Efforts to protect and preserve the environment is not the sole responsibility of the government, but requires the cooperation of the people at large,” said
YB Datuk Michael Manyin, Minister of Environment and Public Health. Global experiences and case studies indicate that sanitation solutions need to be a
joint effort between the government and communities.

The community has to understand the problem and be willing to act – be it a change in mindset, participating in hygiene education and awareness campaigns or paying for proper sanitation facilities and services.

Poor sanitation can lead to cholera or typhoid epidemics. A case study of China revealed that about 500 million tons of urine and 30-60 million tons of feces are produced on an annual basis, adding to the contamination of the environment. Facing such a humongous task, China resorts to establishing community eco-sanitation systems, which take into consideration factors of hygiene and environment conservation.

Eco-sanitation is the process of safely sanitizing and reusing human feces and urine while minimizing water use. The system largely comprises of desiccating and composting toilets, which will in turn contain and destroy the pathogens, convert the feces into a safe soil improver and use the nutrients in the urine to grow useful biomass. These are the advantages of using natural sanitation systems to control water pollution and recover resources: less costly operation and maintenance, minimal need for continuous and skilled supervision, and production of protein or plant biomass by-products.

Sarawak is implementing similar eco-sanitation systems in all new housing estates with collaboration from the housing developers and residents. “Waste
water from the sink and toilet of individual houses will be diverted to a communal septic tanks instead of flowing directly into the drainage systems,” said YB Datuk Michael Manyin. He also added that individual septic tanks in old housing estates will eventually be removed in stages and replaced with eco-sanitation systems in the government’s effort to protect the environment. A pilot project at Hui Sing Garden, Kuching, has shown that water from the communal septic tank is cleaner than the water of the Sarawak River.