Green Energy & Waste Management in Johor: Prescribed Premises Licensing, Second-Schedule EIA, Heavy-Metal Effluent & Grid Interconnection Guide

Green energy, waste recovery and used-oil re-refining are core green-economy activities that the Johor State Government promotes, with concessional incentives under the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ). Such plants typically locate in heavy-industry zones such as Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat. The sector spans scheduled-waste material recovery, used-oil re-refining and biomass / waste-to-energy generation; its compliance focus rests on obtaining the DOE prescribed-premises licence, zero-leak handling of heavy-metal pickling and recovery wastewater, and high-specification air-pollution control systems (APCS).

Constructing or extending facilities for the recovery, treatment, incineration, physico-chemical disposal or re-refining of scheduled (hazardous) wastes is among the most sensitive Second Schedule prescribed activities under the Environmental Quality (Prescribed Activities) (Environmental Impact Assessment) Order 2015, made under section 34A of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (Act 127). The project proponent must commission a qualified assessor to prepare a detailed EIA report, submit it to DOE headquarters for review by an expert panel, conduct public display and consultation, and obtain written approval before any site work begins.

Under section 18 of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, a facility used to store, treat, recover or dispose of scheduled wastes is a prescribed premises — occupying or using it without a licence is an offence. The prescribed-premises categories (under the EQ (Prescribed Premises) (Scheduled Wastes Treatment and Disposal Facilities) Order 1989) include off-site storage, off-site treatment, off-site recovery facilities, scheduled-waste incinerators, land-treatment facilities and secure landfills. The DOE processes a new facility in three stages: (a) EIA report approval (or site preliminary assessment, PAT); (b) written consent (Kebenaran Bertulis, KB); and (c) approval of the licence under section 18(1). A company recovering wastes through recycling must also obtain a Manufacturing Licence from MIDA under the Industrial Co-ordination Act 1975.

Used-oil re-refining and metal dismantling-recovery generate concentrated acidic/alkaline and heavy-metal wastewater during feedstock washing and neutralisation, governed by the Environmental Quality (Industrial Effluent) Regulations 2009 [P.U.(A) 434/2009]. The IETS typically uses chemical precipitation, ion exchange or reverse-osmosis (RO) membrane polishing, and the heavy-metal limits are among the strictest in the schedule. Standard A applies where the discharge point lies upstream of a gazetted water catchment; Standard B applies otherwise.

A recovery plant is both a receiver of waste and a generator of new secondary residues, regulated by the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005 [P.U.(A) 294/2005]. All inbound feedstock and outbound secondary scheduled wastes must be inventoried, segregated and sealed in corrosion-resistant containers. On-site storage is limited to 180 days or less, and accumulation must not exceed 20 metric tonnes (or 20 kilograms for highly hazardous wastes) without prior written DOE approval, with all transfers declared through the DOE e-Consignment system.

Biomass and waste-to-energy (WTE) plants typically export power to the grid. Under the Electricity Supply Act 1990 (Act 447), interconnection of distributed generation to the TNB distribution network follows TNB’s technical interconnection guidelines and the Distribution Code: the generator must include reliable synchronising and anti-islanding protection that disconnects quickly on a grid fault. Connection capacity at TNB nodal points is constrained by network limits — for example, Feed-in Tariff (FiT) projects connecting directly are capped relative to the average minimum load at the relevant main intake (PMU). Renewable-energy support is administered by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA), with larger utility-scale solar procured through competitive programmes such as Large Scale Solar (LSS). A self-consumption (SELCO) solar installation above 72 kWp requires a generation licence from the Energy Commission (ST) under the Electricity Supply Act.