ABSTRACT
Industrial sector in Malaysia continues to grow but with undesirable environmental impacts including higher generation of hazardous wastes. Malaysia regulates environmental problems mainly through the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and its regulations. However, the effectiveness of these laws is determined by their enforcement. This paper aimed to determine strategy used by the Department of Environment Malaysia (DOE) in enforcing hazardous waste regulations as well as to identify and describe practical challenges conf ronting the regulator in undertaking the enforcement tasks. In doing so, the researchers undertook face-to-face key informant interviews with DOE officers involved in enforcement and carried out participant observation of regulatory enforcement routines by following the officers in the study area. The results of this study indicated that although the respondents used mixes of regulatory strategies in enforcing the hazardous waste regulations, they had an inclination towards a ‘compliance’ strategy. The study also found that, common enforcement hindrances especially insufficient institutional capacity and lack of public awareness hindered an effective enforcement of the laws.
Keywords: Hazardous waste, scheduled waste, regulation, enforcement, challenges.