Palm oil wastes generated from palm oil industry account for 85.5% of total biomass production in Malaysia. This gigantic amount of palm oil wastes will trigger a tremendous impact to the environment if they are not handled in an appropriate manner.
The conventional methods of waste treatment and disposal are:
- EFB – mulching and composting (outdoor method)
- Decanter cake – dumping in the oil palm plantation
- POME – pond system, polishing, land discharge, water course discharge
- Boiler ash – dumping in the oil palm plantation
The above conventional methods of waste treatment and disposal are not environmentally friendly and result in large amount of CH4 and CO2 (methane and carbon dioxide gases) being emitted into the atmosphere. It also encourages the spread of diseases like Ganoderma that is harmful to the plantation.