining the lack of commitment in achieving sustainability.

The sample size is only adequate to enable internal generalisation; hence, further research is required to test the generalisability of the findings in this research.

This paper informs the government and regulatory stakeholders, research and education sector, private sector, and clients of the building industry, where the authors currently are and the gaps that the authors have to bridge in order to make sustainability more socially acceptable and integral in the local construction industry.

There have been very limited studies on exploring the views from various groups of stakeholders regarding all the three components of sustainable development in the Malaysian construction industry.

Malaysia is an ex‐colonial, newly‐industrialising country, with a sustained high economic growth rate averaging eight per cent GDP per annum over the past ten years. Within such a rapidly booming economy, the pace of social, economic and political change is fast, as is the pace of technological change. Other things being equal, these are the changes in which environmental hazards can be magnified. As a result of rapid economic development, physical systems are disturbed and changed. For example, the modification of the hydrological cycle due to deforestation, urbanisation, development of hill slopes and other human land use have given rise to increased risks of landslides. In recent years, the collapse of a block of luxury condominiums in Kuala Lumpur, the Genting Highland and Pos Dipang landslide tragedies as well as other landslide disasters have caused substantial loss of life and damage to property and infrastructure. Combined with intensive development of hill slopes and hill land for housing, recreation, tourism, agriculture, highway and dam construction, and other human induced land use changes, the exposure and vulnerability of human populations to landslide hazards have also increased. Other reasons, largely structural, such as persistent poverty, low residential and occupational mobility, and landlessness, manifested in illegal squatting and farming on hill slopes and foothills have also contributed to increased vulnerability of large communities to landslide hazards in many parts of the country. As Malaysia pushes ahead to meet its target of becoming a fully industrialised country by the year 2020, further environmental degradation is expected to occur. Notwithstanding other aspects of environmental degradation, the occurrence of landslide hazards is expected to become a common feature of Malaysian life.

The purpose of this paper is to define an environmental quality index (EQI) for a clean manufacturing process. The categorized clean and sustainable manufacturing process in a small and medium enterprise, and the indoor air quality (IAQ) parameter and air pollution in manufacturing were monitored and evaluated using the EQI index.

Two main methods of measurements used are subjective measurements and physical measurements. Questionnaires were used to gauge subjects' level of understanding in issues related to IAQ and to determine types of activities, process and material involved in each working section. Physical measurements and testing methods employed were based on widely used and accepted scientific practice, as described in standards. The Malaysian code of practice on IAQ was also used as a reference.

The EQI in various workstations were calculated and ranged between four and 16 (i.e. four to 16, from good to unhealthy) depending on the nature of activities taking place in those work stations.

In this paper, the monitoring of pollutants used a scale of one to five to denote the level of pollution by individual pollutants and assumed those pollutants are additive in the mixture of the EQI. The working environment is important to productivity and has a direct impact on human health.

The paper shows how the EQI will have a significant impact on occupational safety and health in the workplace and how an uncondusive work environment will be a potential health hazard and result in less productivity.

Mercury is widely used in medical and healthcare facilities as dental amalgam, mercury-added medical devices, thiomersal-containing vaccines, laboratory analysis and for other general applications despite the hazards. Various agencies consistently promote mercury-free medical facilities through mercury-free alternatives and better management practices, which are in line with the Minamata Convention on Mercury that aims to protect human health and environment from anthropogenic mercury release. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors conducted a gap analysis on recommended practices gathered from the literature and current practices gathered through semi-structured interviews with Malaysian medical personnel. A life cycle approach was adopted covering mercury use: input, storage, handling, accident, waste disposal and governance phases.

The authors found that there are significant gaps between recommended and current mercury management practices. Analysis indicates improper mercury management as the main contributor to these gaps. The authors found from recommended practices that core components needing improvement include: mercury management action plan, mercury use identification team, purchasing policy, proper guidelines and monitoring systems.

This study helps us to understand mercury management practices and suggests essential steps to establish a mercury-free medical facility.

This study explored the gaps between recommended and current mercury management practices in a medical facility and contributes to the Minamata Convention on Mercury aspirations.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the motives behind corporate environmental reporting in Malaysia and Australia from an alternative perspective, i.e. through semiotics.

Reviews are made on the annual reports of the top 50 public companies in both countries, and the uses of business languages in those reports are investigated. The research concentrates on the significations of environmental messages made through paradigmatic and syntagmatic tests.

Corporate environmental disclosures made by the public companies in Malaysia and Australia signify similar form of motives. The tones, orientations, and patterns of environmental disclosures indicate that environmental information is a strategic mechanism used towards enhancing good corporate reputation.

Environmental reporting plays a significant role in promoting corporate “green” image in conjunction with the aims for better social integration.

Semiotics offers a useful basis that enables a greater understanding of why companies prepare and disclose environmental information. Such an understanding holds the potential to provide ideas and guide policy‐makers, and other stakeholders (and users) of corporate environmental information.

This paper is the first to comparatively investigate the corporate motives and intention of environmental reporting practices via the application of semiotics on a two‐country data, specifically Malaysia and Australia.

The purpose of this paper is to review the novel application of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in sensing heavy metal ions and the development of SPR to become an alternative heavy metal ions sensor.

The possible dangerous toxic effects of heavy metal ions are revealed in the short introduction. The existing conventional methods for sensing heavy metal ions and their drawbacks are also discussed. To overcome these drawbacks, SPR has been investigated from the basic principle to the potential alternative in sensing heavy metal ions.

Application of SPR in sensing heavy metal ions emerged a decade ago. A wide range of active layers or recognition elements (e.g. polymer, protein, nanoparticles) have been developed to combine with SPR. The detection limit, sensitivity and selectivity of SPR sensing in heavy metal ions have been improved from time to time, until the present.

This paper provides up-to-date and systematic information on SPR sensing for heavy metal ions. Different advancements on active layers or recognition molecules have been discussed in detail and arranged in the order of their chronological evolution. The present review may provide researchers with valuable information regarding novel heavy metal ions sensor using SPR and encourage them to take this area for further research and development.